chugoku and shikoku regions · nagato-shi nagato motoyama seto inland sea sea of jsea of japanapan...

Japan Railway & Transport Review 39 • July 2004

Railw

a y Operators

Railway Operators

36 Copyright © 2004 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Railway Operators in Japan 13

Chugoku and Shikoku Regions

TakamatsuTakamatsu

Tadotsu

Kubokawa

Tosa Kuroshio Railway

Tosa Electric Railway

Asa Kaigan Railway

AmarubeAmarube

HamasakaKinosaki

TottoriKoge

WakasaWakasa

to Kyoto

Kurayoshi

Chizu

Tsuyama

Kamigori Himeji

to Kobe/Osakato Kobe/OsakaAioiAioi

Higashi OkayamaHigashi Okayama

OkayamaOkayamaOkayama

Uno

KurashikiKurashikiMitsubishiJiko-maeMitsubishiJiko-mae

FukuyamaFukuyama

Mihara

HiroshimaHiroshima

Kaitaichi

Seno

Kabe

YokogawaKoiki Koen-mae

IwakuniIwakuniKawanishiKawanishi

Nishiki-choNishiki-cho

Miyajima-guchi

KushigahamaKushigahama

Shin YamaguchiShin YamaguchiYamaguchi

InoIno

OnodaOnoda UbeUbe

AsaAsaHatabuHatabu

ShimonosekiShimonoseki

MojiMojiKokura

to Hakatato Hakata

Soja

Sakaide

Niimi

Fuchu Kan'nabeKan'nabe

ShiomachiMiyoshi

BichuKojiroBichu

Ochiai

YonagoMatsue Hoki Daisen

Hakubi Line

Sakai LineSakai Line

Ibara Railway

Inbi LineInbi Line

Ako LineAko Line

Uno LineUno Line

Seto Ohashi LineSeto Ohashi Line

Wakasa Railway

Chizu Express

Tsuyama Line

Kibi LineFukuen Line

Geibi LineAstram LineKabe Line

Sky Rail Service

Sanko Line

Yamaguchi Line

Gantoku LineGantoku LineUbe LineUbe Line

Mine Line

Onoda LineOnoda Line

Nishikigawa Railway

Hiroshima Electric RailwayHiroshima Electric Railway

Kure LineKure Line

San'yo main lineSan'yo main lineMizushima Rinkai RilwayMizushima Rinkai RilwayMizushima Rinkai Rilway

San'in main lineSan'in main line

San'in main lineSan'in main lineSan'in main line

Ichibata Electric RailroadIchibata Electric Railroad

Kisuki Line

Kishin Line

Sakai MinatoSakai Minato

ShinjiShinji

MatsueShinji-koOnsen

MatsueShinji-koOnsen

Izumo-shiIzumo-shiMt DaisenMt Daisen

KawatoKawato

Nishi IzumoNishi IzumoDentetsu Izumo-shiDentetsu Izumo-shiIzumo Taisha-maeIzumo Taisha-mae

Gotsu

Hamada

Masuda

SenzakiSenzaki

Nagato-shi

Nagato MotoyamaNagato Motoyama

Seto Inland SeaSeto Inland Sea

Sea of JapanSea of Japan

SHIKOKU

Tottori

Okayama

Shimane

Hiroshima

Yamaguchi

JR Lines

San'yo Shinkansen

Prefectural capital

Private lines

Railway Lines in Chugoku Region

1. Chugoku RegionMasafumi Miki

Region Overview

The Chugoku region at the western endof Honshu is comprised of the prefecturesof Okayama, Hiroshima, Tottori, Shimaneand Yamaguchi. The Chugoku Mountainsrun through the middle of this long, thinpart of Honshu. The winters are mild andrelatively dry south of the mountains alongthe coast of the Seto Inland Sea. Thereare heavy winter snowfalls north of themountains facing the Sea of Japan.Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures arein the southern San’yo district, whileTottori and Shimane prefectures are in thenorthern San’in district. Yamaguchi

backwater and the population declined.The two large cities of Okayama andHiroshima are regional centres. Okayamahas become an important transportationnode following the opening of the Honshu–Shikoku bridges in 1988. Hiroshima iswell-known as the site of the first atomicbombing, and is the only city in the regiondesignated by government ordinance.Chugoku has three national parks: theInland Sea, San’in Coast, and Daisen-Oki.Hiroshima Prefecture has two UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites: the HiroshimaPeace Memorial, and the ItsukushimaShinto Shrine.

Outline of Rail Network

The region’s trunk rail lines are:• JR West’s San’yo Shinkansen (Shin

Osaka–Hakata (Fukuoka), 622.3 km)

Prefecture, at the western end of Honshu,straddles both districts.The side of the region facing the SetoInland Sea has a good environment witha mild climate and calm seas, making itideal for coastal shipping and explainingthe presence of relatively large cities andthriving coastal industrial zones.Shipbuilding as well as chemical andheavy industries are important here.To the north, the land facing the Sea ofJapan endures severe winters. In the olddays, kitamae trading boats plied thecoastal waters and brought prosperity.However, due to the growth along othertransportation corridors after the MeijiRestoration (1868), the region became a

Japan Railway & Transport Review 39 • July 2004 37Copyright © 2004 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Size and Financial Status of Railways in Chugoku Region

Number of Capital Operating Revenues Operating Expenses Operating Profits/Losses OrdinaryRoute-km Employees (¥1000) (¥1000) (¥1000) (¥1000) Profits/ Losses

Railway Non-railway Railway Non-railway Railway Non-railway (¥1000)

JR West 5,078.4 35,523 100,000,000 851,142,331 18,745,572 763,226,395 7,128,325 87,915,936 11,617,247 54,092,745Chizu Express 56.1 78 450,000 2,895,338 0 2,278,347 0 616,991 0 539,905Okayama Electric Tramway 4.7 46 200,000 444,654 1,660,184 379,039 1,661,470 65,615 -1,286 73,952Mizushima Rinkai Railway 10.4 (freight 16.5) 49 850,000 726,834 128,484 775,448 68,522 -48,617 59,965 15,461Ibara Railway 41.7 59 700,000 350,555 28,851 617,252 23,183 -266,697 5,668 -346,182Hiroshima Electric Railway 34.9 910 900,000 6,538,855 12,283,047 6,254,895 11,730,848 283,960 552,199 244,564Hiroshima Rapid Transit 18.4 183 10,000,000 4,591,778 249,145 4,632,455 123,024 -40,677 -126,121 -1,662,364Nishikigawa Railway 32.7 20 120,000 118,901 63,678 143,285 60,472 -24,384 3,206 -16,442Sky Rail Service 1.3 12 20,000 136,203 4,020,780 152,103 16,344 -15,900 4,436 3,708Wakasa Railway 19.2 16 100,000 105,795 5,894 135,279 8,427 -29,484 -2,533 -31,201Ichibata Electric Railroad 42.2 50 780,000 430,931 2,999,625 646,947 2,548,497 -216,016 451,128 -58,878

Passenger Volume and Density by Railway Company

• JR West’s San’yo main line along theSeto Inland Sea (Kobe–Moji, 512.7 km)

