New Railway Companies Born

[katoftw]

Surpized this didn't get any coverage.

 

IR Ishikawa Railway - Kanazawa to Kurikara

Ainokaze Toyama Railway - Kuikara to Ichikuri

Echigo Tokimeki Railway - Ichikuri to Naoetsu, Myoko-Kogen to Naoestu

Shinano Railway - Nagano to Myoko-Kogen

 

All replacements on the old Hokuiku Main Line and part of the Shinetsu Main Line.  Surprized JR East gave up the part of the Shinestu Main Line.

 

Sure these are downgrades for the associated lines, but new railways and liveries must be something worth talking about?

 

Near Itoigawa has some scenic views of the sea.  Surely some joyful trains might be born out of this?

 

I wonder if JR East will take over the whole Oito Line at some stage since JR West has now technically moved out of the area?

Edited March 29, 2015 by katoftw

[Sacto1985]

A very interesting aspect about the Echigo Tokimeki Railway was their decision NOT to buy ex-JR West dual-voltage EMU's to run on the former Hokuriku Main Line (not the Nihonkai Hisui Line) between Tomari and Naoetsu, even though the 521's can use either 1,500 V DC and 20,000 V AC overhead power. Instead, they will buy ET122 DMU's, essentially a variant of the KiHa 122 DMU that runs on the JR West Kishin Line west of Himeji.

[kvp]

I think that was a logical decision. They are new, cheap to maintain, easy to get rid of in case the company flips and doesn't really matter if JRF takes the catenary off in the future. Since the tracks will be divided between the various companies, if one closes, the freight traffic has to go elsewhere and that will be the end of the electric operation on the whole route. The reason these small companies are created is that nobody wants to close the whole line in once piece and say that from the next day eveybody should get a car or use the buses. Imho the same problem will be there for nonprofitable shinkansen routes once the government support runs out in a few years.

[Sacto1985]

kvp, I don't think JR Freight will abandon the former Hokuriku Main Line. With good reason: the Tokaidō Main Line between Tokyo and Osaka is already swamped with freight traffic, and given the importance of Hokkaido and northern Tōhoku regions for Japanese agricultural goods, that's why much of the Ōu and Uetsu Main Lines north of Niigata is still maintained in excellent shape for freight traffic so freight trains from northern Japan can go directly to the Keihanshin region more quickly through the former Hokuriku Main Line.

[miyakoji]

Surpized this didn't get any coverage.

 

IR Ishikawa Railway - Kanazawa to Kurikara

Ainokaze Toyama Railway - Kuikara to Ichikuri

Echigo Tokimeki Railway - Ichikuri to Naoetsu, Myoko-Kogen to Naoestu

Shinano Railway - Nagano to Myoko-Kogen

 

All replacements on the old Hokuiku Main Line and part of the Shinetsu Main Line.  Surprized JR East gave up the part of the Shinestu Main Line.

 

Sure these are downgrades for the associated lines, but new railways and liveries must be something worth talking about?

 

Near Itoigawa has some scenic views of the sea.  Surely some joyful trains might be born out of this?

 

I wonder if JR East will take over the whole Oito Line at some stage since JR West has now technically moved out of the area?

 

 Thanks for the post, I wasn't really paying attention either.  Are these companies just operators or do they own their sections of the line?  Wikipedia says Ainokaze has 155 employees as of January.  Were they transferred from JR West?  It seems like it would be difficult to start a railway company from scratch, considering some of the specialist knowledge/skills required.

 

I assume JRW will want to rid itself of the main line when the shinkansen line is extended toward Osaka.  I guess we'll see more of these companies at that time.

[katoftw]

I cannot give any info into the specific you asked.  I'd assume the staff would've been transferred.  As the stations would be manned by the same people.  Maintenance workers would wanna stay where they live also, so they probably would've just transferred also.  Not much info in English to find.

[westfalen]

I wouldn't mind betting that 155 employee count that they took over from JR West drops considerably over time as they realise it costs just as much to maintain and run their 100 km of main line as a seperate railway as it did when it was part of JR West, only without the resources the line shared with the rest of JRW.  I would imagine, as happens here, employees were given the opportunity to apply for positions elsewhere on JR West but many would have opted to stay where they were rather than move home and family.  Some of them may wish they made a different decision after a while.

 

I wonder how many employees were able to migrate over to the Shinkansen?

 

Every cloud has a silver lining but the reverse is also true.

