Kintetsu Utsube and Hachioji line to go 3rd Sector

[Nick_Burman]

Hello all,

 

Good news picked elsewhere:

 

"On September 27 2013, Kinki Nihon Railways (Kintetsu) and the City of
Yokkaichi (Mie Prefecture) reached an agreement securing the future
of the Utsube Line (5.7km) and Hachioji Line (1.3km). These two lines
are 762mm (or "Imperial") gauge, electrified at 750V DC.

Together the lines operate at an annual loss of 300 million yen.
Traffic is 3.63 million passengers per year, or about 10,000 a day,
half the level of 1970. Because of the special gauge, the equipment
must be produced in small, costly batches. Kintetsu had announced its
desire to convert both lines into a dedicated bus route, but Yokkaichi
City did not like this.

In Spring 2015 a new company will be established to operate the trains,
while Yokkaichi City will become owner of tracks and vehicles. Public
funds will take care of 1/3 of maintenance costs of vehicles and roadbed.
This subsidy is not available to large, profitable railways like Kintetsu;
thus the decision to hand over the lines to a new organization.

Yokkaichi City plans to spend more than 1 billion yen in investments
and operation cost subsidies in a decade. Large chemical factories
in the city provide a steady tax flow; the city can afford the
expenditure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintetsu_Hachi%C5%8Dji_Line

762mm gauge railways were quite popular in Japan up to about 1960.
In 1910 and 1911 laws were passed facilitating the construction of
midget scale railways. Some lines were upgraded to broader gauges
and still survive, but most lost out to motorization. The Yokkaichi
area lines are among a small minority which were electrified while
retaining midget gauge."

 

http://mainichi.jp/area/mie/news/20130927ddlk24020286000c.html

 

So we'll be seeing the two lines trundling along for another good while. Kudos for Yokkaichi City to have seen through this BRT nonsense - that ROW is only fit for Hino Ponchos and that only with a real squeeze.

 

Cheers NB

[Mudkip Orange]

I wonder if they could boost ridership by switching to LRT-style payment and headways, a la Portram.

[cteno4]

News credit profit of the way on yahoo jtrains list. Profit of the way posts great summaries of Japanese train subjects like this, usually from Japanese language sources. Nice chap.

 

Jeff