• JR West’s San’in main line along the Seaof Japan (Kyoto–Hatabu, 673.8 km)

The San’yo Shinkansen joins the TokaidoShinkansen at Shin Osaka, forming Japan’smost important rail axis. The narrow-gauge San’yo main line, which follows thesame transportation corridor in the district,

has overnight sleeper and rail freighttraffic, but its main role now is to link citieswithin the region.In the north along the San’in main line,the population base is shrinking. The linehas very few passengers travelling its entirelength—passengers to and from majorcities along the coast generally take north–south connector lines to the San’yoShinkansen corridor. The only electrified

sections are between Kyoto and Kinosaki(Hyogo Prefecture), and between Yonagoand Nishi Izumo.The following north–south routes havelimited-express services linking cities onthe Sea of Japan with the San ’yoShinkansen:• Tottori to Osaka: Inbi Line and other

lines, including line operated byChizu Express

Note: Capital FY2002 data; all other figures, FY2001 data

Note: Passenger Density = Daily passenger-km/route-km

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

JR West No. of Passengers (1000) 1,779,749 1,805,090 1,805,465 1,884,460 1,887,650 1,867,987 1,843,460 1,823,236 1,812,450 1811,812

Passenger Density* 29,690 29,812 28,327 30,131 30,404 29,825 29,098 28,594 28,575 28,633

Chizu Express Volume – – 210 928 979 1,119 1,190 1,208 1,226 1,236

Density – – 1,251 2,012 2,210 2,525 2,723 2,726 2,787 2,785

Okayama Electric Tramway Volume 4,575 4,440 4,369 4,336 4,312 4,244 4,187 4,060 3,874 3,717

Density 4,711 4,531 4,458 4,380 4,345 4,284 4,209 4,050 3,867 3,692

Mizushima Rinkai Railway Volume 2,289 2,441 2,421 2,389 2,304 2,252 2,117 2,032 1,917 1,821

Density 4,199 4,395 4,367 4,273 4,135 3,990 3,714 3,547 3,316 3,181

Ibara Railway Volume – – – – – – 377 1,092 1,029 1,099

Density – – – – – – 2,769 1,253 957 993

Hiroshima Electric Railway Volume 64,178 64,953 65,227 65,595 65,313 65,593 63,448 62,602 60,350 58,484

Density 17,929 18,223 18,338 18,469 18,463 18,689 18,109 17,827 17,161 16,554

Hiroshima Rapid Transit Volume – – 9,761 16,623 17,813 18,335 18,836 19,234 19,344 19,315

Density – – 20,175 19,511 20,798 21,170 21,622 22,207 22,535 22,124

Nishikigawa Railway Volume 577 551 530 485 471 447 457 439 438 450

Density 966 923 887 816 789 746 758 720 718 736

Sky Rail Service Volume – – – – – – 45 59 66 88

Density – – – – – – 185 134 154 196

Wakasa Railway Volume 575 575 553 541 564 607 638 671 658 661

Density 903 901 906 891 895 888 890 893 866 858

Ichibata Electric Railroad Volume 1,708 1,702 1,817 1,845 1,757 1,621 1,562 1,566 1,490 1,476

Density 1,631 1,592 1,753 1,672 1,720 1,518 1,482 1,548 1,427 1,434


Railway Operators

Copyright © 2004 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

• Yonago and Izumo-shi to Okayama:Hakubi Line

• Hamada and Masuda to ShinYamaguchi: Yamaguchi Line

Some other lines, such as the Tsuyama,Fukuen, Kisuki and Mine lines, also linkthe north and south coasts, but offer noexpress services. Along the coast of theSeto Inland Sea, the Ako, Kure, Gantoku,Ube and other branch lines feed to theSan’yo main line.The suburban populations of Okayamaand Hiroshima are growing andgenerating greater ridership on the urbantransit systems. Okayama ElectricTramway and Hiroshima Electric Railwayboth operate tramways in their respectivecities. Hiroshima also has a guidedtransportation system operated byHiroshima Rapid Transit.Population density is low away from thecities, creating challenges for local servicesoffered by public–private businesses suchas Nishikigawa Railway, Wakasa Railwayand Ibara Railway, all of which are tryingto attract more passengers.

JR West Lines

San’yo ShinkansenThe San’yo Shinkansen started as anextension to the Tokaido Shinkansen

(Tokyo–Osaka). It opened as far asOkayama in 1972, and reached Hakata(Fukuoka)—the present terminus—in1975. The passenger density is lower thanthat of the Tokaido Shinkansen. The trackwas designed for high speed, so almostthe entire line is elevated or tunnelled.Indeed, the numerous tunnels are acharacteristic of the San’yo Shinkansen.The whole line from Shin Osaka to Hakatais operated by JR West, unlike the narrow-gauge San’yo main line, which is operatedjointly by JR West and JR Kyushu east andwest of Shimonoseki, respectively.Kodama (Echo) shinkansen trains stop atevery station and most run back and forthalong the line. However, many of thefaster Nozomi (Hope) and Hikari (Light)trains provide through services onto theTokaido Shinkansen.Fukuoka has an airport very close to thecity centre, pushing the shinkansen intoa competitive struggle with air andresulting in higher speeds and betterservices.• Higher speeds: In 1989, the Grand

Hikari reached 230 km/h on theSan’yo Shinkansen, using improvedSeries 100N rolling stock; in 1997, theSeries 500 Nozomi achieved a worldrecord maximum speed of 300 km/hon the same line.

• Improved services: In 1988, Series 0West Hikari standard cars raised

comfort levels by changing from 3 +2 seats per row to 2 + 2. In 2000,West Hikari services were replaced bythe Series 700 Hikari Rail Star trainswith 2 + 2 wide seats per row, offeringcomfort levels for reserved-seatpassengers equal to those inexecutive-class (Green) cars. Inaddition, more through services wereadded to make travel betweenlocalities such as Shizuoka Prefectureand Okayama or Hiroshima moreattractive by rail than by air.

Kodama services are generally four- or six-car train sets, and even the faster Hikariservices are generally eight-car train setsthat do not leave the line. However,Nozomi and other trains offering throughservices onto the Tokaido Shinkansenhave 16 cars.

