Comfy Winter EditionOld Thread: >>1938049
>>1938364Can't read those moon runes
Is there a way where I can get from Sapporo to Fukuoka on just narrow gauge train?
>>1972151Given that you basically have to cross from Hakodate to Aomori with ferry and just take "regular" trains all the way, do you hate yourself that much?
>>1972152I've done Tokyo to Osaka before via local, so yeah I do hate myself
>>1972151>>1972152Technically still possible to cross from Hokkaido to Honshu on narrow gauge, but you'll need to seek employment with JR Freight to do it.
>>1972168Well I just found this from JR east. Seems to operate certain parts of the year https://www.jreast.co.jp/shiki-shima/en/course3401.html
>>1972181>the fuggin shikishimaFinding employment with JR freight is probably easier and cheaper than that lottery based unicorn for the uber wealthy.
>>1972151I've done Sapporo to Fukuoka on Shinkansen, and it's already painful. I swore I would take a plane the next time.That said, Japanese shilltubers do the no-shinkansen schtick like this all the time. Look up any variation on this theme. To cross from Honshu into Hokkaido, you need a seasonal/rinji service because the only there choices are Shinkansen or freight>>1972091Shinkansen in-car wagon sales ended, as an industry trend. And yes, people buying shit at the stations and bringing them onboard killed it.
What are the implications of having ballasts instead of slabs in my metro line?
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/3148a12b08c35846431c051d97950b940b2a7f31Due to significant damages, Nanao Line north of Hakui station (both JR and Noto Railways operated segments) have no determined recovery schedule.Note that, Noto Railroad as a third sector operator of Nanao Line north of Nanao station is a trackless operator and the track for this segment is still owned by JR West.Note, it seems like other infrastructures besides railroad north of Hakui city are also including road, power, communication, and such are also having difficult time to recover.
>>1972431It's never coming back fug I wish I rode it now.
>>1972431It wasn't until I looked it up I realized Noto Railway is a type 2 operator! JR West own the actual tracks themselves. It turns out Noto Railway owned a previous JNR line themselves (type 1) before it closed down along with some parts of the Nanao line almost 20 years ago.But since Noto Railway is just owned by Ishikawa Pref. anyway, there's nothing stopping them from making a deal with JR West for a buyout of the line in exchange for discharging JR's essential service duties for the line like Toyama Pref. did, or they can as the pref gov't (like Niigata and Fukushima) pay for the line's reconstruction, own it (type 1 operator), and JR West just operates the trains (type 2 operator) as part of the deal like the Tadami Line (where JR East drive a very hard bargain)
>>1972270Unless you need high speeds, ballast is generally preferable.The usual reason to not use ballast is, that stones start flying around, if the trains' speed is sufficiently high, i.e. HSR-high, which would damage trains and tracks.
Looks like no one wants to be a bus driver at Hokkaido. With that, people are really wondering if JR Hokkaido should really abolish the line between Hakodate and Otaruhttps://youtu.be/w4VMrL_ZHWg?feature=shared
>>1972567Good news for the yoichi-otaru portion of the Hakodate main line, maybe it survives after all
>>1972443The thing is they currently have a lot of different things on hand to fox before railroad, and given ridership of the railroad they can be said as pretty low priority.
Apparently these are pretty old news, but JR Kyushu had repaired the KiHa 220-1102 DMU car, which suffered flood damage back in 2020 and repurposed it as an inspection train (BE220-1) to replace its aging MaYa 34-2009 inspection car.https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/news/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2023/10/26/20231026_big_eye.pdfSL Hitoyoshi will officially wind down service and has its last run on March 23rd.https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/common/inc/news/newtopics/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2023/02/24/230224_arigatou_sl.pdf
>>1972567The thing is, JR Hokkaido already has 42 station closures in the pipeline network-wide. https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20230626-jrhokkaido/Most severe examples include leaving only 2 stations between Mori and Yakumo, only Kunnui between Yakumo and Oshamanbe and only Koboro between Oshamanbe and Toyoura. So bus companies, which are already understaffed, are expected to pick up the slack even if the lines are kept.>>1972675Yeah, with other sections it will make more sense to subsidize extra pay for bus drivers, but Yoichi-Otaru is short enough, and has high enough usage that there is a valid point in keeping just it to avoid the driver shortage.
>>1972675>>1972908Correct me if I'm wrong, but regardless if the line goes away, JR Freight still goes down that section of track right?
>>1972952JRF Takes the Muroran Mainline to Sapparo.
>>1972952Muroran Main Line is preferred for ltd. exp. and freight except during extreme weather (shoreline) or volcanic activity.This is why there is a "national interest" for the section of the Hakodate Mail Line south of Oshamambe, but not the mountainous section north of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwUyZ8fajdQJR Kyushu CM
>>1973161>46sPlap plap plap plap get densha get densha get densha!!!!
>>1972908Those closing stations have average daily ridership less than 3, or 1. Not really a level that can justify anything beyond on demand traffic option.As for Otaru to Yoichi section of the line, the problem is JR Hokkaido is legally authorized to abandon the line without any need to care or concern about its consequence, while local Yoichi township is of course care about it however they cannot afford funding the few kilometers as an independent rail line just by itself. And that is while Hokkaido prefectural governor believe JR Hokkaido need more cuts and the national government which have to balance demands from all local governments around the nation and cannot exactly show favouritism else everyone will be asking for the same. So the path with least resistance going forward is for the Yoichi Town to die, with its residents who need to commute to Otaru or Sapporo abandon their home and move away.
>>1973180I think other than the fact Shinkansen discharges JR Hokkaido's essential service obligations, the bigger problem is Yoichi - Otaru is not electrified, and JR Hokkaido does not want to spend the money and effort to get dual diesel/electric trains like JR East does even if you pay them. Most very short lines have through operation with their bigger counterparts for economies of scale, etc. This is completely stupid of course because there's going to be an Otaru Shinkansen station! It's so shortsighted they won't spend the small amount of money now to keep easy tourism dollars flowing. it doesn't help the governor of Hokkaido is generally hostile to railways and happy to make a deal with JR Hokkaido in wrecking their (non-urban/suburban) network
Can't believe that in my lifetime rail transport in Hokkaido will just be the Shinkansen, the Chitose Line and the Sapporo Subway I should really ride all the way up to Wakkanai and Nemuro one of these days
>>1973186Wasn't one of the selling points of the H100 that it was designed to be intercompatible with a future electric train for hybrid operation?
>>1973186Another day I am forgotten.
>>1973243At least it is still in use after almost 27 years, which is a much better fate than the KiHa 285 prototype (I still contend JR Hokkaido should have sold it to someone else who might be interested)
>>1973186The solution is to merge Shikoku and Hokkaido......call it JNR
>>1973260JR Shikoku is in less deep shit because their property and hotel buisness is actually in the green, so any attempt to join it with JR Hokkaido would just end up draining that and killing them off.
>>1973259The only thing these had were hybrid assist but I don't think they were able to multiple work with emus like the kiha201.
>>1973260But both of these are in fact paid for by the JNR settlement corporation, government trust fund, etc. The national government continues to fund all non-publicly traded JRs abut in a roundabout way, and pressure to cut losses and actually make money is just the government of the day throwing a hissy fit every so often
>>1973239the H100/GV-E400 (JR East) are still fundamentally DMUs, just hybrid diesel-electric ones.If you want to traverse electrified AND non electrified sections of a line, you need something like a JR East ACCUM (goes just north of Utsunomiya and also Oka Line) or JR Kyushu DENCHA, where the electric power is stored onboard and used in the non-electrified sections. Train Suite Shiki-Shima does this also
>>1972216>Shinkansen in-car wagon sales ended, as an industry trend.So no more funny Japanese guys who get drunk while riding a train during Obon?
>>1973361There are still alcohol-serving trains running seasonally (where drinking is the point), and on regular trains people are bringing their own alcohol onboard (from Kiosk or whatever else is at the station)
>>1973269NoJR Hokkaido have Hokkaido Shinkansen which actually have potential for profit after extension to Sapporo open, JR Shikoku have no such thing.>>1973313The funds and such are all in their own account and not actually funded by the government. Not even back when in the JNR day did the government directly help funded it. Which was the reason of great debt, and the only way the government get involved was the shouldering of some debt during privatization of JNR into JR. Being owned by national government doesn't mean they have access to national budget.
I saw someone mentioned that, with all Nozomi turning into no free seat during long holidays, maybe it's wise to alleviate capacity demand by running temporary Limited Express on the parallel conventional Tokaido Main Line
>>1973385>JR Hokkaido have Hokkaido Shinkansen which actually have potential for profit after extension to Sapporo openThe problem with the Sapporo extension is, that unlike with Kyuushuu, there is not much urban population between Hakodate and Sapporo (or in Sapporo's backyard).It may ultimately work out for JR Hokkaidou, but the question is at what cost to the people anywhere else in Hokkaidou.>JR Shikoku have no such thing.What (JR) Shikoku really needs is direct access through Awajishima, but that's JR West territory after all.1067mm rail would be more than enough (maybe Hokuhoku Line-style). Calls for a Shinkansen are out of place, and mostly made in order to increase the probability of money flowing there.Look, I'd love to see a Shinkansen from Wakkanai to Makurazaki, but at this point it's looking fishy, if there is even the case to be made for 1067mm rail between those places.