[kvp]

These small companies probably have or need a working business model soon or lots of public money. If it was unprofitable for JR West to keep the lines, then it's very hard to make them profitable or at least break even with a small company. If the lines could be downgraded until they are efficient, then JRW would have done that. We see the same downgrades on other routes that are kept. The only reason these small companies exist is politicial, because when a train company is owned by the local government it's easier to route public funding to keep the trains running. If there was a way to make them profitable, then a private operator would have taken over or JRW would have kept them. Considering the lines are in the country many station employees transferred are probably near their retirement age, so keeping them at a publicly funded company means the government can keep them employed until they retire and their places won't be filled. Deferred maintenance could keep the lines running on minimal money for a few more years and when something brakes, either the local government pays for it or it will be abandoned.

 

The decision to switch to diesel operation is a cost saving measure, because it's cheaper to keep a few single car, one man diesels running than keep the catenary and the large emu-s operational. If some freight company wants to use it, they can maintain it on their own or pay for it themselves. If this money is not coming, then the catenary will be switched off after the first technical problem and then the other companies will be forced to switch to diesel operation too as freight usage revenues won't come anymore or even JRF will have to switch to diesel power, which is considering the low amount of freight on these lines is cheaper if you can't use overhead power for free. Imho soon JRF will have to either maintain their own freight routes as a class 1 company or switch to overhead independent power (like hybrid diesel electrics with AC/DC overhead option).

 

Pretty much this happened in the USA in the past as the rules of a free economy prefer not to provide services to unprofitable regions where population is low or poor. And most governments don't have the money to keep public services (like transit, healthcare, schools) operational in regions without enough economic power.

 

So my guess is that these small companies will be switching first to diesel power with single car one man trains and unattended stations, then to road buses (since roads are government maintained). Any freight on the lines will be switched to diesel power or rerouted to cheaper to operate routes. The only way to keep these lines operational and under wire seems to be if JR Freight takes over the lines an uses them mainly as freight routes. Small commuter sections around larger cities could remain under wire, but those parts are usually kept by the JR companies, because they are profitable.

 

ps: A possible way to save the rail infrastructure in Japan would be to nationalise all companies and spread the losses of the low traffic routes among the profit of the urban lines, but there is no political will to do this, so as long as everyone receives some form of minimal service (like a daily bus to the nearest city), the government probably won't do anything.

[Sacto1985]

kvp, to expand on what I said earlier, don't expect the overhead catenary wiring on the former Hokuriku Main LIne to be turned off soon.

 

Let's consider the following: the Tohoku region of Japan and Hokkaido are important agricultural regions, and a good fraction of the agricultural output are shipped out via JR Freight trains. As such, the Aomori Railway Line and Iwate Galaxy Railway Line--formerly part of the Tōhoku Main Line--between Aomori and Morioka are still maintained in excellent condition, given the freight traffic going south to the Kantō region. But such agricultural goods are more than just shipped to the Kantō region--they're also shipped to other parts of Japan, too. And this is where we have a big problem: the Tokaidō Main Line between Tokyo and Osaka is full of freight and a lot of passenger traffic, and that becomes a bottleneck for freight movements.As such, this is why the Ōu Main Line north of Akita and the Uetsu Main Line between Akita and Niigata are still maintained in excellent condition--it provides a way for agricultural goods that can be shipped by train to be shipped to central and western Japan without needing to deal with the heavy traffic between Tokyo and Osaka on the Tokaidō Main Line. Because of this advantage, the overhead catenary won't be turned off anytime soon.

 

I believe the primary reason why Echigo Tokimeki Railway chose to buy a variant of the KiHa 122 running on the former Hokuriki Main Line is that they don't want the expense of operating a dual-voltage EMU, since there is a change between 20,000 V AC and 1,500 V DC just east of Itoigawa Station. This is not the case for IR Ishikawa Railway and Ainokaze Toyama Railway, which operates the 521 Series EMU exclusively on 20,000 V AC power. And Echigo Tokimeki's Myōkō Haneuma Line can stay with EMU's, since the entire line is 1,500 V DC, using former JR East E127 EMU's. However, I do worry about using the ET122 on the former Hokuriku Main Line, since there are long tunnels between Itoigawa and Naoetsu Stations, and that could be an issue with diesel fumes, especially when the train stops at the underground Tsutsuishi Station. 