San’yo main lineRight from the late 19th century, theSan’yo main line with its connection tothe Tokaido main line has been a majorroute through western Japan. However,the San’yo Shinkansen took over the roleof transporting long-distance railpassengers (except overnight travel) in thistransportation corridor in 1972. Today,the San’yo main line is used mainly forfreight and relatively short intercity travel.Many container trains use the line, linking

JR West’s Series 500 Nozomi (left) and Series 700 Hikari Rail Star on San’yo Shinkansen (Photos: JR West)


Greater Tokyo and the Kansai district withthe San’yo district and Kyushu. Demandfor freight services is heavy in the Chugokuregion due to the many cities andindustrial zones alongside the line.Overnight sleepers also use the line,although passenger levels are droppingbecause of the faster shinkansen trains, thegrowing convenience of air travel, and thedevelopment of express buses. Sleepertrains currently offer three daily return runsbetween Tokyo and the Chugoku region(and onward to Kyushu), one betweenTokyo and Shikoku and the San’in district,and two between Kansai and Kyushu. (Atrain that is coupled partway along theroute is counted as one train.) There aremany vacant seats except during busyholiday travel periods at the year end, etc.Nevertheless, passengers are givingpositive feedback about the new Series285 all-private sleeping cars introducedin 1998 on the Sunrise Seto (Tokyo–Takamatsu) and Sunrise Izumo (Tokyo–Izumo-shi) services operating over part ofthe route via the Hakubi Line.The San’yo main line offers manyappealing choices for intercity travel. TheSun Liner rapid express between

Okayama and Fukuyama runs every30 minutes, using Series 117 cars (twodoors per side with cross-seating). In theHiroshima area, the City Liner rapidexpress runs at 30-minute intervals duringdaytime hours, supplemented by theCommuter Liner during the morning andevening rush hours. The Akiji Liner offersthrough services onto the Kure Line. InYamaguchi Prefecture, many JR Westtrains provide through services throughthe Kammon Tunnel (3.6 km) to JR Kyushustations in northern Kyushu. Some trainsoffer through services onto the Ube Linefrom the San’yo main line.The following lines branch from theSan’yo main line:• Ako Line (57.4 km) from Aioi (Hyogo

Prefecture) to Higashi Okayama(Okayama Prefecture) both also onSan’yo main line

• Uno Line (32.9 km) from Okayama toUno (both in Okayama Prefecture)—The northern section of this line is alsoused by trains crossing from Honshuto Shikoku on the Seto Ohashi Line.

• Kibi Line (20.4 km) from Okayama toSoja (both in Okayama Prefecture)—Soja is on the Hakubi Line.

• Kure Line (87.0 km) from Mihara toKaitaichi (both in Hiroshima Prefectureand both on San’yo main line)

• Gantoku Line (43.7 km) from Iwakunito Kushigahama (both in YamaguchiPrefecture and both on San’yo mainline)

• Ube Line (33.2 km) from ShinYamaguchi to Ube (both in YamaguchiPrefecture and both on San’yo mainline)

• Onoda Line (11.6 km) from Ino toO n o d a ( b o t h i n Ya m a g u c h iPrefecture)—The line links the UbeLine at Ino with the San’yo main lineat Onoda; a 2.3-km spur runs fromSuzumeda on the Onoda Line toNagato Motoyama.

All these branch lines except the Kibi Lineare electrified and many offer throughservices onto the San’yo main line.

San’in main lineThis line runs through an area with littleurbanization and most sections are notelectrified, so the line is no longer a majorlong-distance route. Two overnightsleeper trains do offer long-distance travel:the Izumo limited express from Tokyo toIzumo-shi, and the Daisen (place name)express from Osaka to Yonago (partlytaking the Fukuchiyama Line). All othertrains on the San’in main line, includingfreight trains, use only parts of the line, orturn off onto a north–south connector tothe Seto Inland Sea coast.The San’in main line lost its role as a long-distance main line because it is far frommajor transportation corridors; has adeclining trackside population; is notelectrified; and has difficulties keepingservices on schedule due to a problemwith the Amarube Viaduct. This bridge,which is one of Japan’s longest (310 m)and highest (41 m), is located betweenYoroi and Amarube in Hyogo Prefecture.A train was blown off the bridge during asevere winter gale in 1986 and bridgeJR West’s Series 285 Sunrise Seto sleeper express running through San’yo main line (JR West)


Railway Operators


crossings have frequently been curtailedduring strong winds since then.At present, the only limited-express trainsoffering through services between Hyogoand Tottori prefectures are the above-mentioned Izumo and the Hamakaze(Beach wind) from Osaka to Tottori orHamasaka (Hyogo Prefecture) running viathe Bantan Line (see JRTR 37, pp. 44–51).West of Tottori, there are express servicesusing new Series 187 diesel-poweredrolling stock: the Super Matsukaze (Pinewind) from Tottori to Masuda in ShimanePrefecture, and the Super Oki (islandname) from Tottori to Shin Yamaguchi.The Isokaze (Shore wind) runs fromMasuda to Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture.Local services are even more segmentedthan on the San’yo main line. Typicalexamples are: Kyoto to Kinosaki in HyogoPrefecture on an electrified section;Kinosaki (or Toyooka) to Hamasaka (bothin Hyogo Prefecture); Hamasaka to Tottori;Tottori to Yonago (both in TottoriPrefecture); Yonago to Masuda; Masudato Nagato-shi in Yamaguchi Prefecture;and Nagato-shi to Shimonoseki inYamaguchi Prefecture.The line also supports the Tottori Liner

(Tottori–Yonago) and the Aqua Liner(Yonago–Masuda) intercity rapid services.The San’in main line has two branchlines: the 17.9-km Sakai Line fromYonago to Sakai Minato, and the 2.2-kmSan’in main line branch from Nagato-shi to Senzaki (both in YamaguchiPrefecture).

North–south connector linesYears ago, north–south connector lineswere built to link communities on the SetoInland Sea and the Sea of Japan. Whenthe San’yo Shinkansen started running,some of connector lines remained local,secondary lines while others grew inimportance and offered limited-expressservices bound for shinkansen stations.Typical examples of the latter are theFukuchiyama (see JRTR 37 pp. 44–51),Hakubi, Yamaguchi and Inbi lines, as wellas the Chizu Express operated by a public–private business with through operationson the Inbi Line.The 138.4-km Hakubi Line runs fromKurashiki (in Okayama Prefecture on theSan’yo main line) to Hoki Daisen (inTottori Prefecture on the San’in main line).When the San’yo Shinkansen opened,Yakumo (place name) limited expressesbegan frequent services betweenOkayama and Yonago (Tottori Prefecture)and Izumo-shi (Shimane Prefecture). In1982, the San’in main line was electrifiedby Japanese National Railways (JNR) asfar as Chiinomiya (now Nishi Izumo) justwest of Izumo-shi and Series 381 rollingstock with a tilting mechanism was

Chizu Express’s Series HOT7000 Super Hakuto running between Koiyamagata and Chizu (Chizu Express Co.)

JR West’s local train on San’in main line (JR West)


introduced to increase speeds on curvesand offer more frequent services. Today,the Hakubi Line is an important connectorlinking the Seto Inland Sea coast to thecentral San’in district. The above-mentioned Sunrise Izumo limited expressalso uses the line.The 93.9-km Yamaguchi Line runs fromSh in Yamaguch i ( i n Yamaguch iPrefecture on the San’yo Shinkansen)to Masuda (in Shimane Prefecture onthe San ’ in main l ine ) . I t i s notelectrified, but is used by the Super Okilimited expresses feeding the San’yoShinkansen. The Yamaguchi Line wasthe first in Japan to see the rebirth ofsteam in 1979 when JNR started haulingthe SL Yamaguchi-go using a Class C57steam locomotive.Chizu Express operates a 56.1-km linefrom Kamigori (Hyogo Prefecture) toChizu. JNR started building the line in1966, but abandoned the project. It wassubsequently taken up by a public–privatebusiness and opened in 1994. The mostimportant trains are the Super Hakuto(White rabbit), which runs from Kyoto onthe Tokaido and San’yo main lines,switches to the Chizu Express, and thenruns through on the Inbi Line from Chizuto Tottori. Some runs continue toKurayoshi on the San’in main line.Another important train is the Super Inaba(region name), which runs from Okayama,follows the San’yo main line, and thentakes the same route as the Super Hakutofrom Kamigori.The local, secondary north–southconnector lines are:• Kishin Line (158.1 km) from Himeji