>>1973393>I'd love to see a Shinkansen from Wakkanai to MakurazakiThat is not going to happen. I've been to Wakkanai twice, once in summer and once in winter, and in both cases there weren't that many people using the train.It's a great train ride, though. Give it a try if you have the opportunity.
>>1973393That there aren't much people living between Hakodate and Sapporo is not relevant. What is relevant is people elsewhere of Hokkaido live to the east and to the north of Sapporo that extension of Shinkansen to those places are still out of question for now.As for railway through Awajishima,- There are no rule saying railway on Shikoku must be JR West instead of JR Shikoku, and if constructed it will nake the most sense to be under JR Shikoku. Same as why Hokkaido Shinkansen extended all the way into Honshu.- As a brand new right of way there are minimal cost difference between constructing it for a full new Shinkansen or constructing it for conventional trains. Per data from Yamagata Shinkansen new tunnel construction, there're only merely ~10% cost difference between Shinkansen or otherwise. I don't understand why anyone would still advocate for non-Shinkansen with this minimal cost difference.- And connection via Awajishima is really only more convenient to Tokushima. It'd be a bit faster than but in fact wouldn't change that much for people from Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Kochi. Another effect of connection via Awajishima is simplifying branchings for trains going to Honshu and travelling within Shikoku between different prefectural capitals, but that doesn't really matter if you're keeping them as conventional express like now.>>1973405The thing about further Shinkansen extension in.Hokkaido is that it's like building high speed rail in the United States. There are sparse population and travel mode of people there are already mostly motorized. But high speed rail can still pffer meaningful time gain that can attract people otherwise driving their own cars to use it instead.
>>1973548>The thing about further Shinkansen extension in.Hokkaido is that it's like building high speed rail in the United StatesThere's a reason why most Shinkansen extensions past some population density are actually paid for and owned by JRTT (let's not kid ourselves, it's pork barrel spending all over again) and the regional JR just does the operations.To extend your analogy, the more established parts of the Shinkansen network are kind of like a Brightline, where the fundamentals of the area it runs through are good and it's self-sustaining. The JRTT-owned sections of the Shinkansen are all running through marginal revenue areas, see steep discounts that bring Shinkansen fares down to a Ltd. Exp. level or less (leisure markets), and is justified by "public good provision" for government spending.The problem is, these extensions also blow up the old model of Ltd. Exp. fares on the route subsidizing unprofitable fare-constrained local service and freight getting a free lunch with very marginal track usage fees they're required to pay by the JNR breakup law. This is also why JR Freight loathes taking over any conventional lines themselves and always wants local government to kick in money in a 3rd sector house of cards
>>1973553That's totally not what I mean.
>>1972091>all elementary school-level runesngmi, dekinai, etc.>>1973187Always wanted to see Hokkaido, but definitely not without trains.
>>1973385>JR Hokkaido have Hokkaido Shinkansen which actually have potential for profit after extension to Sapporo open, JR Shikoku have no such thing.Let's use the amount of express or similar trains as a quick(and admittedly not perfect) estimate of demand>Hakodate - Sapporo: 11 trains/direction/day(all Hokuto)versus>Okayama - Matsuyama: 15 t/d/d(all Shiokaze)>Okayama - Takamatsu: 39 t/d/d(38 Marine Liners and Sunrise Seto)>Okayama - Kochi: 14 t/d/d(all Nanpuu)>no direct Okayama - Tokushima train>Takamatsu - Matsuyama: 17 t/d/d(all Ishizuchi)>Takamatsu - Kochi: 4 t/d/d(all Shimanto)>Takamatsu - Tokushima: 17 t/d/d(all Uzushio)>no other direct trains between the four citiesIf even fucking Kochi has more limited express trains than Hakodate, then any argument about low demand can go straight in the trash. The question that can, and should, be asked is whether Okayama would be the best place to branch if a new line was to be built.As a side note, I checked Sapporo - Asahikawa and it has 26 t/d/d(13 Lilac, 10 Kamui, 1 Soya and 2 Okhotsk) which shows potential for shinkansen, if not at least mini-shinkansen(especially if the one to Hakodate goes through)
>>1973608There are also strong bus and air transportation competition. And unlike Kyushu, the improvement in transportation time due to Shinkansen is immerse and is expected to be able to capture most demand. Also through traffic from/to Sapporo connecting rest of Japan.Don't forget Hakodate alone is already enough to fill 1/4 capacity of the 10 trains they currently offer despite Hakodate only have 0.2M population and air traffic demand from Tokyo to Hakodate being less strong than SapporoAs for Asahikawa, Mini Shinkansen doesn't mean much since speed is going to be the same. If desired then the line should be full shinkansen. But I suspect they might want to upgrade the line to New Chitose first
Actually, one thing that got on mind recently is about the ridiculous speed of China’s HSR. Their 2 longest lines: Jinghu and Wuhan both have top speed of 350 kph, despite (allegedly) based on stolen Shikansen techs.JR East is still not there yet with the speed increases on the Tohoku Shinkansen, and other lines have no plan to improve their top speedSo, why China can run trains at 350 kph but Japan can’t? Is it all boil down to regulations (noise?), or there is something bigger?
>>1974004Mostly has to do with sound regulation, Japanese have been doing tests for 360kph and 400kph with AlfaX but it's mostly been in the field of pantograph/line wear, tunnel boom and trackside insulation noise. If I remember right Joetsu shinkansen rebuild is going to be based around a lot of that as well.
Former member of both the House of Councilors and House of Representatives Yasuo Yamashita (Socialist/Democrat) was arrested for fraud and forgery of signed documents. According to Aichi Prefectural police, on 27 April the 79-year-old politician pretended to be another house member who is still active, in order to bilk Shinkansen and green car tickets for over 10 years after he lost re-electionhttp://blog.esuteru.com/archives/9875584.htmlhttps://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/山下八洲夫
>>1972896It's very cute. I've often wondered, why is the 800-series Shinkansen the only self-inspecting train and nothing else is designed like it?
If Sakhalin becomes Japanese clay again, who will be in charge of the rail there or will there be a JR Sakhalin
>>1974449>SakhalinWay back when, it was just government railways (Ministry of Railways/Japanese Government Railways). This was before the advent of state enterprise (JNR) and the partition and privatization there of (JR)FWIW, Japan has never had a good track record holding onto Sakhalin, only settling for 1/2 of it, and eventually none of it.
>>1974004Tohoku Shinkansen will see max speed improvement work soon, what they will do is to have higher noise proof barriers around tracks and longer extensions around tunnel.The reason to choose jot to do that on other lines is mainly due to money, both operational and financial.Other than noise regulation, main barriers that bar high speed rail from running higher speed is mainly the maximum gradient and minimum turning radius of the line, which have more to do with how the line are draw on the map and have less to do with technicality.Many max 250km/h lines in China intentionally adopted tighter curve to prevent them from upgrading to 350km/h in the future, due to result of internal political conflicts.>>1974449Japan do not currently claim Sakhalin. If Sakhalin somehow come under Japan administration in the future, management of it will likely be similar to Okinawa, with specific financing scheme for government operation including transportation there. I don't think they will just sold it to JR Hokkaido. It also depends on nature of the takeover, which might be possible for them to directly adopt Russian organization for their use.
https://twitter.com/jrwest_Hokuriku/status/1748253358119641462Nanao line will resume service to Wakura Onsen station mid Feb.
Why does it seems that Japanese rolling stock export business is dying? A big chunk of rolling stock contracts are going to CRRC these days, and they even cutting in line on some direct orders. The only time when Japan do exports is when they build something railway related with ODA loans.
>>1974528* To Noto Nakajima stationhttps://twitter.com/shinkansen_ex/status/1748257346873377267
>>1974529When you sell at below market prices and don’t need to make money because you operate solely for political purposes for an oppressive police state seeking foreign influence does wonders for sales. Remember huawei and telecom equipment? Exactly the same thing is going on now here
People getting notslagic about the kiha 40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaUrdlrz-Sc
https://tabiris.com/archives/seishun2023spring/On the topic of Hokuriku Shinkansen and Seishun 18 Kippu>bad newsKanazawa not reachable in any way>good newsThere is a special exception that allows you to go from Tsuruga to Echizen-Hanando to access the Etsumi-Hoku line, which almost gets you to Fukui. However you MUST get off at Echizen-Hanando, because if you go straight to Fukui the Seishun 18 Kippu will not cover any of it and you'll be asked to pay full price.
>>1975208Objectively, Kiha 40s had terrible “box” seats (box seats are universally bad unless you only travel in a party of 4). I can understand the nostalgia, but who the hell designs seats like that inside a train nowadays? Too bad about the line though, it’s almost like JR Hokkaido is trying to fragment their network as much as possible.>>1975535I realize we’re talking about railfans here, but you have to be a sadist to go any truly far distance on a seishun18. Even a nice and comfy Ltd exp can be tiresome after 5 hrs (e.g the full length of a trip on the Thunderbird)
>>1975577I wouldn't sit on a train a whole day like tetsuota youtubers make you think people do, but my original plan for my Japan trip was to use it riding 1-2 hours at a time and visiting various places on the way with a few multi-day stops where I'm not using it. In the end I had to reschedule out of the Seishun 18 season, but I'm still considering it for the next trip. And looking at current timetables Tsuruga to Fukui is only 50 minutes on a local train.
