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Japan's 'Little Trains that Could' battle for survival

57 Comments
By Hiroshi HIYAMA

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57 Comments
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The government should spend its money on rural public transport rather than frittering it away on American weapons of war.

17 ( +25 / -8 )

Sad, but inevitable.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

That is a really beautiful train in that picture, I hope they are able to keep it running.

15 ( +17 / -2 )

Yep stop subsidising needless wars abroad, crack down heavily on internal corruption and nepotism and take care of your own, Japan.

Is 2023 the time is coming when the people are able to take no more?

10 ( +15 / -5 )

I love the rural trains and how most of them have toilets on board but they’re mostly for tourists on day trips.

Maybe there would be more demand if these rural lines ran more then once an hour. But then most of the people living out there would probably need to take a bus to the nearest station which also runs once an hour. Makes more sense to drive.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

When I was a child in Britain, there was a train service, a postal service, government-owned and run services. They were services to serve the people. Later they were sold off to private enterprises. They became businesses. Their purpose was to make money not serve the people. This change was not unique to Britain.

These services were not perfect, but in many cases they were better, or at least better for society, than what replaced them.

The services were supported by taxation, but this is not such a bad way to use taxes. Privatisation has not been the success we thought it would be.

Let's use taxes to support what is useful, not what is useless.

18 ( +20 / -2 )

We have two single-track lines. Busy during peak travel.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

These small legacy rail lines are one of my favorite things about Japan. These are as important to Japan's heritage as any of the gazillion UNESCO world heritage sites the government loves to brag about.

As many of the comments suggest, the government needs to step up and save these cultural icons, and stop throwing money down the toilet of political corruption and wasteful spending.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Railways are a core public service. If the Japanese government can fund them in Bangladesh, they can fund them in Japan.

They are more eco friendly than cars and key to mobility, access, local economies and tourism. Local authorities may need to step in to help support them, with volunteers and enthusiasts maintaining and staffing stations and keeping them running.

Learn from the Beeching Cuts. Losing a line is like a localised Brexit, isolating an area and hammering its economy. Avoid it at all costs. Once rail lines go, they hardly ever return.

12 ( +15 / -3 )

The services were supported by taxation, but this is not such a bad way to use taxes. Privatisation has not been the success we thought it would be.

Let's use taxes to support what is useful, not what is useless.

This is a good point. Its also worth considering what rail companies, particularly the JR ones, are investing in.

Instead of investing in regional lines, which as the article notes they are trying to cut, they are spending trillions of Yen (yes, trillions) on mega projects of dubious viability. The most obvious is the Maglev line between Tokyo and Osaka, which seems completely pointless given the existence of the Tokaido Shinkansen, yet they are throwing several trillion into that. Then you’ve got the disfunctional Nagasaki Shinkansen line that doesn’t actually go anywhere, etc. Its a long and expensive list which dwarfs the losses they claim on regional rail lines.

The public would be way better served if even a fraction of that money went to improving local train services, but nope, it all gets poured into these idiotic vanity projects.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

As well as two single-track train lines we also have several private buses. There is also a community bus for ¥100 servicing several routes to all the stores and hospitals. And community taxis for over 70s for ¥200 collect from the door and go to the stores and hospitals and other places within our local area.

Trains are environmentally better than cars.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Linia?

Is it not Linear train?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Zoroto

The problem with that is that if communities get small enough, there will be nobody to drive the chiibus or the community taxis.

Our community is expanding not decreasing. We have a healthy number of residents from very young to old.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

ZorotoToday 10:42 am JST

Our community is expanding not decreasing. We have a healthy number of residents from very young to old.

Ah that's good to hear. Not something you hear often about Japanese countryside.

There are many healthy communities in the sticks.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Interesting to see some always live in the exception place or so they claim.

The reality and again reality is the rural areas are depopulating faster, the ¥1 million per child will not make enough people move out of the Tokyo Metro region.

The money offerd to have children will not help and more and more of these trains are shutting down service.

The rural buses and Mini trains all stop at far too early or are few and far between to make not owning a car possibly, unless you are a old man that rarely goes anywhere late night or works late in an office, has business dinner/drinks,

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Both of our local rail lines run late services. The buses end fairly early.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Sure! Only 2, not 6 maybe 16? Yes must be 16 or more plus 100 bus lines

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I have been told the you can get driving lessons on the Isumi Tetsudo and a train driving licence for about ¥6,000,000. This is aimed at those who love trains and is designed to make money rather than get new drivers.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

We have three rail lines but I only use two of them. JR and Sanyo. The JR starts in Osaka and ends somewhere beyond Hiroshima. The JR runs every 30 minutes off-peak and 20 minutes during peak times.