(Hyogo Prefecture) to Niimi (onHakubi Line in Okayama Prefecture )

• Tsuyama Line (58.7 km) f romOkayama to Tsuyama (on Kishin Linein Okayama Prefecture)

• Fukuen Line (79.4 km) from Fukuyama(on San’yo main line in HiroshimaPrefecture) to Shiomachi (on GeibiLine in Hiroshima Prefecture)

• Geibi Line (159.1 km) from BichuKojiro (on Hakubi Line in OkayamaPrefecture) to Hiroshima

• Kisuki Line (81.9 km) from Shinji (onSan ’ in main l ine in ShimanePrefecture) to Bingo Ochiai (on GeibiLine in Hiroshima Prefecture)

• Sanko Line (108.1 km) from Gotsu (onSan ’ in main l ine in ShimanePrefecture) to Miyoshi (on Geibi Linein Hiroshima Prefecture)

• Kabe Line (14.0 km) from Yokogawa(on San’yo main line in HiroshimaPrefecture) to Kabe (in HiroshimaPrefecture)

• Mine Line (46.0 km) from Asa (onSan’yo main line in YamaguchiPrefecture) to Nagato-shi (on San’inmain line in Yamaguchi Prefecture)

All these lines face difficult economictimes because of falling passenger levels.The Fukuyama–Fuchu section of theFukuen Line and the Kabe Line areelectrified. Both were purchased fromprivate railways, and added to thegovernment railways’ network duringWWII. Today, they serve suburbana reas o f t he i r r e spec t i ve c i t i e s(Fukuyama and Hiroshima). None ofthe other lines have been electrified and

costs are being cut by measures suchas running small diesel railcars.

Private Railways

Private railways in the Chugoku region arefar smaller than those in Greater Tokyo orthe Kansai (Osaka) district. Local privaterailway operations consist of tramways,new guided transport systems, public–private (third) sector operations, andregional railway companies.

TramwaysThe two regional cities of Okayama andHiroshima have tramways.Okayama Electric Tramway operates the3.05-km Higashiyama and the 1.63-kmSeikibashi lines. Both are 600-Vdcdouble-track lines with a gauge of1067 mm and neither has a segregatedright of way. During the last few years,the company has promoted its system byintroducing ultra-low-floor light railvehicles (ULF-LRVs) with inner-city flatfares of ¥100 (= US$0.97).Hiroshima Electric Railway’s 600-Vdcne twork cons i s t s o f 19 .0 km o ftramways and 16.1 km of light rail allat 1435-mm gauge. The total fleet

Okayama Electric TramwayNetwork

Higashiyama Line

Seikibashi Line

San'yo main line

San'yoShinkansenSan'yoShinkansen

to Himeji

Okayama

OkayamaEki-mae

Higashiyama

Seikibashi0 700 m

Okayama Electric Tramway’s new LRV Momo (Peach)(Okayama Electric Tramway)


Railway Operators


numbers 267 carriages (108 tramcarsand 159 LRVs). The popular cars havea mixed pa ren tage— some wereinherited from the Kansai district andsome came f rom Hannover andDortmund in Germany. The companyhas introduced some ULF-LRVs over thelast few years, and operates what hasbecome one o f J apan ’s bu s i e s ttramways. The light rail line takespassengers to the ferry to MiyajimaIsland where Itsukushima Shrine is

l o c a t e d , a n d p r o v i d e s t h r o u g hconnec t ions on the u rban t r amnetwork, offering convenient transit forsome suburban residents. (For moredetails, see the special feature on LRTsystems on pp. 10–16 and pp. 30–40in JRTR 38.)

New guided transport systems inHiroshimaUrban growth on the outskirts ofH i r o s h i m a h a s p r o m p t e d t h edevelopment of two innovative suburbanroutes. One is the 18.4-km Astram Line,a guided transport system operated byHiroshima Rapid Transit. It opened in1994, and runs from Hondori in centralHiroshima to Koiki Koen-mae in the hillyregion to the west. The entire line isdouble-tracked, and runs on elevatedtrack in the suburbs and underground inthe city centre. The six-car train sets seat286 passengers, and run at a minimuminterval of 2 minutes and 30 secondsduring the morning rush hour.The other (operated by Sky Rail Service)is Japan’s first cable-powered suspendedtransport system. This unique crossbetween a cableway and monorailopened in 1998, and runs 1.3 km from

Seno Station on the JR West San’yo mainline to the New Town urban developmentproject in the eastern suburbs.

Regional railway companiesOne of the biggest regional railwaysoperating in rural parts of the region is thepublic–private Chizu Express describedabove.All the other lines use a gauge of 1067 mmand none—except the line operated byIchibata Electric Railroad—have beenelectrified.The origin of the single-track mostly-elevated Ibara Railway goes back towhen JNR started building a line in1966, but then abandoned the projectas part of restructuring. As happenedwith Chizu Express, construction wastaken up by another group, whichopened the 41.7-km line from Kan’nabe(on the Fukuen Line in HiroshimaPrefecture) to Soja (on the Hakubi Linein Okayama Prefecture) in 1999. Sometrains offer through services on theFukuen Line to as far as Fukuyama.Nishikigawa Railway was established in1987, and assumed control of the JRWest’s Gan’nichi Line in YamaguchiPrefecture. The 32.7-km line runs from

Hiroshima Electric Railway’s Series 1900 formerly owned by Kyoto City at Tokachi-machi Station (left) and Series 5000 Green Mover (Photos: Hiroshima Electric Railway)

Hiroshima Electric RailwayNetwork

Astram LineSan'yoShinkansen

San'yomain line

NishiHiroshima

Yokogawa

HiroshimaHiroshimaStationHiroshimaStation

HiroshimaHiroshimaHiroshimaHakushimaHakushimaHakushima

HondoriDobashiDobashiDobashi

Tokaichi-machimachiTokaichi-machi

Hiroden Hiroden Nishi Nishi HiroshimaHiroshima

Hiroden Nishi Hiroshima

Eba

0 2.5 km

to Miyajima-guchito Miyajima-guchito Miyajima-guchi

Hiroshima PortHiroshima PortHiroshima Port


Hiroshima Rapid Transit’s Series 6000 Astram Line running between Ushita andFudoin-mae (Hiroshima Rapid Transit Co., Ltd.)

