The Mini-Shinkansen trains, built to a smaller loading gauge than their full-size brethren, initially reached speeds in the order of 200 km/h (when using the dedicated high speed Shinkansen lines), although they are limited to 130 km/h on the Standard gauge ‘legacy’ alignments (still better than the previous 90 km/h maximum). The latest 400 Series can reach 240 km/h, again only on the dedicated Shinkansen lines, while the about-to-be-introduced E6 Series is a tilting train that will enable higher speeds to be obtained on the ‘legacy’ lines. In that respect they are more akin to conventional tilting electric trains, such as the Pendolinos seen in a number of countries (the West Coast Main Line in the UK is a typical example).
There are also a few privately-owned Standard gauge lines, such as the Kintetsu Yunoyama Line and a number of other lines in the Osaka-Nagoya region and other areas. These operators obviously feel that the advantages of 1435 mm gauge outweigh inter-operability with the default 1067 mm gauge.
So where does Japan go from here? I don’t think even Japan has the answer to that question. In fact, Japan seems to be sitting quite firmly on the fence when it comes to deciding what gauge its railways will be in the future.
On the one hand, as noted above, it is building a number of Standard or dual gauge lines, both as stand-alone railways and as key links to permit more through running by Shinkansen and Mini-Shinkansen trains over ‘legacy’ lines. On the other hand, it looks as if it is trying to extract ever more ‘mileage’ out of its existing 1067 mm system.
This latter approach is exemplified by two distinct programs:
Super Tokku – a 1067 mm gauge line built to full Standard gauge Shinkansen standards (including larger loading gauge and gentle curves), and capable of being converted to Standard gauge in the future. Trains would run at up to 200 km/h while the gauge is 1067 mm. Three lines have been so built, and, as planned, all three were subsequently converted to full Standard gauge Shinkansen. It is not known whether any more such lines are envisaged – if not, is this still more fence-sitting?
1067/1435 mm variable gauge trains, capable of speeds of 130 km/h on the narrow gauge and 270-300 km/h on Standard gauge. After extensive testing (including undergoing over 2000 gauge changes), the first train has been withdrawn, and has been stored since 2007, with no further use made of it. The second train is technologically more advanced, including tilting and being fitted just recently with new lightweight bogies, and is still, by all appearances, undergoing further testing. Considering that the program has been going on now for nearly fifteen years, progress does seem to be somewhat less than enthusiastic, and it remains to be seen just how far variable gauge technology will advance in Japan.
In light of the above, it seems to me more than likely that Japan will eventually convert all its main lines to Standard gauge, but it is a huge program, will be very costly, and will likely span many decades, with many lines simply dual gauged in the interim.
Japan has a large number of privately-owned railways, some of which started off as tram systems, and then developed into something more like a main-line railway, and in fact today most are integrated with, and indistinguishable from, the main JNR system. Almost all of these are to 1067 mm gauge.
One exception is Keisei Electric Railway. It was originally built to the unusual Scotch gauge of 1372 mm, also known in Japan as馬車軌間 (Basha Kikan), or "coach gauge". Quite why is unknown. For a start, this gauge was only used in Scotland in the early 19th century, and disappeared when the British Gauge Act of 1846 made Standard gauge mandatory.
Yet the Keisei Railway was built in 1909 – long after Scotch gauge had been replaced by Standard gauge in its homeland. It was converted to 1435 mm Standard gauge in 1959, and today links up with the Toei Asakusa Line (see below).
The 1372 mm Scotch gauge is also to be found in Tokyo (two metro lines – see below) and one or two other places – again, the history behind the appearance of this gauge in Japan seems lost in the mists of time.
Of the 762 mm gauge railways, just four lines remain, including the Sangi Hokusei Line. At just 20 km long, this line is a very short railway, but fully electrified nonetheless, using overhead catenary. The spectacular Kurobe Gorge Railway, originally built in connection with the construction of the Kurobe dam project, is also 20 km long – and connects with the existing industrial line, which includes a 762 mm gauge passenger car Otis elevator! The other 762 mm gauge lines are much shorter, although still electrified, and built to similar standards as the main-line railways.
Trams and metros:
Like many countries that don’t use Standard gauge for their main railway system, Japan’s trams and metros diverge from main-line practice when it comes to gauges. Around 15 cities have some form of tram or metro system (excluding those that have a monorail or rubber-tyred system), while some have more than one (Tokyo has six!). As there are too many to describe individually, I’ll concentrate on the most important ones.
Suffice it to say that many, though very far from all, are built to 1435 mm gauge. And again, as noted above, some of these metro systems, especially the 1067 mm gauge ones, can be considered to be part of, and even integrated with, the main-line railways, so that a clear distinction between metro and commuter main-line is often not possible.
