As has shown in Shinkansen, Japanese railway system has achieved great success in the last 50 years. Because of its large population and mountainous landfield, the railway has kept about 30% of the domestic transportation share, and more than 50% of the urban transportation. Subway and JR (elevated railway) cover most of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Ten-cars trains come every 2 minutes in the morning, but obviously their capacity is not enough for enormous numbers of commuters.
Comparing to other countries, one charactristic in Japanese railway system is the role of private railways. Some private railway companies sell houses along with their lines, operate amusement parks and transport commuters. There are 10 big train companies and more than 50 small ones. Each of them has original rolling stocks with different colors and styles.
There was a national railway (called Kokutetsu) in Japan, but now it is privatized and splitted into 7 private companies called JR -- Japan Railway. They operate Shinkansen, inter-city expresses, regional services and urban area transport.
The privatization was apparently successful, as is shown that they do not require any financial aid from the government in recent years.
(Kei)
Choose the type of trains from the followings:
Hokkaido is the northest island in Japan. The biggest city Sapporo has more than one million populations, but many other part of the lands are dairyard. While Sapporo city transport operates Sapporo subway and tram, JR-Hokkaido operates every other regional and long-distance train.
* Click each photo to see the detail.
EMU 721
Series 721 are the most commonly seen trainset near Sapporo. It has bright color interior and superior performance comaring to previous 711 stocks. Series
EMU 731, DMU 201
EMU 731, with side seats, are mainly used as local services. They can run together with DMU 201.
EMU 711
Series 711 is the first rolling stock in Hokkaido. To keep warmth during the winter, the windows are doubled and doors and rooms are separated with inner doors.
DMU 40-100
DMU Series 40 (called kiha 40) are developed by JNR, Japan National Railway. Many cars are inroduced in 1970s to replace older DMU 10 series. Sub-series 40-100 for Hokkaido are equipped with double windows and decks.
Asahikawa Railway
Asahikawa Electric Railway was the northest electric railway until 1973.
Now all the lines are closed, but two stocks are preserved in a museum and a community center.
* Click each photo to see the detail.
JR Shikoku DMUs
JR Shikoku takes charge of railway services in Shikoku. The northern lines from Takamatsu to Matsuyama and the Seto Bridge Line is electrified, but other lines are served by diesel stocks. Pictures were taken near Kochi and Tokushima at March, 1998.