>>1975660Personally, I think the Seishun18 is never worth it for a tourist, because your time is very expensive given the nature of short stays in some area as a tourist. Conversely, if you live somewhere (e.g. Tokyo suburbs) it's probably no fun just taking the train near where you live either... If you have a lot of time to waste (or am a masochist) I can understand how it would make sense, but if you don't spend the time to go far enough you don't get your money's worth which defeats the purpose of seishun18 itself./boomer rant
>>1975535Honestly, if one is using Seishum 18 and want to go to Hokuriku, just get 北陸おでかけtabiwaパス instead.
>>1974577Kinda sad that the world revolves around cheap replaceable shit instead of expensive things that lasts forever now. I guess most decision makers tend to look at upfront costs instead of operating costs these days.
Got to see my favorite JNR rice cooker one last time before they're all retired
https://twitter.com/nana0121kiyo/status/1751575222724280784Kawasaki freight terminal station is now burning
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/ad5ef45146dcd6a67ddb213d21472a7ae8a15ec2Japanese government consider adding railway staff and vehicle driver to list of industry accepting foreign workers.For railway, it is expected to cover driver, conductor, station staff, train manufacturing workers, and so on.
>>1976470>imagine being the gaijin that does the announcements in JapaneseOn a serious note, hiro (2ch/4chan owner) has literally appeared on TV where the other talking head was some crooked politician talking about Japan needs more immigrant workers, etc. and his response was there are plenty of people in Japan who want to work, how about you actually pay them more? Don’t join the race to the bottom of the labor market. Look at what the ruling class has done to every other country around the world, enriched themselves at YOUR expense
>>1976637Salary in Japan is indeed too low, especially for jobs claiming worker shortage, like farners, conbini workers, drivers, and such.However, Japan do have low unemployment rate. And most hikki who hide in their own home are hikki not because of wage being low.So there will still be labor shortage after the much needed salary increase.Also, specifically for trains and buses and trucks, hiking salary will result in increase in cost. Which mean many services that are currently making loses or are being marginal, will need significant amount of money injection to maintain and continue. In Western countries, this was usually done by government subsidy to transit. However in Japan, there are no social norm for national government to provide such a big subsidy to transit not to mention their debt making them hard to, and regional government do not have a budget large enough to do so. So they will end up dead like American rail network before the formation of Amtrak.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/yamaguchi/20240129/4060019259.htmlSan'in main line segment broken by rain last summer expected to get fixed, but a bridge will need at least 1.5 more years, and hope to enter discussion about the line's future with local government.On the other hand, Mi'ne line due to having to coordinate with plan for works on the rriver hence it haven't reached the stage to consider recovery.
>>1976470>Japanese government consider adding railway staff and vehicle driver to list of industry accepting foreign workers.>For railway, it is expected to cover driver, conductor, station staff, train manufacturing workers, and so on.I thought that at least some of those jobs, like conductor, typically had far more applicants than positions. Didn't think they would be hurting for people to fill those.
>>1976648It's so vile that the biggest JRs routinely use natural disasters to negotiate against local government to get out of their essential service obligations. Even when the line survives the endgame is always a Tadami Line-style deal where local/national governments pick up all infrastructure costs, maintenance, and JR comes back only as a Type 2 operator (only operate trains), and in the case of the Tadami Line they held a gun to the gov't head and got them to agree JR East doesn't even have to pay track fees.On an unrelated note, just how mutilated rivers and streams are in Japan is absolutely repulsive. Almost everything is damed and channelized (concrete poured all over it), considered extremely backwards today. Advanced economies around the world are spending money ripping out these channelized streams and restoring natural ecosystem function. The only reason anyone would pour more concrete today is if you're involved in a construction scam with your local political hacks...
>>1976652>Advanced economies around the world......as long as they have room to spare.Japan doesn't have any fucking room to spare.
>>1976652>get out of their essential service obligationsIs JR *legally* mandated to maintain services in rural areas?
>>1976768As part of the JNR breakup and settlement law, all successor passenger JR firms were legally mandated to continue service on JNR routes they inherit except where expressly abolished by law (many were, with partly constructed leftovers picked up by local gov’t and completed as so called “3rd sector” lines or if local govt just wanted to keep their railway the national government designated unimportant). JR firms may end their essential service obligation with the consent of all local governments the line passes through. The law only requires JR operate the trains however, and is silent on infrastructure. This is why when something major inevitably happens that cannot be remedied by routine maintenance suddenly JR has options.You often hear bandied around in Japan that urbanites are subsidizing trains in the middle of nowhere, and this is where it comes from through fares even when the government is not involved.
>>1976647>Salary in Japan is indeed too lowWhile it is low compared to other countries, you also have to remember that CPI in Japan has been basically frozen since the late '90s. It's kind of astounding that their cost of living hasn't really changed in almost 2 decades.>Also, specifically for trains and buses and trucks, hiking salary will result in increase in cost. Which mean many services that are currently making loses or are being marginal, will need significant amount of money injection to maintain and continue.While JNR had a lot of issues, the push to turn public services like transit into for-profit private businesses was a mistake. Nothing comes close to a national government in terms of being able to fund unprofitable things like transit or utilities.>>1976652>On an unrelated note, just how mutilated rivers and streams are in Japan is absolutely repulsiveThis is literally for flood control save for a few downtown rivers in Tokyo and Osaka. Prior to the mid-late 1800s, every spring would see rivers overflow their banks and wipe out houses, the early train lines, roads, farmland, etc. If anything, Japan's done better than most advanced economies in keeping the benefits (irrigation and soil renewal, public recreation, etc) while still keeping them from wiping out their towns.
>>1976660This is completely nonsense with modern engineering and hydrology which has advanced by leaps and bounds>>1976823"flood control" has always been used as the bullshit reason for this version of government waste (bridge to nowhere, etc.). Why do you think people historically lived near rivers? because it's fertile farmland. Why is it fertile farmland? Because it floods! Flooding is a natural event that is *suppose* to happen if you want to do that sort of thing near it (farming). Don't like floods? Don't live near a river that seasonally and cyclically floods! No amount of engineering can cure stupidity.>Japan's done better than most advanced economies in keeping the benefits (irrigation and soil renewal, public recreation, etc)I know people who will say this and like the "satoyama" idea, but personally I find any sort of system that is not self sustaining and requires constant human intervention just greenwashing. This is the sort of "it's ok because we do it in Japan" kind of nonsense.
>>1976834Yeah let's abandon half of the Kanto plain because flooding is good, actually.>Why do you think people historically lived near rivers? because it's fertile farmland. Why is it fertile farmland? Because it floods!You should maybe look into the Haber-Bosch process, it's pretty wild that we are no longer at the whims of natural disasters to keep farmland nice and fertile.
>>1976834Have you been to an "information" event organized by a "Green" party?Your text reads a lot like that. Don't believe their lies.That's the one good thing about Japanese politics: No "Green" party.Otherwise they'd be in for a similar catastrophe as Germany.
>>1976834>Don't like floods? Don't live near a river that seasonally and cyclically floods!Don't like floods? Don't have tracks near a river that seasonally and cyclically floods!With this logic, JR could and would abandon so lines.>inb4 "They already do that."
>>1976899You are now aware government railways and later JNR built lines for political reasons (pork barrel politics) and not based on anything else
>>1976936Then you have no issue with JR abandoning those lines, right?
https://twitter.com/nototetsu/status/1752512758053286396Noto Railways full restoration targeting mid-April
>>1976936Suits thinks they should all be abolished, who am I to argue?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NnH4iruhA
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/36396cc277d1ffb1c440690c9b35ebe5ee0d35f8Tokyo coastal area subway line, expected to through run with TX, is now decided to operate by Rinkai Line's operator Tokyo Rinkai, on the anticipation that it can provide single transfer to Haneda Airport through Haneda Access Line that will through run toward Rinkai line. It's expected to open in 2040s.
>Nankai Dentetsu
>>1974529>>1974577Correct, also, the only place that frequently buys trains is Europe anyways. Hitachi on the list is basically Ansaldo Breda (which scammed operators way too many times to actually survive until 2016) + UK wanting to virtue signal for Brexit
>>1977630No Chinks or Nog signs I can understand but what the fuck could fucking Nankai employees have done to warrant being banned from a store?
>>1977857It's become a larger story:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmwLSNOvqgMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFfiaKXhDGsEffectively Nankai held a party at a bar and thought the bill was a little too high, demanding money back.
>>1977865>manager blocks exit and points to a paper sign at register labelled 食べ越し
JR Shikoku will be building their own hybrid trains to replace its DMUs, two 2 car prototype sets will be built by the end of 2025 and mass production will begin in 2027.https://www.jr-shikoku.co.jp/03_news/press/2024%2002%2014%2003.pdf
>>1979668>https://www.jr-shikoku.co.jp/03_news/press/2024%2002%2014%2003.pdfDo they really design or build it themselves? Are these not just re-skinned versions of what JRTT already developed over time and the other JRs use on their lines built by whoever (Nippon sharyo, Kawasaki heavy industries, Hitachi, etc.) is already doing them?
https://tabiris.com/archives/miyazaki-shinkansen2024/Miyazaki prefecture decided to join Oita in pondering about alternative Shinkansen routes. This time the proposed route goes >Shin-Yatsushiro - Hitoyoshi - Kobayashi - MiyazakiOn one hand, this route doesn't depend on the Oita - Miyazaki section of the West Kyushu Shinkansen, which is arguably the second least likely section to ever be built(first being San'in Shinkansen west of Izumo). It also opens the door to direct trains past Fukuoka to Hiroshima or Shin-Osaka.On the other it doesn't cover Miyakonojo and would be inconvenient(although still faster) for Kagoshima. Also if you see Tetsubozu's video on the topic, he claims that it'd only be 15m+transfer time faster to Fukuoka than the Kagoshima - Miyazaki section of West Kyushu Shinkansen, but for whatever reason he is assuming a speed of 210kph.https://youtu.be/-hQgy_Mf5U0And then there's Kumamoto prefecture's negotiations for rebuilding the Hisatsu line. We don't know whether they'd consider this a good or a bad thing. The repair has been estimated for 235 billion yen lasting over ten years(meaning it'll go over budget due to inflation, even in Japan), so that's not that far off new Shinkansen territory, and a Shinkansen line could be easier to convince the government to give money for. And then there's potential of bringing people from further away into Hitoyoshi Onsen with Shinkansen. I could see it happen, but I could also see none of the routes being built at all.
