CE 863: Transportation Planning

Fall 2019: Homework 1

Submitted to: Dr. Jawed Iqbal

Submitted by: Jalal Habib Khan
CMS ID # 00000274624
MS Transportation Engineering, MCE
 Transportation history of Japan
Transportation in Japan is modern and highly developed. Japan's transport sector stands out
for its energy efficiency: it uses less energy per person compared to other countries, thanks to a
high share of rail transport and low overall travel distances.[1] Transport in Japan is also very
expensive in international comparison, reflecting high tolls and taxes, particularly on automobile
transport.[2]
Japan's spending on roads has been large.[3] The 1.2 million kilometres of paved road are the
main means of transport.[4] Japan has left-hand traffic. A single network of high-speed, divided,
limited-access toll roads connects major cities, which are operated by toll-collecting enterprises
The history of transport in Japan began in the late Edo period. There have been four main
stages:[1]

1. Stage 1, from 1872, the first line, from Tokyo to Yokohama, to the end of the Russo-
Japanese war;
2. Stage 2, from nationalization in 1906-07 to the end of World War II;
3. Stage 3, from the postwar creation of Japanese National Railways to 1987;
4. Stage 4, from privatization to the present, with JNR split between six new railway
operators for passengers and one for freight.

Stage 1, Early Development, 1872–1906

The development of the Japanese railway network commenced shortly after the country
opened its borders to formal international contact after a shogunate-imposed isolation of
about 250 years, and was initiated (along with many other changes to Japanese society at the
time) so that Japan could achieve rapid modernization.[2]
Though rail transport had been known through limited foreign contact such as with Dutch
traders in Dejima, Nagasaki, the impact of model railroads brought by foreigners such
as Yevfimiy Putyatin and Matthew Calbraith Perry was huge. The British also demonstrated
a steam locomotive in Nagasaki. Saga Domain, a Japanese feudal domain (han), made a
working model and planned to construct a line. Bodies such as the Satsuma Domain and
the Tokugawa shogunate reviewed railway construction from Edo to Kyoto via an inland
route, but a line did not come to reality before the Meiji Restoration.
The Briton Edmund Morel, was the first Engineer-in-Chief of the government railway,
and is respected as the father of Japanese railways

Whilst the Emperor of Japan, based in Kyoto, was the titular ruler of the country, since circa
1600 Japan had been effectively ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, based in Edo. In 1866 the
shogunate proposed a railway from Edo to Kyoto via an inland route, but in 1868 the Meiji
Restoration saw the Emperor returned as effective leader of the country, relocating his
permanent residence to the renamed Tokyo ("Eastern Capital"). Just before the fall of the
shogunate, the Tokugawa regime issued a grant to the American diplomat Anton L. C.
 Portman to construct a line from Yokohama to Edo (soon to be renamed Tokyo), but this
grant was not continued by the new regime.[3]
In 1868 Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant, was responsible for bringing the first
steam locomotive, "Iron Duke", to Japan, which he demonstrated on an 8-mile track in the
Ōura district of Nagasaki.[4] However, after ~250 years of a culture of ‘distrust of foreigners’,
construction of the ‘premier’ railway connecting Japan’s former and new capitals by non-
Japanese was considered politically unacceptable to the new Japanese regime, and so the
government of Japan decided to build a railway from the major port of Yokohama to Tokyo
using British financing and 300 British and European technical advisors: civil engineers,
general managers, locomotive builders and drivers.[5] In order to undertake its construction,
foreign experts were contracted, with the specific intent that such experts would educate
Japanese co-workers so that Japan could become self-sufficient in railway construction
expertise, at which time the foreign contractors were expected to leave the country. On
September 12, 1872, the first railway, between Shimbashi (later Shiodome)
and Yokohama (present Sakuragichō) opened. (The date is in Tenpō calendar, October 14 in
present Gregorian calendar). A one-way trip took 53 minutes in comparison to 40 minutes for
a modern electric train. Service started with nine round trips daily.[6]