Ichibata Electric Railroad’s Series 50 running along Lake Shinji(Ichibata Electric Railroad)

Kawanishi (on the JR West’s Gantoku Line)to Nishiki-cho. All trains offer throughservices on the Gantoku Line as far asIwakuni. The line runs through the scenicNishikigawa Valley but the localpopulation is declining, making financesdifficult.Wakasa Railway took over the WakasaLine from JNR in 1986. The line runs19.2 km from Koge (on the JR West InbiLine) to Wakasa. Some trains offerthrough services on the Inbi Line as faras Tottori. The trackside population isdeclining with high-school studentsforming the bulk of the passenger baseso the company is in financial difficulties.Mizushima Rinkai Railway in OkayamaPrefecture is the last remaining localrailway of the many that once operatedalong the coast of the Seto Inland Sea.(Some, such as the Fukuen and Kabelines, were purchased and absorbedinto the larger railway network.) Thel i n e g o e s b a c k t o 1 9 4 3 , w h e nMitsubishi Heavy Industries built it forwartime freight transport. In 1948, theoperator was granted a local railwaylicence for both passenger and freighttransport. The Kurashiki municipalgovernment operated the line until itwas taken over by Mizushima Rinkai

Railway in 1970. Although the line is16.5-km long, passengers can onlytravel 10.4 km from Kurashiki-shi toMitsubishi Jiko-mae. The track passesthrough built-up areas of MizushimaCity, so revenues from the fare box aresimilar to income from freight haulageand the finances are in good health.Ichibata Electric Railroad in ShimanePrefecture opened in 1911. Today, it hasonly two lines: the 33.9-km Kita MatsueLine from Dentetsu Izumo-shi to MatsueShinji-ko Onsen, and the 8.3-km TaishaLine from Kawato (on the Kita MatsueLine) to Izumo Taisha-mae. Part of theformer line passes along scenic LakeShinji. The JR West San’in main line runsalong the other side of the lake andinterurban services in the Izumo area

have recently been improved, allowingIchibata Electric to increase the frequencyof local trains in this transport niche. �

Further ReadingSan'yo honsen (The San’yo Main Line), Railway

Pictorial, No. 594, 1994.

Romen densha~LRT (Tramways to LRT), Railway


K. Hayashi, Hiroshima shin kotsu system—Astram

Line no gaiyo (Overview of Hiroshima’s New Guided

Transport System—The Astram Line), Railway


K. Ushijima, Sky Rail, Railway Pictorial, No. 662,

1998.

Ibara Tetsudo no gaiyo (An Introduction to Ibara

Railway), Railway Pictorial, No. 667, 1999.

Y. Terada, Nihon no local shitetsu (Japan’s Local

Private Railways), Neko Publishing Co., Ltd., 2000.

2. Shikoku RegionYuichiro Kishi

The two Chinese characters (called kanjiin Japanese) used to make Shikoku mean‘four countries,’ a name that originatesfrom the four old fiefs of Iyo, Sanuki, Awa,

and Tosa, which are now called Ehime,Kagawa , Tokush ima and Koch iprefectures, respectively. With a land areaof only about 18,800 km2 and a


Railway Operators


population of 4.1 million, Shikoku is thesmallest of the four largest islandscomprising the Japanese archipelago(Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, andShikoku). Each of Shikoku’s prefectureshas a coastline; Ehime, Kagawa, andTokushima border the Seto Inland Seaseparating Shikoku from the main islandof Honshu. Ehime and Kochi both faceKyushu, but part of Kochi also faces thePacific Ocean. The topography is ruggedterrain and the centre of the island hassteep mountains including Mt Ishizuchi(1982 m) and Mt Tsurugi (1955 m).Narrow coastal plains are found along thecoasts of the Seto Inland Sea and Pacificsides of the island. The main cities arecentred on the coast and several largecities on the Seto Inland Sea havepopulations in the order of 50,000–

100,000. Each prefectural capital is onthe coast and the estimated populationsin October 2003 were 480,000, 340,000,330,000 and 270,000 for Matsuyama,Takamatsu, Tokushima, and Kochi,respectively.The north and south sides of Shikoku aredivided by central mountains and havedifferent regional characteristics—thenorth side has had long cultural andtrading relationships with the south sideof the Chugoku region of Honshu on theopposite side of the Seto Inland Sea andcomprised of Yamaguchi, Hiroshima andOkayama prefectures. The north-east sideof Tokushima Prefecture has seendeepening relations with the Kansaidistrict. Various large-scale heavyindustries have grown along the Setocoastal belt in the cities of Matsuyama,

Imabari, Niihama, etc., and some havepopulations in excess of 100,000. Incontrast, other than Kochi City, the Pacificcoast of southern Shikoku has no largecities with a population exceeding100,000.

Growth of Railway Network

Shikoku’s transportation network was fora long time centred around coastalshipping including extensive exchangewith the larger neighbouring islands ofKyushu and Honshu. The opening up ofwestward shipping routes during the Edoperiod (1603–1867) saw the long-termdevelopment of coastal ports in the SetoInland Sea. Small- and medium-sizedcoastal shipping businesses wereestablished west of the Kansai district afterthe Meiji period (1868–1912) and theopening of the railway between Osakaand Kobe in 1874 forced steamshipoperations to shift to coastal shippingroutes in the Seto Inland Sea, improvingsea transport.As a result, railway operators on Shikokuwere slow to develop their networks,restricting their operations to small localservices centred on the major cities. Thisexplains why Matsuyama was the lastprefectural capital in Japan (excludingOkinawa) to get a government railways’station (1927) and why the railwaynetworks of the four Shikoku prefectureswere not linked into a network until 1935.The October 1888 opening of the privateIyo Railway between Mitsuhama Bay andMatsuyama is noteworthy because notonly was it the first railway in Shikoku butit was also the third private railway inJapan, and was built before the openingof private lines in Hokkaido and Kyushu.The specifications were simple with agauge of 762 mm. In the following year,Sanuki Railway was opened linkingMarugame (a key point in the coastalshipping network on the Seto Inland Sea)