>>1976936JNR built lines for political reason because they had no profit incentives. Thanks for proving the point that public entities are inefficient heaps of shit.As for the Q "WHY DON'T JR BUILD LINES FAR FROM WHERE IT FLOODS???"Anyone looking at a google earth of Japan would easily see 80% of the country is mountains (possibly one of the highest rates in the world), and the only relatively flat places people can live and trains can go through (since trains are inherently bad at navigating steep slopes) is valleys, which are valleys precisely because rivers over millions of years of erosion dug a valley where water would pass.Telling Japanese not to live where it floods would just mean wiping out 99% of usable land. Flood plains and river valleys are the only place for civilization because Japanese terrain is so insanely hostile!
>>1974529>Seimens
>>1976153Did they have their doors removed in an upgrade or is their another reason for the high cabin?
>>1980361They never had low cabs unless it was one of those "wide view" cabs. Not all of the 381s have intermediate cab doors.
>>1976153>>1980361What was your favorite 381 series color?Pretty sad to see the last express train from the JNR days finally dissapear. Personally I like the lavender, since it's such a unique color palette
This is the schedule for when each color will dissapearJR West is very nice to actually bother repainting them just for nostalgia's sake, before they go to scraps
>>1980249I don't think the shinkansen is a realistic option, there isn't much potential aside from Hitoyoshi onsen and the terrain is extremely mountainous this will cost much much more than rebuilding the existing line.While the Hisatsu line was damaged, some sections are still intact. I drove along it not so long ago parts of the embankment have been restored and other parts have already been rebuilt for the "emergency road" so you could say they already invested in it. The part they would need to rebuild would be from Watari to Dan but even there some sections are still intact but 2 large bridges are missing and that will be costly. They would also need to think of a new flood management for the Kuma river. The section Yoshimatsu - Hitoyoshi is intact by the way except for one crossing in Hitoyoshi where they removed the rails for whatever reason. The only reason they don't run there is because the signalling equipment in Hitoyoshi was underwater and damaged but in my opinion that's just an excuse by JR Kyushu. It was obvious from the meetings they held with the prefecture that JR Kyushu does not want the line anymore and are playing for time in the hope that the Kumamoto prefecture looses interest in it. The line has potential though and the tourist trains were always full, the seven stars ran the line as well so there is definitely potential and the prefecture knows this.
I want to ride one rail line, back and forth, across several Super Expresses, over the course of a single day. Basically taking the Hida on something like:>Nagoya -> Takayama -> Nagoya -> Takayama -> Nagoyaso I can enjoy the scenery along the line.Because I'm ending up at the same place I start at, I could just buy a platform ticket for Nagoya Station, right? Or even a ticket for one stop away, and then get out there at the end of the day and walk home. As long as I reserve and pay properly for all the seats on the Super Expresses, there shouldn't be any problem, right?
>>1980738The one time I did get checked in a limited express the train staff asked to see the base fare ticket after I shown him my limited express ticket, and it was in JR Central area, going from Minobu to Kofu.
>>1980738>Because I'm ending up at the same place I start at, I could just buy a platform ticket for Nagoya Station, right?Nope, you're not allowed on trains with just a platform ticket.https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule45.html>入場券では列車には乗車できません。お乗りになった場合は別に運賃をお支払いいただきます。>Or even a ticket for one stop away, and then get out there at the end of the day and walk home. As long as I reserve and pay properly for all the seats on the Super Expresses, there shouldn't be any problem, right?Nope, that trick only works if you stay in a 大都市近郊区間 and you don't back track.
>>1980685>The only reason they don't run there is because the signalling equipment in Hitoyoshi was underwater and damaged but in my opinion that's just an excuse by JR KyushuYeah that's bullshit, especially since there are railways in Japan that run day-to-day on physical tokens like Yuri Kogen in Akita or the Kumagawa Railroad that is right fucking next to the line and scheduled to have trains running to Hitoyoshi-Onsen station again next year.
>>1980453I also love the purple color, the ranking for me is purple >= JNR >= renewal (green) > yuttari (red)Something about the red/white just looks off to me
>>1980453Kokutetsu just has a nice feeling to it. I don't mind the Yuttari one because it kind of echoes back to it, but they're all good. I wish Super Yakumo livery had a border around the text to make it easier to read, perhaps in the color of the white-ish strip on the front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjYWBYmB46YJR Hokkaido is pumping out farewell videos for the section of the Nemuro line to be discontinued
What are your overall opinions on the Japanese railway network? How do you think it compares with other countries?
>>1981185It goes without saying that Japan probably has the best train network (that includes everything from light rail, subways, commuter, passenger and freight) in the world and I'm not just saying this because we're on an anime website.
>>1981185Urban networks are world class, rural rail is pretty fucking shit, freight is embarrassing and there is some neat lrt systems as well. Cool luxury trains but man I miss blue trains like you don't believe and ongoing service cuts hurt.
>>1981185What's the point? In a deterministic world, railways are a function of society's preferences for transportation, tolerance for government intervention (be in favor or against railways), subject to a budget line (wealth). This renders any "comparison" meaningless. Fuck you and fuck your other countries.>>1981339>miss blue trains like you don't believeOperators have smartened up and figured out charging a few people exuberant prices that they happily put themselves on a waitlist for is a much better business to be in than operating railcars full of unimpressive dormitory-style bunk beds with government-set price constraints.I can appreciate the nice new stuff they have now like the West Express Ginga, but not old-style blue trains like what you literally find as hostels now in places like Train Hostel Hokutosei in Bakurocho. Rose-colored nostalgia glasses only go so far for me (Non-rotating box seats in old JNR cars also drive me insane)
>>1981339>freight is embarrassing Which is now coming back to bite them since some industries are now struggling with a truck driver shortage but since almost all rail lines that connect industries are ripped up and land sold there is no way back. This is the problem if you are only looking at profits and discard everything else. The Japanese rail network is probably the most rationalized in existence, it is being designed to the train schedule, every siding/line that doesn't see a certain amount of trains is immediately discarded as useless and cut off.. this is also problematic when delays occur since there is no place to let a delayed express train pass another train since there are only a limited number of passing tracks in mainlines and bi directional running is not really possible aside from lines that have ATC.
>>1980685>Hisatsu LineIt's blatantly obvious that JR Kyushu just straight up doesn't want it. All you need to do do see it is look at Google Street View.>https://www.google.com/maps/@32.2525616,130.6457361,3a,75y,345.12h,64.13t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1syalDhoBffObq0S4aSZtQZQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i17?ucbcb=1&entry=ttutracks (neatly) disassembled because rebuilding adds more work and cost>https://www.google.com/maps/@32.243513,130.6649872,3a,40.4y,112.66h,90.04t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sopA70ru_6rQ1YMVYpxqeEw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i17?ucbcb=1&entry=ttuone of 2 crossings outside of the emergency road section partially paved off for no apparent reason other than adding more work and cost>https://www.google.com/maps/@32.2968656,130.5986412,3a,90y,234.22h,78.76t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sWkmsIZ7nkh9RfMlkr7uonQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i48?ucbcb=1&entry=ttuspeaking of the emergency road, with the flood happening in 2020, why does the 2021 street view car go on the normal road, but the 2024street view car(go a bit in either direction) goes on paved over track?>https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3445845,130.6055017,3a,54.9y,312.28h,91.97t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sEWqQEEzzU2QqdmMmivX2fA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i48?ucbcb=1&entry=ttuthe only place I could find on the street view that has actual visible damage is this section between Kaiji and Yoshio
>>1981465>What's the point? In a deterministic world, railways are a function of society's preferences for transportation, tolerance for government intervention (be in favor or against railways), subject to a budget line (wealth). This renders any "comparison" meaningless. Fuck you and fuck your other countries.??? I never said "judge the Japanese railways against other countries based solely on factors under the railways' control".
>>1981195Other than HSR swiss trains are better by every metric.
https://tabiris.com/archives/hankyu-privace2402/>Hankyu is introducing a reservation-only car on the Kyoto Line called "Privace">500 yen on top of the express fare>dedicated luxury car for the service with 2+1 seats>starting in the summer with 2/3 trains per hour, will expand to 6 tph sometime in 2025
Is there any website/resources where I can find tracks map geographically accurate? I am thinking of something similar of carto.metro website.
>>1982660https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ ?
https://tabiris.com/archives/yamada2024/>JR East and Iwate Prefectural Bus are running a "demonstration" that involves being able to ride an express bus on a railway ticket>the bus is between 5 and 35 minutes faster than the fastest train depending on stops because the train takes a roundabout route through the mountains>12 buses/day vs 5 trainsAre they trying to demonstrate reasons to close the Yamada Line?
