Toyama Light Rail carriage
Japan’s reputation for being a world leader in public transport is well deserved. There are however of course still issues of connectivity in cities and planning over infrastructure continues to be debated, with challenges both in existing networks and with the introduction of new ones.
As in UK cities, trams were ubiquitous in their presence on the streets; by their peak year in 1932 they were running in 65 cities across the country. The number of cities with trams now is a quarter of what it used be as private cars, buses and subways became an everyday feature of modern Japan. Now, as in the UK currently, the return of the tram has been seen in a number of cities and is being considered as a solution for a variety of problems such as congestion and pollution. Despite controversial projects like Edinburgh being seen as problematic, as in the UK Japanese cities see benefits in similar schemes such as dealing with pollution and the opportunity to regenerate economically challenged areas.
Katsushika Ward, a municipality within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government area, began discussing the introduction of a new tram system using the track of a freight train line in February, and staff interviewed by local media stated the need for the plan was that “we have to improve connective modes of citizen’s transport.”
According to the ward office, while the railway network connecting the east and west is well developed, there is only a public bus line transportation linking the north and south. It is proposed the Japan Rail (national railways) freight line from the north to south running through the centre of the ward will be used for a new passenger line. This existing Shinkin line, as it is known and which sees no more than about three freight trains a day being run, could be converted to link Shinkoiwa station in the north of the ward with Kanamachi station in the south. The Sobu and Joban lines serving those stations are major arteries in and out of the capital serving millions of commuters every day.
The introduction of a ‘next generation LRT type’ tram is one candidate solution, and the ward will budget for ¥20 million (£145,000) to examine the costs in the spending plan announced for FY 2017, as well as also organise a conference for experts in the field to further investigate issues and costs. The debate is at an early stage but there are mixed feelings over tram schemes here; specialist in electric railway systems from Kogakuin University, Ryo Takagi, recently commented on NHK News ‘there may be opposition because it is much more expensive to introduce light rail than to start bus services, and the benefit of the project will not easily reach areas far from the planned light rail tracks. This may be avoided by reorganising public transport in the city as a whole with the new light-rail system at its centre. This will then require an agreement with the existing transport operators. So the important thing is that the entire community are involved in the discussion to reach an agreement over what the future public transport of the area can be.’
Another area which has been debating the introduction of a tram system is Utsunomiya City, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture, which has made public plans to link the centre of the city, connecting the shinkansen high speed rail station to the neighbouring municipality of Haga Town, a distance of about 15 km. The city suffers from chronic traffic problems and pollution, and a debate around the most appropriate solution available has been going on since 1995.
The latest plans for the new line include a bridge being built over the Kinu River to connect the central commercial area of Utsunomiya with various business parks and enterprise zones in neighbouring Haga. The plans are to introduce a 30-meter-long low level floor tram capable of taking up to 230 passengers, running along the fully accessible 19 stop line with a transit centre being built to offer an interchange with other modes of transport. The trams will run at 40kmph and operate on a timetable which runs alongside arrivals and departures for the high speed trains running on the Tohoku and Yamagata shinkansen lines to Tokyo to the south and destination in the north, with 10 trams an hour in peak times and six tram an hour frequency at other times. The line will take 44 minutes to complete a journey from start to finish, and the fares will start at 150 yen (£1.10) with the maximum cost being 400 yen (£2.80) and use an inter-operable ticketing system integrated into the bus, train and other public transit systems available in the wider area, using a contact less card along the lines of London’s Oyster card. The plans also state the provision of bicycle parking spaces at tram stops, and a ‘transit centre’ to offer an interchange with city and regional buses, taxis, trains to local destinations as well as the shinkansen high speed lines. The line will be run by a public-private partnership with a private sector service supplier running the trams and service, while the infrastructure and maintenance of the line will be owned by the City of Utsunomiya.
But the cost of the system at 457 billion yen (£3.3 billion) has seen a lot of opposition in the city, with fierce opposition to the introduction of the tram line due to the high price, and demands by opposition party councillors, prefectural assembly members and national Diet members trying to force a public referendum on the tram system, maintaining that the benefits of the system have not been properly explained to citizens. The City is currently instructed by the Mayor to introduce a final plan by 2019 to start the development of the line, but nothing is yet finalised while the debate about the actual benefits of introducing trams continues.
Toyama City in Toyama Prefecture is often pointed to as a successful example of introducing a “light rail transit” (LRT), relevant to the debate in Katsushika with an existing heavy rail line and somewhere trams advocates in Utsunomiya often look to. The Toyama line is regarded as the first fully converted or constructed LRT in Japan. Whilst other Japanese LRTs involve light rail rolling stock operating on new infrastructure, the “Portram” utilises new rolling stock on fully renovated exiting infrastructure, connected into the new Hokuriku shinkansen stop at JR Toyama station.
The original Toyamakō Line was built as a heavy railway line by a private Railway in 1924 and was electrified with 600 V DC overhead catenary. Later modified bu Japanese National Railways (JNR) to 1500 V DC, the last to be altered among JNR lines acquired from private companies. When JNR was privatised in 1987, the line became part of the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) network. During the time JR West operated the Toyamakō Line (which ended on 28 February 2006) it suffered a long period of declining passengers and a resulting reduction in service.
The Toyama Light Rail Company, a public-private partnership with the Hokuriku Electric Power Company, Intec, and the municipal and prefectural governments as major shareholders, was set up to own and operate the line. It was modified for light rail services and reopened on April 29, 2006, returning it to service under a Toyama-based company after half a century of outside management.
Prior to the line’s transfer in 2006, patronage was 1,700 passengers on weekdays and fewer than 750 on weekends. Under Toyama Light Rail ownership, the line proved to be surprisingly successful: 12,750 people rode the line on the first day. By November 9, 2006, one million passengers had used the line, and recent public consultation has reported 80% of local citizens believed the new trams had contributed to a reduction in traffic congestion and improved the quality of the environment.
Recent tram systems such as the one in Edinburgh have cast a shadow over other cities in the UK that want to set up tram networks, but are a superb component in a successful city-wide transport system although only if the system works as a whole. Japanese cities have seen similar debates to the ones had in the UK, but the systems have been shown to have an impact on traffic, the environment and for regeneration when planned with other transport modes as part of an integrated overall transport plan, such as the one in Toyama and that being considered in Utsunomiya.
Picture provided via Wikimedia Commons by LERK through Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5) licence
