Shinkansen Operators Strive To Boost Traffic

International Railway Journal, May, 2000 by Yoshihiko Sato

Japan's 1953km Shinkansen high-speed rail network carried 280 million passengers in 1998-99. This was a relatively high proportion of the JR companies' overall traffic of 876 million passengers recorded by the JR Group passenger railways during the same period.

JAPAN's major rail operators are fighting hard to maintain and expand high-speed passenger business in the face of a domestic economic recession which resulted in a 1% decline in overall passenger traffic last year.

Despite the fact that traffic on the Shinkansen high-speed network fell 0.6 % compared with the previous year, there were some encouraging factors for the operators. For example, high-speed commuter services increased by 4.3%, while the introduction of new, fast through-trains (such as Nozomi and mini-Shinkansen) and the consequent reduction in journey times has also attracted more passengers. It has also helped to offset decreases suffered on long-distance services with more frequent stops.

The three high-speed operators--JR East, JR Central, and JR West--have all concentrated on developing new trains and services, while new line construction is underway to enable the railways to become more competitive against both airline and motorway transport modes.

There have been significant improvements recently on several Shinkansen routes. On the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, JR Central and JR West have started to operate their new series 700 emus in place of series 0, 100, and 300 trains.

Series 700 trains were introduced by JR Central on Nozomi services between Tokyo and Hakata on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen from March 1999. They have reduced the journey time by 15 minutes in comparison with the fastest journey time offered previously by series 300 trains. Series 0 trains were withdrawn in March 1999, while series 300 trains are now used instead on the slower Shinkansen services with more frequent stops.

JR Central is constructing a new station at Shinagawa, 6km south of Tokyo Central station, to increase line capacity on the Tokaido Shinkansen.

Meanwhile, JR West has put its new series 700E emu--named Hikari Rail Star--into service between Shin-Osaka and Hakata on the Sanyo Shinkansen. The 285km/h series 700E replaces the series 0 and series 100N trains and reduces the Shin-Osaka-Hakata journey time by 30 minutes to 2 hours 45 minutes.

Series 700E trains consist of eight rather than the 16 cars which form JR Central's series 700s, and they have second class accommodation only. Three cars provide non-reserved accommodation with a 3 2 seating arrangement, and five cars offer reserved accommodation with a 2 2 seating arrangement. There are 20 seats for business use, with large tables and plug-in facilities for PCs. Seating capacity is 245 for the three non-reserved cars and 326 for the five reserved cars.

JR East is currently introducing 275km/h series E2 and E4 trains to replace its 240km/h series 200 units. Most of these new trains are now operating between Tokyo and Akita on the Tohoku Shinkansen, reducing the journey time by about 10 minutes. A double-deck series E4 has seating for 817 passengers and 1637 when two sets are operating in multiple. Series E4s also operate Tsubasa services between Tokyo and Yamagata.

JR East opened the 61.5km extension of the Yamagata mini-Shinkansen from Yamagata to Shinjo in December 1999. The extended line enables a through-service to be provided from Tokyo to Shinjo. The fastest service completes the 421.4km trip in 3h 5min. JR East aimed to attract passengers from airlines, and a measure of its success is that only one scheduled flight has been retained on the route between Tokyo and Yamagata.

JR East built two seven-car series E3 trains for operation on this extension, in addition to 12 series 400 sets.

A total of 513km of new Shinkansen lines are being built. Japanese Railway Construction Corporation (JRCC), the government agency responsible for new construction, will retain ownership of these new sections after completion. The

JR companies will then lease the lines and operate them.

After the opening of new lines, parallel narrow-gauge lines will be abandoned or transferred to another sector as was the case with the Nagano and Hokuriku Shinkansen.

Shinkansen Expansion

A further possible 830km of new Shinkansen is under serious discussion, while preliminary planning is underway on a construction programme which could eventually extend the network to 6800km.

As well as the planned high-speed lines, the Yamagata and Akita lines have been opened as mini-Shinkansen lines which have been converted from narrow to standard gauge to allow through-operation with Shinkansen lines (see table).

A 179km extension to the Tohoku Shinkansen from Morioka via Machinote to Shin-Aomori, is under construction. About 65% of this line will be in tunnel. It is expected in future to be extended to form a high-speed line connecting Honshu Island and Hokkaido via the Seikan Tunnel.

This plan includes the proposed Hakkoda tunnel, with a length of 26.5km. The line, to be electrified at 25kV ac 50Hz, is designed for 260km/h operation. It will have a minimum curve radius of 4000m, a maximum gradient of 2%, and a 4.3m distance between track centres.