As an illustration of the sheer scale of Japan’s metro and regional railways, this map shows the extent and complexity of those lines serving just Tokyo (admittedly the world’s busiest subway and urban railway system):
Many lines in Tokyo are to the main line standard of 1067 mm – but there are large pure metro systems that use other gauges as well. Within this network are also to be found extensive lines using 1435 and 1372 mm gauges.
(I wonder if anyone has attempted to travel to every single station on this map, and record how long it took?)
In terms of Japan as a whole, the following cities and towns have a 1435 mm Standard gauge conventional metro system:
Chikuho-Kurosaki (uses tram-like vehicles)
Fukuoka (Line 3; Kyushu Railway)
Hiroshima
Kobe (not including normal commuter)
Kyoto (metro and light rail)
Nagoya (metro, 2 lines)
Osaka (metro and light rail)
Tokyo (Ginza and Marunouchi lines)
Yokohama
Integrated with the Keisei Railway (see above) is the Toei Asakusa Line, built to Standard gauge. It runs between Nishi-Magome and Oshiage.
The following metros and light rail systems run on 1067 mm gauge:
Choshi Electric Railway (recently closed)
Enoshima
Fujiyoshida
Fukuoka (Lines 1 and 2)
Osaka (Loop Line)
Sendai
Tokyo (except Standard gauge lines noted above)
Toyama (tram-train)
I mentioned a line with 1372 mm Scotch gauge earlier – this gauge is also to be found on the Tokyo Setagaya and Keio metro lines (parts of which resort to street running, and therefore are part metro, part tram). While some ‘legacy’ parts of the whole Keio network still operate on 1067 mm gauge (and indeed one part of one of the Keio lines, from Fuchu to Hachioji, was originally built to the main-line 1067 mm gauge, but was then changed to 1372 mm gauge to match the rest of the Scotch gauge Keio network), today almost all of the network, including the Toei Shinjuku Line and the Toden Arakawa Line, runs on Scotch gauge. Again, as this network was first built in 1907, some 60 years or more after Scotch gauge had disappeared in Scotland, we can only wonder what influences were at work in choosing such an odd and rare gauge – and even then, for something less than the whole Keio network.
Some of Japan’s metro systems use rubber tyre technology. Unlike those in France, which use supplementary Standard gauge steel rails with deep flanged wheels (see Part 2), those in Japan use a central guide rail. Thus they have no gauge as such.
Finally, we take a look at tram systems in Japan. Like many large urban areas, trams fell out of favour in the 1950s and 196
0s, and often never returned, having been replaced by underground metros. Many towns and cities today around the world are replacing tram systems in dense city centres with underground, as surface tram lines are too disruptive to traffic (even as trams are making a comeback in many cities in the form of modern urban light rail systems). Tokyo is a prime example, where all its trams had disappeared by 2010. Many of those tram systems in Japan still operational, running on city streets, are being extended or converted to light rail using their own dedicated right-of-way (and even underground in city centres), and it is all but impossible to distinguish between the two.
Nonetheless, a surprising number of traditional tram systems survive in Japan. Most date from the early 20th century, and many systems are even using original rolling stock!
The following tram systems use the main-line gauge of 1067 mm:
Fukui
Kochi
Matsuyama
Okayama
Sapporo
Takaoka
Toyama (tram and light rail)
Toyohashi
Standard gauge prevails on the following tram systems:
Hiroshima
Kagoshima
Kumamoto
Kyoto (rebuilt from 1067 mm gauge in 1918)
Nagasaki
The Toyama (Chubu) Portram line, opened in 2006, is said to run on Standard gauge, although most websites referencing this system show it to be to 1067 mm gauge. YouTube videos also show the trams running on rails narrower than 1435 mm. Such gauge discrepancies are not the first time there are conflicting reports on the gauge of a particular railway in Japan!
Finally, along with the 1372 mm Scotch gauge metros (see above), there are also two Scotch gauge tram systems – one in Hakodate and the other in the region of Kanto (of which the Greater Tokyo Area is a part). Again we see conflicting reports as to what the actual gauges are. In the case of Hakodate, some reports state that the system is to 1067 mm gauge, but photos and videos show the rails to be much wider – obviously another case where a personal visit would be in order!
ON TO PART 6…
Part 3 (Turkey), Part 4 and this Part, Part 5, have all encompassed Asia – yet we have still not finished with this continent, as we shall see in Part 6, in which we’ll look at South-East Asia before moving on to Australasia. In all, we have seen a total of eight gauges in extensive use in Asia – 1676, 1520/1524, 1435, 1372, 1067, 1000, 762 and 610 mm.
Part 6 will take us into more areas where something less than Standard gauge is the order of the day, while in Australia we will see what is in effect another gauge war – but this time one that started out over 100 years ago and yet is still on-going. Are solutions to this gauge war in sight? That question will be answered in the next Part.
© Copyright Frewston Books 2016
Central and East Asia Page 6