>>1982868Did you not read the 2nd half of the article? The point was to have “joint operation” almost like how airlines codeshare such that you can fill up a low frequency timetable with many available trips. The news here is that the National government must grant a waiver for competition rules because this effectively becomes a monopoly for the benefit of some local local area (public transportation provision). The JR Shikoku example they talk about is literally the subject of an episode of Japan Railway Journal https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2049138/
>>1981663To be honest it isn't actually relevant.Most of the rail freight still active around the road nowadays are to transport industrial commodities for heavy industries.Most of those industries in Japan nowadays get moved overseas or just close down.That's also the main reason industrial railroad got closed down, not motorization.And for those who need to transport bulk cargo in Japan cheaply, ship transportation can do it better than rail freight in Japan.Share of freight transport by truck in Japan is 55%, lower than 70% for Germany which have more rail freight, exactly because of this.If you look at the plan of what will happen in case Seikan tunnel/Hakodate Main Line can no longer carry freight trains, it need a single digit more ships, and 2000 more truckers, which seems a lot but is only 0.3% the nationwide total, for the last mile transportation from origin/destination to port. If not for CSR/ESG perspective, as well as the political/military desire to keep a land freight link operational to Hokkaido, this alternative might as well actually be adopted.
Significant incident at Tohoku Shinkansen this morning.A train that was supposed to stop at Koriyama station experienced braking failure, run through the station at relatively high speed and only managed to come to stop half a kilometer beyond the station.Some commented the train would have been crashed were there another train departing before it.
A luggage company called Ace Luggage will be selling hard/soft suitcases with its insides using recycled seat covers from decomissioned N700 Shinkansen sets>Prices ranged from 62,700 to 79,200 Yen after 10% sales taxL E Lhttps://luggage.ace.jp/collections/hard-luggagehttps://luggage.ace.jp/collections/soft-luggage>>1983570Given that this occured on the Tohoku Shinkansen I wonder which E2/3/5/6 set that this happened to.
>>1983570>Some commented the train would have been crashed were there another train departing before it.Surely the separation between shinkansen on the same track at any one point besides the rail yard is >500m.
Today, services began on the extended Hokuriku Shinkansen line between Kanazawa and Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture.
>>1985474https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWxIfXEMOKkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WVRZLWj6rshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOAIt6LhTL4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LerzahPShqI
>>1985474Nice. I've taken the Thunderbird a couple times from Kanazawa to Tokyo. It's comfy, but it will be nice to have a faster ride.
>>1985623>Thunderbird>from Kanazawa to Tokyodoubt.jpgI have used the Noto for that, but that's been discontinued half an eternity ago.
>>1985740Meant Kanazawa to Kyoto, had a brainfart.
On the last ever day for the Thunderbird to Kanazawa and a train full of railfans, some gaijin commuting fraud on the train without an express ticket assaulted the ticket controller onboard, and ended up delaying the train 40 min as police had to board and deal with him.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCkenlievK4
>>1981185Great urban services, great staff and great customers.If you take these three factors away they will be easily be beaten by countries like Switzerland or even China.
>>1983288>To be honest it isn't actually relevant.Not for Hokkaido and there are several articles about this.>And for those who need to transport bulk cargo in Japan cheaply, ship transportation can do it better than rail freight in Japan.It still is but rising fuel prices are an issue for them too.>Share of freight transport by truck in Japan is 55%, lower than 70% for Germany which have more rail freight, exactly because of this.The main problem in Germany is that thanks to the EU a shipping company can register their trucks in a tax loophole EU country and drive around in Germany this obviously affects rail transport. But Germany still has mixed goods trains and trains carrying several other commodities. Also the difference is that in Germany the network is open access unlike Japan where the main network is basically JR and no other companies are allowed. I think if JR would open the network to other operators it might see an spike in freight as well.>If you look at the plan of what will happen in case Seikan tunnel/Hakodate Main Line can no longer carry freight trains, it need a single digit more ships, and 2000 more truckers, which seems a lot but is only 0.3% the nationwide total, for the last mile transportation from origin/destination to port. If not for CSR/ESG perspective, as well as the political/military desire to keep a land freight link operational to Hokkaido, this alternative might as well actually be adopted.I don't think that will happen, this will do more harm than good and shippers/producers already protested against that idea. A single ship wont make sense since the freight trains originating from Sapporo or Kushiro all have different destinations and many are not near a seaport. Also the transit time will be much longer. If you look at the timetable its about 20 trains a day. Also the Hokkaido trains are significant revenue for JR Freight. I think the line will either be transferred to local governments or even JR Freight itself.
>>1984834Given that it IS Tohoku Shinkansen there should be a bigger gap, and speaking of which the report is out from JR East regarding the incident. Since it happened to Tsubasa 121 meant that it was an E3 set.https://www.jreast.co.jp/info/2023/20240319_ho01.pdf>>1986105It was actually the day before (Last Run was on the 15th but the incident happened on the 14th)
>>1980685>and the terrain is extremely mountainousShinkansen tunnels are cheaper than elevated
>>1981185>ShinkansenFantastic reliability, amazing legroom, great acceleration and access to smaller cities (unlike French TGV for example, that basically only stops in big cities)Pricing is horribly expensive because there is no yield management pricing like with airlines or railways in other countries. During peak season = shinkansen is underpricedOff peak= shinkansen is overpriced, which is why people on a budget end up using low cost airlines and highway busesIMO what good is high speed rail if it's too expensive to use often? Shinkansen makes most of Japan accessible by a few hours of train, yet it's so expensive you end up staying in your home region.>Urban railDare I say best in the world. Reasonable prices, frequency, cleanliness and reliability in all the big urban areas. In smaller cities however European public transport is usually much better.>Rural railBeautiful and cute, but slow as shit due to narrow gauge and poorly maintained lines making travel time uncompetitive with cars using highways or even just regular roads. super infrequent, often once every 1 hour or 2 hours, to the point of being useless except for high school students without a license or railfans.
>>1986329>hour or 2 hoursThat's still reasonable but there are parts of rural Japan that average three to five trains a day. Heck parts of the Tazawako line get 3 or 4 trains in the morning then nothing for most of the day.
>>1986374>Akabuchi Station and Tazawako Line in generalnta, but one of the other important thing about that line besides it being used for Akita Shinkansen is that it is single tracked throughout with only three trains per day that travel the line in its entirety between Omagari and Morioka for both directions with most other trains usually stop at Shizukuishi (from Morioka) or Tazawako (from Omagari) as the terminus.
>>1986374Just fucking kill the line at this point. What’s the use?Normies in the big cities earning profit for JR are subsidizing the two grandmas a day who ride these stupid rural lines.Japan needs to either learn to properly subsidize rail where it’s necessary, by learning that the positive externalities of increasing rail ridership (lower road maintenant costs, compact cities being more efficient for infrastructure upkeep, garbage collection etc) are more than worth the cost of big subsidies The current system of making big cities and their profitable rail have to subsidize these objectively useless rural lines is not sustainable and is unfair.
>>1986475That's circular reasoning.The rural lines are not of much use, because not many people are living there.And there is no one living there, at least in part because the traffic infrastructure is ass.The 少子化問題 is hitting rural Japan the most, because all the young people go to the big cities.I have made the experience, that local bus lines don't connect particularly well to the sparse JR services.Improving on that would probably fix things somewhat at practically no extra cost.That said, if you were willing to use some money, an absolute baseline of one service an hour in each direction should be the target for rural lines.I mean, in the current day and time, what's even the big problem with living in the middle of fucking nowhere - as long as you got Internet access and an option for groceries within reach?
>>1986376I get it, it's just an example. But yeah there is all sorts of shit like this all over rural Japan I just find neat.
>>1986546That's the Motoyama Branch Line, that's not even rural, that's a 2.3km electrified suburban line in Yamaguchi.
>>1986546>>1986768Shin-Totsukawa Station had only one train departing the station before it along with the rest of the non-electrified section of the Sassho Line was closed in 2020.
>>1986489>an absolute baseline of one service an hour in each direction should be the target for rural lines.This is how it works in Switzerland, coupled with timed connections to both buses and mainlines. This has probably done a lot to prevent depopulation of smaller towns and villages, and it also helps to promote tourism by making those regions comfortably accessible.People really overestimate the expense of running some regional trains, compared for example to the cost of big HSR infrastructure projects and the like. If the line is already in place, running a few trains is not expensive.
>>1986928>People really overestimate the expense of running some regional trains>If the line is already in place, running a few trains is not expensive.This. Running trains is fucking cheap compared to maintaining the line.That said, the work force problem is a little more pronounced in Japan than elsewhere.Maybe it will need the step to complete automation to save the rural lines of Japan.
>>1986934>Maybe it will need the step to complete automation to save the rural lines of Japan.It seems obvious, how hard could automation be for a one car train on a barely used line? If Japan can't even automate that, the nation is actually over in the next 50 years.
>>1986952My guess would be the cost of adding the signaling equipment to the lines themselves, some of which are 50+ km long (and then maintaining it), and also retrofitting the old as hell units running the line. No for-profit company is going to want to make that kind of capital investment on a money-losing service to a dwindling population on the hope that it might drive more investment in the area. IE it's not a question of whether they're physically able to do it, it's a question of who wants to blow shitloads of money on what already looks like a bad investment.