The Sanyo line from the next city runs every 20 minutes until around midnight. Connects with the Shinkansen and the trains to Osaka or Hiroshima. Great value daily rail passes go anywhere in Kansai.

We are a fishing and farming community with people starting work very early. They don't need to be in late-night bars drinking.

The city grows food and fishing and food products for those living in the cities.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

2 either Linia will offer travel for reasonable fares but be in the reds or be (somehow) in the black but offer travel for totally unreasonable fares 

This is what is so idiotic about it from a business perspective. The only way the Maglev will be profitable is if it is cheap enough to draw passengers away from the Shinkansen. But if it does that, the Shinkansen will start losing money.

So basically JR is just going to be cannibalizing its own most profitable business. Its just stupid.

The government and these too big to fail former government entities like JR need to get used to the fact that this isn’t the 1960s, or even the 1980s, anymore. Japan can’t afford to be wasting such huge sums on these idiotic projects that are doomed to failure years before they are even built anymore. Hosting an Olympics and building a fast train line between Tokyo and Osaka was a great idea in the early 60s. In the 2020s they are just insanely bad.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

All of these lines need evaluating on their individual merits. There is no point making sweeping generalizations, because the situations are all different.

My own local train line is viable for half its length, under the kosh but still going for the next thirty km, and then a complete disaster for final 40km or so with no riders and month-long stoppages due to avalanches every winter. Something that stops for weeks at a time every winter is not a "lifeline".

"The fact is that there are areas where trains are not the best mode of transportation."

Well said Mr. Train Man. The thing is that even if they pay 20000 yen to get 100 yen of fare revenue, the train service this will provide will still be terrible. Very slow and infrequent trains with fares which will feel very high given how slow and infrequent the trains are.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Driverless trains like the Kobe Portliner. Trains that can become buses and trams. One carriage trains.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

I hope all these train lines are allowed to survive even if they are not profitable.  They are more positive for society as a whole, then making everything about money.  Not saying it is not important to make money but using this a a gauge for doing everything in a society leads to their decline.  Definitely better than spending it on war, weapons, nepotism, etc.  The amount of money governments spend on projects under the pretense of developing a better world is mind boggling when these possibly less costly and somewhat smaller projects would lead to a generally better Japan.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The infrastructure for road traffic is massive, costing well beyond whatever train lines cost. Excluding the environmental costs.

Oil is the largest of the fossil fuel imports with most of it going into road vehicles.

Trains are electric.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The solution to money losing rural line is using them as freight rail lines. Basically one morning passenger service, one evening passenger service, then freight trains the rest of the time.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Absolutely no irony lost with these lil engines disappearing at the same time jgov is trying to bribe people to move out of the cities

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Love my local train. So cute. Only problem is no elevator to the platform. Most passengers are on the old side.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Strange to see claiming keeping these rural money losing trains systems as environmentally better, going off on road infrastructure.

But at the same time advocating for people to leave the cities.

If certain people are really worried about the environment then they would leave the rural areas to nature, farming and move to the cities where they occupy less land, can get to more places with less resources needed, etc...

The facts are more services out in rural areas the more the environment suffers.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

@Antiquesaving

But at the same time advocating for people to leave the cities.

Leaving the cities is for population boost.

Birth rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The train from Otari to Itoigawa is a great ride.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Birth rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

The only night life is poor man's opera.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

wallaceToday  11:30 am JST

We have three rail lines but I only use two of them. JR and Sanyo. The JR starts in Osaka and ends somewhere beyond Hiroshima. The JR runs every 30 minutes off-peak and 20 minutes during peak times.

The Sanyo line from the next city runs every 20 minutes until around midnight. Connects with the Shinkansen and the trains to Osaka or Hiroshima. Great value daily rail passes go anywhere in Kansai.

We are a fishing and farming community with people starting work very early. They don't need to be in late-night bars drinking.

The city grows food and fishing and food products for those living in the cities.

The fishing and farming community in Japan is known to be filled with heavy and hard drinkers.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Hello Kitty 321Today 07:06 am JST

The government should spend its money on rural public transport rather than frittering it away on American weapons of war.

Why should the government waste even more money on such a lost cause?

Major train operators can use profits from urban areas to subsidize rural services, but even industry titan East Japan Railway (JR East), which serves 13 million passengers daily in Tokyo and eastern Japan, is baulking at the cost.

> It lost 68 billion yen in 2021 on the 66 most problematic segments of rural railways.

Maybe you missed that part. Its time is up. Nostalgia doesn't make for profitability and blindly throwing money at it won't reverse the trend. American weapons have no say in this fight.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Love the JR rural trains. ワンマン (one man trains) are some of the best ways of seeing rural Japan, onsen towns and tiny villages, and it would be a tragedy to lose them. 