Railway Lines in Shikoku Region

Okayama

OnomichiOnomichi

KojimaKojimaKojimaUnoUno

to Osakato Osaka

TakamatsuTakamatsu

SakaideSakaide

KaifuKaifuMugiMugi

NahariNahari

Kan'nouraKan'noura

Cape MurotoCape MurotoCape Muroto

TadotsuTadotsuMarugameMarugameMarugame

UtazuUtazu

Awa IkedaTsukuda

Yoshino River

Tosa Kitagawa

TokushimaokushimaTokushimaSakoSako

NarutoNaruto

Ikenotani

GomenKochi

Mt Ishizuchi

TakahamaakahamaTakahama MitsuhamaMitsuhamaMitsuhama

NiihamaNiihamaNiihamaImabariImabariImabari

KubokawaKubokawaWakaiWakai

Nakamura

Sukumo

Uwajima

Niiya

Uchiko

Iyo-shi

MatsuyamaMatsuyamaMatsuyama

to Hakatato Hakata

San'yo main line

Yosan LineDosan Line

Naruto LineNaruto Line

Seto Ohashi LineSeto Ohashi Line

Kotoku LineKotoku LineTakamatsu-KotohiraElectric Rilroad

Mugi LineMugi LineMugi LineIyo Railway

Uchiko Line

Yodo Line

Tosa Kuroshio RailwayTosa Kuroshio Railway

Tosa Electric RailwayTosa Electric Railway

Tosa Kuroshio Railway Asa Kaigan RailwayAsa Kaigan Railway

Tokushima Line

Seto Inland SeaSeto Inland SeaSeto Inland Sea

Pacific Oceanacific OceanPacific Ocean

HONSHU

Kochi

Ehime

KagaKagawaKagawa

Tokushima

AwajishimawajishimaAwajishima

Hiroshima

Okayama

JR Lines

San'yo Shinkansen

Prefectural capitals

Private lines

Mt Tsurugi


and Kotohira (near the famous KotohiraShrine) via Tadotsu. It was soon extendedto Takamatsu, becoming the predecessorof JR Shikoku’s Dosan and Yosan linestoday. Interestingly, in December 1904,Sanuki Railway was taken over by San’yoRailway (the predecessor of the JR West’sSan’yo main line today), which had tracksrunning along the Honshu coast of theSeto Inland Sea. Since the aim of San’yoRailway was to link Honshu and Shikoku,it needed to build a ferry, becoming anunusual case of a railway operator unitingits railway network separated by a sea!Tokushima Railway (now JR Shikoku’sTokushima Line) opened in 1899 towestward line from Tokushima along theYoshino River; 1904 saw the opening ofTosa Electric Railway in Kochi Prefecture,the first electric railway in Shikoku,marking the birth of rail services in all fourprefectures of Shikoku.Unlike the private investment in localrailways, the government railways madeabsolutely no attempt to build lines inShikoku until 1906 when it adopted apolicy of extending the national main-linenetwork by purchasing existing privaterailways. Subsequent development of therailway infrastructure was promoted byextending, realigning, etc., the purchasedprivate lines. Extensions to the linesforming today’s JR Shikoku Yosan and

Tokushima lines were opened in quicksuccession from 1913. During and afterthe Taisho period (1912–1926) as therai lway infras t ructure came intogovernment hands, heavy emphasis wasplaced on linking up local railwaynetworks in different regions. The YosanLine running east–west parallel to thesouth coast of the Seto Inland Sea linkedthe cities of Matsuyama and Takamatsuin 1927 while the north–south Dosan Linewas pushed through the central mountainrange to connect with the previouslyopened Tokushima Line in 1935, finallylinking the four prefectural capitals by rail.In addition, lines were gradually builtaround the Shikoku coast to link thesmaller peripheral cities. As well aspurchasing the private forerunner oftoday’s Naruto Line in the north-east ofSh ikoku, p rogress was made incompleting the Kotoku Line betweenTakamatsu and Tokushima by 1935. Atthe same time, a private line running southfrom Tokushima was purchased andextended successively towards CapeMuroto, finally reaching Mugi in southernTokushima Prefecture by 1942. Elsewherein west Shikoku, by 1945, the Yosan Linehad been extended from Matsuyama toreach Uwajima, the major city in thesouth-west of Ehime, where a connectionwas made with the purchased, upgraded

and extended Uwajima Line (now part ofthe JR Shikoku’s Yodo Line).After WWII, moves were made todevelop the railway infrastructure in thesouth-west and south-east parts ofShikoku with the aim of developinglocal resources and the Yodo andNakamura lines (now Tosa KuroshioRai lway ’s Nakamura L ine ) wereopened. However, a freeze was put onfurther construction while the JNRreforms were in progress. During thelatter part of this period, parts of someof these lines were transfered to localgovernments and reopened as third-sector railway companies like AsaKaigan Railway, and the Sukumo andGomen–Nahari lines of Tosa KuroshioRailway.Finally, the 1988 opening of the SetoOhashi Line linking Shikoku withHonshu across the Honshu–Shikokubridges (JRTR 11, pp. 4–12, pp. 60–63,and JRTR 13 pp. 50–53) marked aturning point in opening up Shikoku tothe rest of the Japanese railway networkas described later in this article.

Railway Modernization

Not only did Shikoku’s main lines see fewextensions or upgrades after the early

Much of JR Shikoku’s network runs along the sea with ocean scenery. There aretemporary stations on the Mugi Line for summer bathers. (Author)

JR Shikoku’s Takamatsu Station (built in 2001) is the busiest station with 13,000passengers daily. (Author)


Railway Operators


1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

JR Shikoku No. of Passengers (1000) 65,351 64,608 65,800 63,869 64,895 64,417 61,839 59,237 57,391 55,246 53,625

Passenger Density1) 6,779 6,619 6,658 6,271 6,341 6,348 6,122 5,812 5,633 5,422 5,295

Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Volume 19,658 18,702 18,296 17,234 16,548 15,838 16,954 16,084 15,112 14,440 13,876

Density 7,864 7,465 7,292 6,854 6,621 6,365 6,680 6,377 5,992 5,747 5,575

Iyo Railway Volume 23,995 23,483 23,358 22,090 21,905 21,619 20,305 19,404 18,592 17,830 17,740

Density 6,835 6,768 6,657 6,265 6,199 6,184 5,771 5,513 5,208 5,058 4,984

Tosa Electric Railway Volume 9,154 8,994 8,687 8,134 7,770 7,821 7,583 7,399 7,047 6,902 6,742

Density 3,829 3,759 3,689 3,457 3,291 3,273 3,192 3,141 3,009 3,127 3,216

Tosa Kuroshio Railway Volume 1,047 1,001 1,000 963 914 886 1,130 1,263 1,333 1,306 1,265

Density 1,720 1,647 1,677 1,643 1,605 1,594 1,491 1,269 1,346 1,311 1,291

Asa Kaigan Railway2) Volume 9 177 150 135 142 124 125 123 118 103 92

Density 1,235 385 323 289 302 263 263 259 247 216 194

Source: Tetsudo tokei nempo (Railway Annual Statistics), MLIT1) Passenger Density = Daily passenger-km/route-km2) Asa Kaigan Railway opened on 26 March 1992.

Size and Financial Status of Railways in Shikoku

Passenger Volume and Density by Railway Company

Sources: Tetsudo tokei nempo (Railway Annual Statistics), MLIT, 2001 and Tetsudo yoran (Railway Directory), MLIT, 2003

No. of Capital Operating Revenues Operating Expenses Operating Profits/Losses OrdinaryHeadquarters Route-km Employees (¥1000) (¥1000) (¥1000) (¥1000) Profits/ Losses

Railway Non-railway Railway Non-railway Railway Non-railway (¥1000)

JR Shikoku Kagawa 855.2 2527 3,500,000 35,074,743 4,085,124 42,522,813 4,588,115 -7,448,070 -502,991 83,968Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Kagawa 60 308 250,000 2,841,743 1,155,568 2,917,800 1,160,533 -76,157 -4,965 -324,443Iyo Railway Ehime 43.5 327 1,500,000 3,219,966 8,645,121 3,185,976 7,263,874 33,990 1,381,247 1,508,921Tosa Electric Railway Kochi 25.3 188 660,000 1,172,596 4,544,224 1,344,363 4,393,544 -171,767 150,680 -138,370Tosa Kuroshio Railway Kochi 109.3 71 499,000 961,972 23,199 1,021,748 30,945 -59,776 -7,746 -81,435Asa Kaigan Railway Tokushima 8.5 11 100,000 16,588 1,454 73,946 20 -57,358 1,434 -53,264