>>1986934It's the snake biting its tail, rural areas get depopulated, hence no-one left to drive the trains. One root of this problem ist bad transportation. But you have to change the mentality. Rural lines don't have such bad service because running trains is expensive in absolute numbers, but because the company's thinking is "if there's no demand, why run trains?", which has a certain logic to it, but is also self-defeating. You have to change the thinking from public transit only responding to a specific demand towards public transit establishing a continuous network of mobility, ie a complete system along which you can move with relative ease. But for some reason this thinking is still not widely accepted.In such areas in Japan it's probably too late. Once rural areas get depopulated, they're not likely to get populated again, so it becomes a futile endeavour to remedy this when it's too late.
>>1987019>But for some reason this thinking is still not widely accepted.Because it takes resources away from places where people need them and distributes them to places where they are less needed.Japanese railways are built to serve commuters into high-density areas, even more so once JNR got split up into real estate companies that operate trains as a side business.Switzerland is much smaller and decentralised, but their network would probably collapse under the rush hour traffic of a city like Sendai, Kawasaki or Sapporo.
>>1987047How do you determine where resources are "needed"? Why do you assume that serving commuters in high-density areas as the sole objective of rail is an idea beyond reproach? Where is your evidence for your unsubstantiated claim about the Swiss network's capacity?
>>1987055>How do you determine where resources are "needed"? See where there's demand, i.e. clusters of residents, businesses, factories, schools, etc.In the nature of public transport, you can get useful information from ticket sales as well as direct research.>Why do you assume that serving commuters in high-density areas as the sole objective of rail is an idea beyond reproach?Because resources are finite and therefore should be allocated to maximise the service quality and quantity for as many people as possible.A local train once per hour with the ridership of a dozen people is cool, but nowhere as needed as an additional commuter service on a line with current services being above 100% used capacity.>Where is your evidence for your unsubstantiated claim about the Swiss network's capacity?15 years of living in Bern and Zurich, participation in multiple retrospectives of Bahn2000 projects, especially in regards to what will be needed for S-Bahn 2G and FABI/STEP projects in the Greater Zurich area.An easy-to-read comparison between the SBB/Swiss network and the Japanese setup can be found in Ouchi [2009].Any further questions?
>>1987065>See where there's demand, i.e. clusters of residents, businesses, factories, schools, etc.But this entire conversation has been about how transit shapes as well as responds to demand!>Because resources are finite and therefore should be allocated to maximise the service quality and quantity for as many people as possible.This is a specific ideological position that not everyone would agree with.>A local train once per hour with the ridership of a dozen people is cool, but nowhere as needed as an additional commuter service on a line with current services being above 100% used capacity.You are erecting a false dichotomy.>15 years of living in Bern and Zurich, participation in multiple retrospectives of Bahn2000 projects, especially in regards to what will be needed for S-Bahn 2G and FABI/STEP projects in the Greater Zurich area.Provide evidence for you being who you say you are.Furthermore, that's not actual evidence for your claims about the Swiss network's capacity.>An easy-to-read comparison between the SBB/Swiss network and the Japanese setup can be found in Ouchi [2009].Give an actual title or I assume you're bullshitting.
>>1987071大内雅博 - 時刻表に見るスイスの鉄道―こんなに違う日本とスイス - 交通新聞社新書ISBN: 9784330076096>Provide evidence for you being who you say you are.How? You want to see my company badge or internal documents? Fuck off, I don't owe you shit.
>>1986329>no yield management pricingThis is what happens when government dictate fares. The only escape for all JRs and to a lesser extent other railways are tourist and “cruise-style” trains where they can charge market prices/demand is always high because there are so few so they become attractions in themselves>>1986158JR Freight has had favorable (nominal) track access rates ever since the JNR breakup and partition, and is loath to pay anything more, but if push comes to shove I bet they will. Or the old standby of “national security” will make the national government pay up as Hokkaido Pref. And their governor does not want to lift a finger to help (and is generally hostile)
>>1987176>大内雅博 - 時刻表に見るスイスの鉄道―こんなに違う日本とスイス - 交通新聞社新書>ISBN: 9784330076096Your best source is a book that the Amazon reviews say does nothing more than distill what's common knowledge in Switzerland into a book for the Japanese audience? And I'm supposed to take you seriously?>How? You want to see my company badge or internal documents? Fuck off, I don't owe you shit.Don't make claims about your expertise in lieu of proof if you don't want your bluff to be called.
>>1987240Who in his right mind would put his name on this site?Take a look at the history of /deutsch/ to see what those stupid fucks have ended up like.I disagree with his "Because it takes resources away from places where people need them"-stance, but he at least sounds like someone that fundamentally knows his shit.I can into Japanese and his source is valid.
>>1987065Why does Switzerland not draw this false dichotomy between low-demand regional services and high-demand commuter services then? Whatever your fallacious appeal to authority, Switzerland actually does exactly that which you say is a bad thing to do, and it does so quite successfully.Spouting phrases like>Because resources are finiteover a matter of running some regional trains which costs a fraction of whatever white elephant projects you can imagine is such a ridiculously reductionist position to take. You can make the same argument for absolutely anything that doesn't attend to the most essential necessities. You want a playground for the kids? Wew lad no can do because that one line is running over capacity during rush hour. A museum you say? Nah think of the commuters. Preserving a historic building? While people have to ride crowded trains???But apart from that, you simply disregard the capillary effect of low-demand lines, which is two-fold: First off, those low-demand lines usually feed into other lines. You close them, the next less travelled line loses patronage. Then you close that one down. And the next and the next. You end up with a skeleton train network. Secondly, there's the issue of actually offering citizens the possibility of moving around everywhere without a car, not just densely populated regions. You can't expect people to ride transit as a habit if they can only move around certain lines.In any case, what I suggested was a conceptual question, that can not definitely be answered from a technical point of view, and pretending to take a "merely technical" position on it to then argue your ideology is one of the lowest kinds of dishonest argument that there is. Just be honest and say that you don't think that a country should offer transportation as a continuous basic service to its population, but only offer it there where it makes economic sense. Don't hide behind supposed technicisms.
>>1987047>Switzerland is much smaller and decentralised, but their network would probably collapse under the rush hour traffic of a city like Sendai, Kawasaki or Sapporo.But we aren't talking about rush hour in big cities. Arguing that Switzerland couldn't handle such rush hour traffic doesn't prove anything in regard to hiw much sense it makes to run a few regional trains in low-density regions. It's apples and oranges.
>>1987269>Who in his right mind would put his name on this site?I'm not saying he should, but if you don't want to asked to provide some sort of proof of expertise don't bring it up in the first.>I can into Japanese and his source is valid.In that it exists, yes. It doesn't get great reviews on JP Amazon and furthermore doesn't seem to be the Swiss/Japan comparison he claims it to be.
>>1987341https://tabiris.com/archives/nigata-tetudo-kosoku/>Niigata Prefecture established a "High-Speed Rail Network Study Committee" aiming to link Niigata City and the Joetsu Shinkansen>on March 26th four proposals with estimated construction cost and construction period were presented>1-1 Mini Shinkansen on Haneuma and Shin-Etsu lines>dual gauge from Joetsu-Myoko to Saigata, then parallel single track lines to Nagaoka>1 hour and 21 minutes, 120 billion yen, 15 to 17 years to construct>1-2 Mini Shinkansen on Hisui and Shin-Etsu lines>parallel single track lines from Itoigawa to Nagaoka except Naoetsu-Saigata in dual gauge>1 hour and 31 minutes, 150 billion yen, 19 to 21 years to construct>2 Narrow gauge line improvements>raise the line speed to 130 km/h add shortcut tunnels between Kakizaki and Kashiwazaki and between Echigo-Hirota and Tsukayama, and rebuild the Nagaoka station for same-platform transfer to the Shinkansen>1 hour and 31 minutes, 200 billion yen, 13 to 15 years to construct>3 Mini Shinkansen on the Hokuhoku Line>dual-gauge the Hokuhoku line and build connectors to Joetsu-Myoko and Urasa stations>1 hour and 18 minutes, 210 billion yen, 8 to 10 years to construct>HOWEVER that 210 billion yen seems to include some work between Kashiwazaki and Nagaoka on the Shin-Etsu line, because Kashiwazaki is one of the cities that pushed for the comittee to be created, so they needed to be appeased
>>1988080(me)that wasn't meant to be a reply to anything fuck me
>>1988080Tetsubouzu on Youtube uploaded a vid about this today, and the majority of the comments were negative saying that there isn't enough traffic between Niigata city and the Joetsu region to justify the massive cost of the project. It would be different if there were through service to the JR West portion of the Hokuriku shinkansen towards Kanazawa, but it's difficult to imagine JR West would be enthused about it.
>>1988112>>1988080The entire thing sounds like some make-work project that's all about blowing money and hiring whatever consultants who will tell you want you want to hear.The truth is probably something like Niigata Pref. is still bitter that the Hokuriku Shinkansen went the other direction and didn't use any part of the Niigata Shinkansen, and they're pining for the days of old when they had so much influence a crooked prime minister from Niigata actually made JNR pay for the Joetsu Shinkansen so the guy can take the direct train home and bankrupting JNR in the process
>>1988080>aiming to link Niigata City and the Joetsu area using Mini-ShinkansenFTFY
>Maglev will open after 2034 at the earliestFuck I hate this. Now I have to stay alive another 10 years.