JR and private lines should be looking outside the square to keep them alive. Fitting out trains with onsens on board- as seen in places like Yamagata- is an attractive option. Theme trains, gourmet food and sake on board are other ideas. Refitting the trains with super wide windows so as tourists can film or view the breathtaking scenery is another. Perhaps fitting the rural trains with luxury sofas and recliners should be looked into.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Britain's Beeching was a surgeon, not a hatchet man, and Japan's rail network badly needs similar surgery to stop the rot.

Beeching's error was selling the land for short term profit; those rural lines should be converted to cycle paths and automated bus routes.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I remember the pre-Beeching days in the UK. He mostly destroyed the rail network.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

painkiller - The fishing and farming community in Japan is known to be filled with heavy and hard drinkers.

That would pretty much apply to all of Japan, wouldn't it?

But, even if true, it would have nothing to do with whether or not these rural lines deserve preservation.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It’s possible.

With some leadership. Like building destinations along train lines. Revitalizing shotengai around the stations. But, short sighted planning has led to this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I think the Linear Motor train can get going if they decide to make a station in Shizuoka. Also. For shorter runs, it’s cheaper than flying. And, faster. I, for one don’t enjoy the airport at all

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Also. For shorter runs, it’s cheaper than flying. And, faster. I, for one don’t enjoy the airport at all

We don’t know how much tickets on the Linear are going to cost yet. It’ll certainly be faster and more convenient than flying for shorter trips, but that is already the case with the Shinkansen.

Any way you look at it, given the massive costs, the project is just a completely unjustifiable waste.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Neglected to mention those services being c*ap. Months to get a phone line, trains were always late (still are), letters often didn't arrive, power companies on strike with power cuts following. Yeah, much better then.

When I was a child in Britain, there was a train service, a postal service, government-owned and run services.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The only people that think reducing train service is a good idea never ride them. It is a great way to commute and to get around as a tourist. These small train lines are a treasure-it really is just a marketing problem. Now if we can get the students and young adults to share the seating during busy hours that would be nice. Our local route rule and others seems to be: Two seats for each student to stretch out and two more seats for their backpack!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Trains are more climate friendly. Maybe local trains could also haul freight as well as passengers to help revenue? Bike paths or walk paths are ok for people able to walk long distances, but what about people with disabilities? Maybe a slight increase in fares could increase revenue too? Dependable service on time helps to increase ridership too. Tourists money goes a long ways to keep trains going too. How able tickets to allow people to operate train under guidance of Engineer for short sections ? or Maybe help a rail worker for the day tickets ? Many people enjoy trains, Fast and slower trains. Country side offer more views then cities too.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Engineer for the day Tickets, with Guidance of Railroad Engineer ? Railroad track crew for the day ticket?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Subsidizing public transportation is just a bad idea. Selling JR was one of the best decisions the government has ever made.

Good luck to these small train lines, if they are to survive, they are best managed by private enterprise which is much more likely to figure out if a buck can be made than a government subsidized basket case.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

A train carrying a single passenger is in no way more environmentally friendly than a car carrying a single passenger.

If the line isn't profitable, or adding profits to another line by feeding it passengers, then close it. BUT, replace it with something better.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Some uninformed person stated the Magval is a waste. Japan is the world leaders in train tech. Once built and proven better then jet travel. The rest of the world will be knocking on Japan doors just like they did wanting Shinkansen technology.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This is sad. It's the history if Japan slowly fading away.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The little train that runs on ramen. The Amaterasu Railway. Miyazaki Prefecture.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I've ridden trains in Japan since I first visited in 1971. They are marvelous people-movers in the urban areas. They do offer beautiful views in rural areas where they are built up a bit from valley floors and give glimpses of the byegone eras of Japan. Now when I visit, I wonder how they still exist in many areas of Japan. I also think this of several bus lines that have replaced trains. As a visitor without a car, I depend on the rural trains or buses to see the countryside and get to often end-of-line hot springs. But the economics are not on the side of these relics. In December I was looking at akiya (vacant old houses) and wondering about buying one as a fall retreat for my annual trips to Japan. When I spoke to neighbours at two of the places I had my eyes on, they said that they disliked the rural areas because it took so long to drive to areas to do serious shopping. This was for groceries. When I do the math, I cannot justify living in rural areas with trains or buses only two or three times a day unless I had a vehicle. And having a vehicle for only 6 or 8 weeks a year doesn't make economic sense either. So, as a tourist I am glad for Japan Rail passes to travel from major cities to other major cities (although Peach and other discount airlines are often cheaper if I am not making multiple stops). I have to check time schedules to make sure that I know how to get to rural areas when I need to. And I maintain my Japanese Driver's License for the times when I rent a car to go to places that don't have public transportation any more. I miss the old train route that no longer exist.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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