days, they also remained largelyunchanged after WWII with most trainscontinuing to be hauled solely by steamlocomotives. There were absolutely noelectrified sections and there were alsomany difficulties in increasing train speedsdue to the poor track conditions on manysections. As a consequence, from the late1960s, JNR started putting a great deal ofeffort into upgrading Shikoku’s railwayservices based on the catchphrase, ‘low-cost, quick and no waiting.’ In concreteterms, this meant speeding up operationsby introduction of diesel vehicles as wellas increasing frequencies on lightly usedsections through use of railbus. Inaddition, to relieve the bottleneck of thesingle-track Yosan Line around Takamatsu,double- t racking programme wasunder taken a long wi th g radua lintroduction of coupled operation ofexpress trains over some track sectionswith decoupling at a junction. Today, the

system has been completely electrified somost express services have been elevatedto limited-express services to make thebest use of the advantages of electricrolling stock.Compared to the Tokaido and San’yomain lines on Honshu, main lines onShikoku have many sections with poortrack characteristics, such as sharp curvesand high grades, and track realignmentand new construction have been ongoingprojects since the first JNR days. Typicalrecent large-scale works were the 1986realignment of the Yosan Line via the6-km shortcut further inland to eliminatethe endless series of sharp curves alongthe older coastal route and shorten thejourney time between Matsuyama andUwajima. Similarly, many difficultmountainous sections on the Dosan Linemade speed increases difficult and therewere also frequent rockfalls, etc., resultingin frequent upgrade works. Especially

notewor thy was the la rge- sca lerealignment using a new tunnel andbridge near Tosa Kitagawa Station and theinterest ing use of a t russ br idgeincorporating a station and signal box.Double-tracking totalling 34.1 km wasundertaken between Tokushima and Sakoon the Kotoku Line in 1963; betweenTakamatsu and Utazu in KagawaPrefecture on the Yosan Line from 1965to 1970; between Marugame and Tadotsuon the Yosan Line; and immediately beforethe opening of the Honshu–Shikokubridges when the double-tracked SetoOhashi Line (18.1 km) was opened. Nofurther double tracking has beenperformed since JR Shikoku took overfrom JNR but faster speeds have beenachieved on single-track sections bybuilding a straight passing track at stations.The introduction of centralized trafficcontrol (CTC) on the Dosan Line betweenTadotsu and Kochi in July 1967 was the


third case in JNR, with the entire Shikokunetwork coming completely under CTCin November 1991.Electrification of the main-line networkwas greatly delayed and did not start untilthe last days of JNR when parts of theYosan and Dosan lines in KagawaPrefecture were electrified in March 1987.The section of the Yosan Line betweenTakamatsu and Matsuyama and Iyo-shiwas not electrified until 1993 and thereare now a great many electric services.In addition to the above-describedinfrastructure upgrades, policies such asintroduction of tilting trains have alsobeen adopted. In 1989, soon after JRShikoku took over operations from JNR,the company developed and introducedits Series 2000 DMU limited express—the world’s first natural pendulum tiltingdiesel rolling stock—for faster operationsmainly on the Dosan Line. In additionto reducing carriage weight, the high-output diesel engine and tilting bodyallow faster speeds through curvedsections, thereby decreasing journeytimes. Moreover, in 1992, JR Shikokuincreased maximum speeds to 130 km/h

with the introduction of Series 8000limited-express electric services, soonfollowed in 1998 by new Series 2000DMUs with a more powerful dieselengine capable of operations at 130 km/h.These introductions of new rolling stocksupporting faster operations allowed JRShikoku to eliminate the older expressrolling stock remaining from the JNR daysin advance of other JR operators. Now,90% of JR Shikoku limited-expressservices are operated using these newseries.Due to these efforts, 22, 41, and 27 minuteshave been cut from the journey timesbetween Takamatsu and Matsuyama,Kochi, and Tokushima, respectively,compared to the times soon after the startof JR Shikoku in 1987.

Linking Shikoku and Honshu

The nearest two points on each side ofthe strait separating Shikoku and Honshuare only a few kilometers apart. Thecoastal regions on each side have longhad thriving relations and their regional

economies are deeply linked. As aconsequence, a large number of ferryservices linking Honshu and Shikokuwere s ta r ted , lead ing to excesscompetition. The earliest two railwaysin Shikoku—Iyo Railway and SanukiRailway—both started laying tracks toprovide access to the main ferry ports.Iyo Railway soon realized that a ferry wasneeded to serve passengers and freightarriving at Mitsuhama Port, while SanukiRailway came to the same conclusionabout passenger and freight demand atTadotsu Port. In 1903, a steamshipcompany was established to link up withthe railways and ferries were soonoperating between the cities of Takamatsuand Okayama and between Tadotsu andOnomichi. In 1910, the base ofoperations on the Honshu side wasmoved to Uno, which was moreconvenient for land and sea links and thesteamer services became focused on theroute between Takamatsu and Uno.Meanwhile, Takamatsu Station was alsomoved to a more convenient location forchanging to the ferry and a floatingrailway bridge was soon built to facilitatebetween the rail and ferry. As aconsequence, both stations became ableto live up to their reputations as thegateways linking Honshu and Shikoku.Uko (meaning Uno–Takamatsu) ferriesbecame the major transport corridorbetween Honshu and Shikoku.They continued in this historic role foranother 78 years until the 18.1-kmHonshu–Shikoku bridges were opened inApril 1988. The Line crosses the Honshu–Shikoku bridges, a chain of six suspensioncable-stayed and truss bridges spanningthe narrow 9.4-km strait between Kojimaon Honshu and Sakaide on Shikoku,providing the first fixed road and rail links.The bridges carry an expressway on upperdeck and a double track railway on thelower deck, on which JR Shikoku operatesabout 160 passenger and freight serviceseach day. Since the opening of the

Series 2000 tilting limited express entering Utazu Station on Yosan Line (Author)


Railway Operators


Honshu–Shikoku bridges, JR ShikokuMarine Liner rapid services running atabout 130 km/h have cut the journey timebetween Takamatsu and Okayama toabout 55 minutes compared to the oldUko ferries that used to make the link inabout 1 hour and 40 minutes (or about1 hour by hovercraft).Moreover, the opening of the Honshu–Shikoku bridges created both new andsubstitute passenger demand as shown bythe approximate 2.5-fold increase to30,000 passengers a day travelling on theSeto Ohashi Line immediately after theline opened compared to 11,700passengers a day in the last months of theUko ferries. We can surmise that some ofthis increase has come from passengerson other ferries also transferring to the SetoOhashi Line.On the other hand, JR Shikoku has seenmajor changes to passenger flows andtrain operations; previously, the main flowwas from Kochi and Matsuyama toTakamatsu but after the opening of theSeto Ohashi Line, about 70% ofpassengers from Utazu cross to Honshu.Much of the 70% flow is composed ofpeople changing to the San’yo Shinkansen

at Okayama and going to the Kansaidistrict.In particular, the Seto Ohashi Line is saidto have greatly improved convenientaccess between Kochi, Matsuyama andthe Kansai district. Additionally, five- toseven-car Marine Liner rapid expressesdepart from Takamatsu every 30 minutesduring the day, carrying an average of13,067 passengers each day duringFY2002 and causing relatively congestedtravel conditions during the morning andevening rush hours. In fact, the numbersof workers and students crossing the SetoInland Sea grew massively from just 21people each day towards the end of theUko ferry services to 2795 each day inFY1996.As a consequence, universities in KagawaPrefecture have seen reverse growth innumbers with more students fromOkayama Prefecture in Honshu than localstudents from Kagawa Prefecture.