>>1988338A Japanese colleague told me recently that Shizuoka Pref. can make it difficult enough it will never get built in their jurisdiction unless JR Central wants to take the time to do it right.As you may have already read, the issue is streamflow. The way JR Central wants to do the tunnel it will fuck with the streamflow and lead to water lost to the ground (to groundwater, etc.), which causes a host of problem for the environment and users of the river in Shizuoka Pref. The river is the major river in the area, and is dammed further upstream outside Shizuoka. The pref. govt will not accept any net loss of streamflow, so if JR Central continues with their cheaped out design you have to compensate Shizuoka with streamflow by reducing how much water is allowed to be held upstream which the other pref. obviously won't agree to either because it reduces their electricity generation and their uses. The only solution is JR Central compensate the upstream pref. or improve the tunnel design such that it does not interfere with streamflow.And no, you cannot claim the project is of national importance because JR Central is self-financing all of it and will be the route's owner unlike when JRTT builds Shinkansen on behalf of the government and hands them over to the regional JRs to operate (only the technical knowledge portion of the maglev under construction is JRTT-derived). This is different from the situation with the Hokuriku Shinkansen where local governments in Kyoto pref. are upset the buildout to Osaka will fuck with their groundwater and aesthetic views, or the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen where Saga pref. won't pay for the completion through their jurisdiction because they dont want JR Kyushu to be able to discharge essential service obligations on parallel lines running through Saga.
>>1988422He thinks the issue with water is serious on Shizuoka's part then? Everyone else I've heard says it's a smokescreen and Shizuoka's actual goal is to get a station.
>>1988467I'm an economist and my colleague is a water economist. But even if you didn't know anything about economics, think of it this way: If you are Shizuoka Pref. and you are negotiating to maximize the benefit to your jurisdiction, why would you accept some harm (without compensation)? JR Central can either spend money to mitigate the harm they will cause, or if some level of harm is acceptable they can then see if they can compensate Shizuoka Pref. some other way (e.g. build them an extra station). But either way the idea is the same: If some change supposedly brings very large benefits, you can use your future earnings to compensate whoever that is harmed in the process such that no one is worse off and everyone happily goes along with you.If JR Central is not willing to spend the money, then they have either 1) overstated future economic benefits (along with all the criminal implications that entails), or 2) they are so cheap and dishonest they want to stiff and strong arm other parties involved (especially those who hold regulatory power over you) just to get your own way. it's not hard at all if you think about it, they're just not willing.
>>1988422>A Japanese colleague told me recently that Shizuoka Pref. can make it difficult enough it will never get built in their jurisdictionWhy not dodge them then?Source of the river is within the prefectures border(which is why it extends so far), so it won't be affected if the tunnels go around, right?
>>1988422Wait hold up>Hokuriku Shinkansen where local governments in Kyoto pref. are upset the buildout to Osaka will fuck with their groundwater and aesthetic views>Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen where Saga pref. won't pay for the completion through their jurisdiction because they dont want JR Kyushu to be able to discharge essential service obligations on parallel lines running through Saga>Uetsu and Ou Shinkansens offer negligible improvement in time to Tokyo compared to implementing the Akita and Yamagata Mini-Shinkansen improvement projects and the local market alone won't support the cost>Shikoku Shinkansen is being pushed for all four prefectural capitals despite dubious time savings for Tokushima>San-in Shinkansen is a meme>Cross-Chugoku(Fukuyama - Izumo) Shinkansen is being held back by said meme(although it wouldn't be likely either way)Does this mean the Oita Shinkansen(or West Kyushu Shinkansen) is somehow the most likely line from the 1973 Master Plan to be built next?
>>1988533I’d go a step further than that. The entire authorization law was a sham and just political cover for then prime minister Tanaka Kakuei to make JNR build the Niigata Shinkansen to his home town without the other regions chimping out (don’t worry about my wasteful unnecessary pork, you’ll get yours too)
I'm a bit confused So is the Nemuro Main Line now split into two sections? So no trains run between Furano and Shintoku?
>>1988857Yes to both since that section will be abandoned starting on April 1st.
>>1988858Then why not name the other section a different name?
>>1988859They didn't even fix Shinetsu Main Line
Yesterday a study about Hakodate Shinkansen has been published.https://tabiris.com/archives/hakodate-shinkansen2403/>dual gauge because downgrading to one narrow gauge track would impact freight too much>platforms 1 and 2 at Hakodate and platform 4 at Goryokaku dedicated for Shinkansen>this does mean requiring Shinkansen rolling stock capable of running under both 20kV and 25kVNot sure why they couldn't switch the Kikonai - Goryokaku - Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto section to run on 25kV. JRF already uses 20/25kV locomotives for the Seikan Tunnel, and both Donan and JRH run DMUs in the area anyway.>limited to 120km/h, otherwise they'd need to replace overhead bridges too low for high-speed clearance standards, costing 7 billion yen total>width-wise clearance standard is already cleared because of all the extra space to plow snow off the tracks to>Hakodate - Sapporo ridership expected to greatly exceed Tokyo - Hakodate ridershipMakes sense considering Hokuto even post-wuflu is the second most frequent JRH limited express after Lilac(Sapporo - Asahikawa)>two and a half hour saving from current state, but only 10 minutes compared to transferring at Shin-Hakodate-HokutoI still think JRH will want this as a fig leaf to drop all narrow gauge lines south of Oshamanbe and charge more.>transportation density on Hakodate - Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and Hakodate - Sapporo is expected to increase by over 1000 pax/km/day>but from Hakodate to Honshu it's expected to be the same if not slightly lower due to price increase and ferry competition>combined with a required switchback and other organisational issues this means direct Tokyo-Hakodate might be not viable>depending on the agreement, it could be profitable to both JRH and Donan(who would pick up the line as 3rd-sector) at the same time>if construction was started in 2026, it could be opened simultaneously with Hokkaido Shinkansen in 2030Assuming Hokkaido Shinkansen won't get delayed yet againThis might actually get built
>>1988532I suspect JR Central either faces higher costs that way, don't want to tunnel under the mountain, or otherwise they would have done it already. Conversely, if Shizuoka's price of admission is high enough, JR Central will rationally go around the pref. instead.>>1988932I watched a tetsubozu video on this. What exactly is the point? Once the Hokkaido Shinkansen goes to Sapporo, why would they want to drive into Hakodate station instead of Hakodate-Hokuto? The very few trains that make operating stops?And if they start building in a few years, the earliest it will be done is when the rest of the line is done to Sapporo, rendering the point of the extra stop moot.You don't see this sort of nonsense with Aomori/Shin-Aomori, this is exactly the same situation. Are they going to do this with Mororan too? What exactly did people expect given the geographic nature of a port town that only functions as a terminus on its own?
>>1988932What poor line in Hokkaido will be shuttered to fund this?
On the topic of Hokkaido Their new tourism train
>>1988983>Another Eiji Mitooka tourist trainMeh.>Red Star*communism intensifies*
>>1988983>Based on the KiHa143 Series DMU with 2 sets of 4 cars eachI guess that's an use for the 10 remaining cars stationed in Tomakomai Yard after they are no longer used in regular service, although I wonder how long will they last since the passenger cars they were converted from were built in the late 70s / early 80s.
>>1989029The refurbishments don’t last (this is accounted for in the business model) and if often re-refurbished again. Great business for Mitooka Eji’s design firm though
Maybe asking for spoonfeed but was wondering are there are good archives of train dvds/blu-rays?Youtube is always an option of course was just curious if there were any nerds cataloging this stuff.
>>1989102>train dvds/blu-raysthat's a rather vague topic, anything more specific?
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/c2dd3de0501119b5497b34bf4f11075927e0a08dShizuoka governor Kawakatsu announced resignation in June after another slip up. But he claim the biggest reason behind his decision to resign is because he have JR Central have applied for delay in opening the Chuo Shinkansen, indicating success of his works.
>>1989294That still doesn't give any real reason. There was that little gaffe about occupations the media ran with yesterday, but what was there of substance?The comment about JR Central's delay is an accomplishment, considering he was re-elected on a platform in opposition to JR Central's plans.
>>1988859>>1988873Line names in Japan sit in this weird halfway house between being infrastructure-focused and being service-focused.
Train: everywhere: >:(Train: Japan: :0
>>1989307If you mean real reason, last time when the prefectural council voted on vote of no confidence against this governor Kawakatsu, he barely escaped the motion by 1 vote. But since then, one of the councilor said he can no longer work under Kawakatsu and decided to quit his faction, so he's not going to survive another vote. And also when he had a slip up last year, he promised that he wouldn't slip up again else he would quit, which he did once earlier this year but he insisted his claim at the time that certain town being more cultured than certain city is a widely recognized historical fact and thus doesn't count as slip up. However, this time he get like a thousand of letters of complaints protesting his speech so if he didn't resign by himself then he's probably going to be removed from the position by the council.
>>1989483There we go that actually makes senseUnrelated: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20240404/ddl/k01/020/055000cHakodate mayor went to sell his idea to JR Hokkaido and the prefecture, JR Hokkaido won’t pay a single cent (the report unrealistically assumes JR Hokkaido will pay for the railcars) and Hokkaido pref was non-committal and wants to see local support (e.g. Hakodate city council vote for it, which not even a sure thing because the council is a ruled by the Democrats in coalition with the communists [insert joke here] in a minority while the LDP, Komeito, and independents have over 1/2 the seats
https://tabiris.com/archives/hisatusen2404/>agreement to restore Yatsushiro - Hitoyoshi section of Hisatsu Line has been reached>part of the restoration cost will be beared by the prefecture from the river construction projects fund>after restoration local communities will bear maintenance cost of 740M yen>draft also includes commitments to invest 9.7B yen by 2040 in tourism, as well as unspecified amount in enhancing secondary transportation and transfers>fate of Hitoyoshi - Yoshimatsu section still pending
>>1986546>>1986768As an additional note, this was the timetable back in 1999.