[westfalen]

I wonder how these new companies would fare if they ran a Ltd Exp service in competition with the Shinkansen on their section of the route, I would bet that many of the local travellers and tourists (there won't be the hoards of business men on expense accounts that the Tokaido Shinkansen has) would prefer a cheaper Ltd Exp service over the more scenic route.  But maybe the conditions of the sale of the lines prohibit them from doing so.

 

It is interesting, to me at least, that when a Shinkansen line opens all trains except locals on the parallel 3'6" lines are cancelled immediately forcing through passengers onto the extra fare Shinkansen whether they want to or not.  On the one exception that I can think of, Hakata to Kokura, the Ltd Exp trains always seem more crowded than the Kodamas on the Sanyo Shinkansen.

[kvp]

It is interesting, to me at least, that when a Shinkansen line opens all trains except locals on the parallel 3'6" lines are cancelled immediately forcing through passengers onto the extra fare Shinkansen whether they want to or not.  

Actually many passengers who could get away with one or two train changes will use the locals for medium distance travel or switch to a highway bus service that works door to door. (as shinkansen don't stop at smaller cities and villages and many times you can't reach the shinkansen stations by a single local train ride. (using the shinkansen could mean almost double distance, because you can't use a local line to go towards your destination, then switch to a limited express at a bigger station and switch back to another local at the last larger station, so many times you have to go in the opposite direction, take the shinkansen between the two big cities, then go backwards to your destination)

 

If Japan had a free access network for train operating companies (something that is mandatory in Europe), then a parallel passenger network could be run with cheap rolling stock. Something along the lines of a 'Willer Limited Express' or 'Willer Pink Trains' for night services. This would allow the local government owned lines a way to get extra revenue from the train operator and i'm sure many people (including most turists) would choose the highway bus rate or cheaper trains over the shinkansens, even if they are as slow as a bus. The problem is accessing the large cities as the JR companies don't have to allow other companies through running onto their network. The only company that has the right to do so is afaik JRF, but they are not allowed to provide any form of passenger transportation. (even though they have the capability to run long distance loco hauled trains)

Edited April 1, 2015 by kvp

[Sacto1985]

It is interesting, to me at least, that when a Shinkansen line opens all trains except locals on the parallel 3'6" lines are cancelled immediately forcing through passengers onto the extra fare Shinkansen whether they want to or not.  On the one exception that I can think of, Hakata to Kokura, the Ltd Exp trains always seem more crowded than the Kodamas on the Sanyo Shinkansen.

 

I believe that the limited express trains that run on the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line between Kokura and Hakata actually go a lot further than just between these two stations. If the information from Wikipedia is correct, the limited expresses that run beyond the Hakata-Kokura route are thus:

 

Sonic -- Kokura east to Ōita on the Nippō Main Line

Kirameki -- Kokura east to Mojikō on the Kagoshima Main Line

[westfalen]

I believe that the limited express trains that run on the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line between Kokura and Hakata actually go a lot further than just between these two stations. If the information from Wikipedia is correct, the limited expresses that run beyond the Hakata-Kokura route are thus:

 

Sonic -- Kokura east to Ōita on the Nippō Main Line

Kirameki -- Kokura east to Mojikō on the Kagoshima Main Line

I realise that but when I've travelled between Hakata and Kokura by Kodama I've often had a whole car to myself whereas the Sonics always seem to have all seats taken and passengers standing in every available space, I'm sure they aren't all going all the way to Oita, by the same token the Kodamas go further than Kokura as well.

 

My point being that passengers will go for the cheaper option if they have a choice even if it's a little slower, which the opening of a new Shinkansen line usually takes away.  I believe that as they get further away from the main corridors Shinkansen extensions are more of unnecessary expenses than needed improvements.

Edited April 3, 2015 by westfalen

[Sacto1985]

I wonder why people prefer Kirameki and Sonic over the Shinkansen Kodama train between Hakata and Kokura, despite the fact the Shinkansen is actually a touch less expensive and three times faster.

[katoftw]

Because Hakata and Kokura are only 2 stops.  Not everybody gets on and off at these stations.

[Sacto1985]

Because Hakata and Kokura are only 2 stops.  Not everybody gets on and off at these stations.

 

I'd love the see the ridership patterns of the Kodama trains between Kokura and Hakata Stations between 0600 to 0900 and 1600 to 1900 hours JST on weekdays. My guess is that the trains are much more closer to full in these hours for people commuting between these two cities (Kitakyushu, which surrounds Kokura Station, has grown to be a pretty big city in recent years).