JRF container train timetables and organization

[ZeeGerman]

Hello everyone! 

 

This is going to be my first post here: I'm a student of railway engineering in Germany and I absolutely have to find out how exactly the JRF container system works for a seminar paper on railway organization.

 

So as far as I've been able to collect, there is a fleet of trains running between container terminals where these small containers are loaded/unloaded by fork-lift truck. Ever since the implementation of the "Efficient and Speedy Container Handling System" effort has been made to avoid shunting by building through-terminals (rather than dead-end), so the train comes in, stops, gets loaded/unloaded and leaves again. The whole system is rigged with a fancy RFID-Tagging system to prevent the need for guys walking around with clipboards and paper tags.

Now my questions are:

-Do the trains stick to one line and go back and forth all day?

-What is the route structure like, more direct trains or more hub-and-spoke?

-How many stops does the train make on its course?

-Are there different classes of trains, like long distance trains which stop at major hubs and short distance which stop at every terminal along the way?

-How long does a stop usually take?

-As in passenger transport, the container will usually have to change trains a few times. How long does this take?

 

Best would be if you could somehow give references or something that looks like a subway map, but for containers. 

 

Thanks a lot for your help.

I hope Japan has recovered somewhat from the disaster.

[bill937ca]

You'll find lots of archive stuff by searching under container or freight. In the meantime you can machine translate this web page on the Shizouka Freight Station.

[Guest JRF-1935]

ZeeGerman -

 

This Might help with your research -

 

http://modelrail.otenko.com/

 

Click on Japanese Trains.  Times are listed when leaving and  between each station.

 

 

 

For containers -

 

http://www.excite-webtl.jp/world/english/web/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww5e.biglobe.ne.jp%2F%7Etomajuic%2Fphoto%2Fphoto.htm&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

 

Rich C

[ZeeGerman]

Hi everyone, and thanks

 

Umm I don't really understand those timetables though. Are these JR Freight lines or local short lines? I found something that looks like the map I want on this site: http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/transport/area/index.html, you can click at the region you're interested in and look at a Map and see the assorted timetables. That's quite helpful, if only I could decipher the key to those maps and read those Timetables 

 

I think I need a japanese friend to help me up on this.

[bikkuri bahn]

Are these JR Freight lines or local short lines?

 

Yes, they appear to be local lines, as per the author's interests.  The JR freight website would be the place to see a selection of container freight train schedules, as you have found.

 

Here is a video of a bus tour that makes a circle around the Kita-Kyushu Container Freight terminal, you can get a good idea of the layout of these types of facilities.  Unfortunately the wind and engine noise drown out most of the tour guide's explanations.

 

small picture of the facility:

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/local/fukuoka/20110329/201103290003_000.jpg

[bikkuri bahn]

if only I could decipher the key to those maps

 

Key:

circle: container freight station

circle with dot: container freight and carload/bulk freight

square: off-rail station (i.e. truck terminal)

triangle: container sales office

asterisk: station with connection to private railway handling container traffic (typically a port railway)

large square enclosing station name: facility using the E&S system

(タ)　symbol: terminal station

[Jcarlton]

Hi everyone, and thanks

 

Umm I don't really understand those timetables though. Are these JR Freight lines or local short lines? I found something that looks like the map I want on this site: http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/transport/area/index.html, you can click at the region you're interested in and look at a Map and see the assorted timetables. That's quite helpful, if only I could decipher the key to those maps and read those Timetables   

 

I think I need a japanese friend to help me up on this.

I looked at Japan Railway Technical Review and they did have a couple of issues on freight:

http://www.jrtr.net/start.html

http://www.jrtr.net/jrtr26/pdf/f08_iwa.pdf

MJFT has lots of videos of freights, along with train numbers, departure and destination stations as well as links to maps of freight facilities and timetable(in japanese)

http://bierwagen.fan-site.net/mjft/

 

There's a lot of stuff out there, just keep looking. 

[bikkuri bahn]

Now my questions are:

-Do the trains stick to one line and go back and forth all day?

They go on as many lines that's required to get to their final destination.  As far as running diagrams, that is applied to the locomotives, which may have more than one run a day, depending on distance and demand.

 

-What is the route structure like, more direct trains or more hub-and-spoke?

It seems it is more of a direct train setup.  This is a result of the geography of Japan, a long archipelago with a mountainous spine. In northern Japan, there are two mainlines (Tohoku and Ou/Uetsu/Hokuriku) which allow trains using the latter to bypass Tokyo to get to Western Japan.

 

-How many stops does the train make on its course?

If you mean stops where loads are dropped off/picked up, it depends on the particular train, and can range from one to four stops. Also, some stops are pickup only, drop off only, both, or the E&S system.

 

-Are there different classes of trains, like long distance trains which stop at major hubs and short distance which stop at every terminal along the way?

Yes for the longer distance ones.  For short distance trains, they are more like transfer runs, freight trains that stop at every freight station are thing of the past. There are also different types of trains based on top speed:

A type: 110 or 100 km/h top speed

B type: 95 km/h

C type: 85 km/h

 

-How long does a stop usually take?

30~40 minutes

 

-As in passenger transport, the container will usually have to change trains a few times. How long does this take?

Sorry, I don't have this information.  I surmise if the container needs to be transferred more than once, it is more economical to just truck it to the consignee.

 

All information is taken from the JR Freight timetable, which is sold nationwide to the public at bigger bookstores.

[Nick_Burman]

Don't forget to add that contrary to Western practice (where container trains/cars tend to run only between intermodal terminals), Japanese container cars are also switched into industries, provided they are sufficiently deserving of such a service (i.e., large volumes of freight).

 

 

Cheers NB