>>1989486Hokkaido prefectural government even want Hakodate to first present and coordinate with neighboring localities on their own.Well not surprising because Hokkaido governor essentially want rail to disappear from HokkaidoJR Hokkaido didn't say they won't pay, but that the report didn't cover this aspect.
>>1989294https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/879383A mayor said that, before Kawakatsu announced resignation, he claim that with the delay it mean the Chuo Shinkansen route can be changed, and thus he think he have successfully defended the mountain range
>JR Hokkaido wants to decrease the travel time on conventional lines between Sapporo and Asahikawa from an hour and a half to around an hour through major infrastructure upgrades (Page 45 of the PDF)I wonder if that's just a huge case of delulu since they will have to do a LOT to make that happen namely elevating basically the whole line to eliminate all level crossings.https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/corporate/mi/vision/20240329-01.pdf
>>1990402If they're going to elevate the line and make it >100mph then they might as well make it dual-gauge and run Shinkansen, even if not going at full Shinkansen speeds. They already mix Shinkansen and freight south of Kikonai anyway.
>>1990402I looked up the data>the fastest Kamuis take 1h25m>stopping at Iwamizawa, Bibai, Sunagawa, Takikawa and Fukagawa>served by 789-1000 series>only goes 120km/h because Hokkaido even though it's rated for 145km/h>2.4km/h/s acceleration, 2.5km/h/s non-emergency braking>that's about 1600m of braking and re-accelerating taking 100 seconds+the time stopped at platform(usually 90 seconds for express trains in Japan from what I've heard)>in that same 190 seconds a train will move 6.333km, so really every stop costs the same amount of time as going roughly 8 km>that means every stop costs 4 minutes>times 5 stops that's twenty minutesAll they need to do is run a sprinter once or twice a day and reraise the speed limit to 130km/h and they'll probably hit it.Alternatively if they want to hit that on a 4-stop train(because realistically it won't stop at Fukagawa once the Rumoi line is closed in 2026), the line is literally a bunch of straights between Iwamizawa and the tunnels right before Asahikawa, so it wouldn't require any realignments to raise the speed, just grade separation.
https://tabiris.com/archives/geibisen-saikochiku1/>restructuring council for Niimi - Bingo-Shobara section of the Geibi Line>maximum ridership of 10 people per train>the eastbound 20:00 train from Bingo-Ochiai gets ZERO passengers REGULARLYI don't think there's any way nor reason to save this one.>numbers for rest of the line to Hiroshima also published>Bingo Shobara - Miyoshi has 381 transportation density, sketchy but workable>Miyoshi - Shimo-Fukagawa is safe at 988>Shimo-Fukagawa - Hiroshima is an urban line at 8529
>>1990643I wonder if Kisuki Line and the section of Fukuen Line between Fuchu and Shiomachi will eventually get axed as well since they also have some pretty miserable ridership numbers at less than 200 passengers / km / day.
Jouban line question: trains running to/from the chiyoda line face a narrower loading gauge and as such are six inches narrower than standard jr east rolling stock. They run as far east as Toride. Are the platforms at stations between Toride and Ayase (beginning of Chiyoda line trackage) built to the chiyoda line's more restrictive loading gauge? If so, is there anything aside from the dispatcher's and operator's intelligence from stopping a full sized Nippori-bound/originating Jouban line rapid train or full sized MOW equipment from being switched onto the local tracks and plowing into a platform? (tripcocks, onboard electronics, idk?) There are a few track connections by the two yards where this could happen.Sidenote: I'm seeing Odakyu rolling stock has varying widths starting from the same as chiyoda/jouban local rolling stock, to +2 inches for Romancecar trains which run on the chiyoda line, to +4 inches for trains which only run on odakyu track. I assume they just put up with having a gap at the platforms.
>>1991404I don't know if there are specific measures to prevent it, but that type of incident (train is directed onto wrong track) is known as 異線進入.
>>1991404Notice how the shape of regular Jr trains looks. Notice how they widen out from the bottom of the floor. A good example would be the 209-1000 series next to an E233.
>>1991404I would assume the as long as the platforms are built to specs (the maximum width for the current Japanese loading gauge established in 1987 is 3000mm) it shouldn't be a problem as there will always be some gaps between the train and the platforms, anyway here's the total width numbers for all the rolling stocks that are currently running on that section of Joban Line in case you are curious (all figures in mm).Inter-operation w/ Chiyoda Line and OdakyuE233-2000: 2790Odakyu 4000: 2790Tokyo Metro 16000: 2800Commuter / SuburbanE231-0: 2966 (2950 without rain gutter)E531: 2950Limited ExpressE657: 2946And just for fun here's some of the maximum width for other non-passenger cars that would probably run on that section:E491 East i: 2900E493: 2800EH500: 2950EF510: 2970KoKi 100 Container Cars: 2640
https://www.westjr.co.jp/press/article/items/240314_00_press_kansaihonsen.pdf>JR West will close portions of Kansai Main Line for maintenance from this weekend until Tuesday>from around 9 AM to around 2:30 PM>Kaneyama to Tsuge on Saturday and Sunday>Kamo to Iga-Ueno on Monday and Tuesday>replacement bus will be provided
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/8f57b2bd4b4883701ce7e8752fdfc13034415bdbJR Hokkaido rejected the plan of Shinkansen through service to Hakodate as impossible, say Hakodate City's plan did not say who will pay for the extra vehicles necessary and didn't say who will pay for operating the segment, and that HR Hokkaido is not possible to take over this burden.They further expressed concern that "Diverting.via Hakodate would lengthen the time needed to reach Sapporo, reducing the overall demand" despite nowhere in Hakodate City's report require train from Sapporo divert into Hakodate City before continuing south.
https://jr-central.co.jp/news/release/_pdf/000043528.pdfJR Central plans to introduce individual compartment seats on N700S Green cars in 2026, it will be 2 per train set with its own wifi, reclining seats, and various controls.
How is Wakkanai Station still open to this day? That place sees less than 100 passengers a day
https://tabiris.com/archives/akaihoshi-aoihoshi/>Akaihoshi and Aoihoshi for JR Hokkaido will be Eiji Mitooka's final work>>1991829So the anon who said them removing smoking rooms will lead to more luxurious seats was correct
>>1991885JR Hokkaido doesn't want to be the first one to close the line to an extremity, feeling that angering the railfans will hurt them monetarily. JR Kyushu has been poking around the idea of dropping Makurazaki and Nishi-Oyama, and if they do it without angering railfans, then JR Hokkaido might consider it.Either that or military is telling them to keep it in case of Russians.
>>1991891>JR Hokkaido doesn't want to be the first one to close the line to an extremityAgree with this, but>feeling that angering the railfans will hurt them monetarilyDisagree with this. It's not railfans they have to worry about but normies.>military is telling them to keep it in case of Russians.This always gets brought up in discussions, but militarily railroads are useless since as far as I'm aware, the JGSDF isn't equipped to move anything by rail, and the narrow loading gauge prevents heavy equipment from being transported by rail anyway.
>>1991891If JR Hokkaido or any other rail company doesn't want to anger rail fans, then there would be no line closures.
>>1974323Doctor Yellow isn't equipped with KS-ATC and I dobut JR Kyushu would want to build its own version of Doctor Yellow, this also applies to West Kyushu Shinkansen as well as three of five the N700S sets they have there also have track inspection equipment installed into them (Track monitoring for Y1 and Y3 plus cantenary monitoring for Y2).
https://youtu.be/3yP0iGVNZmw
>>1992752Women who attract 'chikan,' and women who don’t: An illustrated guidehttps://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/women-who-attract-chikan-and-women-who-dont-an-illustrated-guide
>>1992792Related: Aging foid in her 30s is offended she is NOT approached anymore and WANTS to be harassedhttps://soranews24.com/2022/12/11/why-dont-hosts-in-kabukicho-approach-our-female-reporter-any-more/
https://tabiris.com/archives/ikodama/>Ikokka Kodama, a Sanyo Shinkansen equivalent to Platt Kodama introduced>basically you take the all-station Kodama between two stations that are served by the fastest class(Nozomi) for a 20-25% discount>SmartEX reservation system purchase only, up to 11:30 PM the day before departureThe biggest winner here is Fukuyama, served by only 4 or 5 Nozomis per day and Kodama only adding just over half an hour of travel time from either Shin-Osaka or Hiroshima yet still eligible. Shin-Osaka - Okayama makes sense too at 24 minutes extra. Unfortunately it's non-stopover so in for multi-stop trips it'll make more sense to get normal tickets.https://tabiris.com/archives/osaka-monorail-uryudo/>Cost of Osaka Monorail extension construction hikes by 80%, completion delayed to 2033>both primarily attributed to ground around Uryudo being softer than planned forcing more expensive foundations as well as worker shortages>this 80% is already after the planners went around downgrading stations visually to save cash>this, and similar hikes with Saitama Rapid Transit and Nishi-Hiroshima Tram extension may affect cost/benefit calculations of other lines in the future
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0d7a4e479e6bff365704b2f101780298e32de836Kanto Railways to become under Keisei