Stage 2, 1906–1945
1906 nationalization
The Military expressed concern about the delays in troop movements that occurred during the
1904–05 Russo-Japanese War, and attributed such delays to the mix of private and government
railway ownership. Whether reasonable or not, the attribution tipped the balance in favour of
nationalization of the major railway companies, and in 1906 the Government proposed to
nationalize 42 railway companies, though ultimately 17 companies were involved, including the
"Big 5" companies (Nippon, San'yō, Kyushu and Kansai Railway companies and the Hokkaido
Coal & Railway Co), and covering virtually all main intercity/regional routes.
Pre-war development
Locomotives for the early railways were usually built in the country of the designing engineer.
The first railways on Honshu used locomotives built in the United Kingdom. Locomotives from
the United States arrived in Hokkaidō in 1888 and from Germany arrived in Kyushu in 1889.
Early British locomotives were often tank locomotives, while the earliest American locomotives
were 2-6-0 and 4-4-0 types with tenders. German manufacturers produced a number of smaller
tank locomotives including some for 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge. Richard Trevithick's
grandson Francis Henry Trevithick became locomotive superintendent for JNR in the late 19th
century, and ordered locomotives from the United Kingdom including numerous 4-4-0 types. His
brother Richard Francis Trevithick designed the first locomotive to be manufactured in Japan in
1893. Japanese manufacturers initially depended heavily on imported locomotive parts. JNR
ceased importing locomotives in 1912. Thereafter, with the exception of a few experimental
locomotives manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel or American Locomotive Company,
production locomotives were JNR designs built by Japanese manufacturers.[6]
Wartime situation
After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War (World War II), the
railways came under military control. In 1938, the government decided to unify private railways
into regional blocks, making larger companies such as Tokyo Kyuko Electric
Railway (called Great Tōkyū in comparison with postwar Tōkyū) and Kinki Nippon Railway.
In this period there was a second wave of nationalization. Twenty-two railway companies were
forcibly acquired by the government in 1943 and 1944. Unlike the first wave in 1906–1907,
which integrated trunk lines into government control, this wave mainly targeted railways with
industrial value. The acquired lines include the Tsurumi Line, the Hanwa Line and the Iida Line.

Stage 3, 1945–1987: Post-war recovery and development

It took several more years for the railways to fully recover. After the defeat, the lack of materials
caused facilities to not be properly maintained. The lack of materials necessitated people buying
in wholesale resulting in a rapid increase in passengers. Train services were further reduced due
to the lack of coal. Overcrowded trains resulted in numerous accidents. Transport related to U.S.
General HQ (GHQ) was given first priority, with many "Allies Personnel Only" trains.
In 1949, under the directive of the GHQ, Japanese Government Railways, which had been
directly operated by the Ministry of Transport, was reorganized as Japanese National
Railways (JNR), a state-owned public corporation.

Stage 4, 1987–present: The current situation

After the privatization, the JR Group companies tried to improve their services, some of them
being successful. At the same time, many local lines with lower ridership closed, since JRs are
now private companies. Decades after motorization, railways in the countryside, often
inconvenient with infrequent services, became less important for locals. The share of railways in
total passenger kilometers fell from 66.7 percent in 1965 to 42 percent in 1978 and 29.8 percent
in 1990.
Fierce competition between railway operators put a great emphasis on efficiency, possibly more
so than safety. Some think the Amagasaki derailment in 2005, which killed more than 100
passengers, is the result of such a trend.
Rail transport in Japan retains its reputation for efficiency, capacity, punctuality, and technology
through continuous improvements. The Port Liner, one of the first Automated guideway
transit systems in the world, opened in 1981. In 1988 the zairaisen (3'6" gauge) networks of
Hokkaido and Shikoku were connected to Honshu following the opening of the Seikan
Tunnel (the longest railway tunnel in the world until 2016) and the Great Seto Bridge, with
the Shinkansen network extended to Hakodate following the dual-gauging of the Seikan Tunnel
in 2016. SCMaglev reached its world record speeds of 581 km/h in 2003 and 603 km/h in 2015,
while the much slower Linimo, debuted in 2005, is the first maglev metro in the world.