Competition with Expressways

Modern road network was slow in comingto Shikoku. Interestingly, even Iyo

Railway—Shikoku’s first line—was builtbetween Matsuyama and the maingateway port of Mitsuhama because theroad conditions were so poor. Underthese circumstances, local railways wereurgently requested by the inhabitants ofinterior regions where roads were poorand railway construction had a majorimpact on local economies. This explainswhy railways long remained the mainmode of land transport in Shikokucompared to other regions of Japan.However, around 1970, the focus shiftedtowards planning for high-speed roadinfrastructure and the priority graduallyswung in favour of expressways whenparts of the Matsuyama Expresswayopened in March 1985. Since JR Shikokuobtains most of its income from its railwaybusiness, it saw the shift from railwaystowards private motor transport caused byconstruction of a road network as animpending crisis that could be adeathblow for the company. To counterthe problem, the company quickly setabou t s t aged upg rad ing o f r a i linfrastructure that would support higherspeeds as well as development of high-performance rolling stock that could runat higher operations speeds.Meanwhile, expressway construction wasprogressing at fever pitch. Of the planned663 km of road extensions, 222 kmrunning east–west had been opened byJuly 2000 and 214.1 km of the remainingplanned 441 km running north–southacross the central mountain range werejust opened in April this year to link allfour of the island’s prefectures.As a consequence, most of JR Shikoku’smain lines have a completed expresswayrunning parallel to them and their railwaybusiness is faced with a severe situation.For example, a four-lane expresswayrunning parallel with most of theTakamatsu–Matsuyama section of theYosan Line (JR Shikoku’s busiest line) wascompleted in 2003. Since this expresswayoffers a convenient shortcut compared toSeries 5100 Marine Liner rapid train with double-decker car linking Honshu and Shikoku (Author)


the Yosan Line that follows the Ehimecoastline, automobiles can make thejourney between the two cities in under2 hours, which is shorter than the journeytime required by limited expressestravelling at 130 km/h on the Yosan Line.As a result, passenger levels on the YosanLine are dropping and are now only 80%of the level at the time of the boomfollowing the opening of the Honshu–Shikoku bridges. Moreover, conditions onthe Dosan Line linking the Seto Inland Seaside with Kochi have also become severewith a drop to 60% or 70% compared tothe boom time.Clearly, the older conventional railwaylines on Shikoku are facing a crisisresulting from increased competition withexpressways, but the Seto Ohashi Line,which was very successful soon after itsopening in 1988, is also in crisis too. The1998 opening of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridgebetween Tokushima and Awajishimacreated a new direct link for automobilesbetween Kobe in Honshu and Shikokuand completion of the expresswaynetwork has seen a sudden surge in

express buses making the journeybetween the major cities of the Kansaidistrict and the island. Not only have theexpress buses managed to cut more than1 hour off the journey time betweenTakamatsu, Tokushima and the Kansaidistrict, but the bus fare is also only aboutone-half of the rail fare (includingshinkansen charge). As a consequence,it is no exaggeration to say that the marketshare of rail and bus services betweenTokushima and the Kansai district hasbeen completely reversed in favour ofbuses.As a result, the 10 to 11 million peopleusing the Seto Ohashi Line annually soonafter it opened in 1988 had droppedprecipitously to between 8 and 9 millionby FY2000. As a countermeasure, inaddition to shortening journey times andincreasing the number of new Series 5000Marine Liner services, JR Shikoku isstrengthening its transport capacity bymaking a joint investment with JR Westto increase the number of platforms forits Seto Ohashi Line at JR West’s OkayamaStation.

On the other hand, the many single-tracksections on the JR West’s Uno Lineconnecting with the Seto Ohashi Linecreate a bottleneck on transport capacityso Okayama prefectural government,Shikoku’s four prefectural governments,and JR West are promoting work todouble-track some sections. In addition,commercialization of a so-called free-gauge train that can run on track sectionswith different gauges is being examinedas a possible future method of allowingthrough operations between narrow-gauge lines in Shikoku and shinkansen onHonshu and elsewhere in Japan.

Urban Transport

The electrification works on parts of theYosan and Dosan lines completed at theend of the JNR era were to prepare for theopening of the Seto Ohashi Line, but werealso targeted at improving capacity onroutes from the Takamatsu to south-westparts of Kagawa Prefecture. Furthermore,JR Shikoku embarked on a continuingelectrification programme in EhimePrefecture. In addition to reducingjourney times, the frequency and qualityof services was raised by introduction ofnew Series 7000 EMUs capable of driver-only operation. These efforts resulted ina large increase in the number of regularservices offering more convenience forpassengers. To raise the notch one levelhigher around Matsuyama, in March2002, the number of rapid services wasdoubled, journey times were greatlyshortened, and the timetable was revisedto make it easier for passengers tounderstand.Non-JR private lines still play an importantrole in Shikoku urban transport ;companies in three of the prefecturalcapitals have extensive networks withlong histories dating to before WWII;Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad inTakamatsu, Iyo Railway in Matsuyama,

JR Shikoku’s first electric Series 8000 limited express on Yosan Line linking Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture andOkayama on Honshu at 130 km/h (Author)


Railway Operators


and Tosa Electric Railway in Kochi are allfully electric operations. Part of IyoRailway and all of Tosa Electric Railwayare defined as tramways by the TramwayLaw.Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad wasformed by the wartime merger of threecompanies with tracks extending into thecentre of Takamatsu and 16 buscompanies. It has three lines totalling60 km and is mainly supported by acustomer base consisting of commutersand students travelling around Takamatsu.However, the number of passengers hasfallen to nearly half of the peak levels andthe bankruptcy of a related company inDecember 2001 forced it into bankruptcyas well. There were proposals to cut theroute length but the complete network isbeing maintained for the time being whilerestructuring plans with assistance fromthe national, prefectural and municipalgovernments are being examined. Futureplans for re-establishing a healthy businessinclude upgrading rol l ing s tock,introducing joint rail and bus ticketingusing IC cards, building new stations, andproviding Park & Ride car parks at all out-of-city stations.Iyo Railway is the light railway describedin Botchan, a novel set in Matsuyama bySoseki Natsume (1867–1916), as the‘matchbox steam train.’ Today, it is

principally a 36.6-km urban railwaylinking Matsuyama with nearby towns butit also has a 6.9-km suburban loop linewithin the city. The once-thrivingMitsuhama Port is now very quiet, but theMatsuyama Tourist Port for ferries to andfrom Honshu and Kyushu and nearbyTakahama Station terminus are linked byfrequent bus services.The tramway uses popular reproductionsof period tramcars to carry more than8 million visitors a year to Dogo hotsprings in Matsuyama. More recently,positive steps have been taken to revitalizethe business by replacing old electric carswith modern low-floor vehicles.Tosa Electric Railway started business in1904 as an electric tramway serving Kochiand its surrounding areas. Today, it has atotal network length of 25.3 km and is theoldest surviving tramway business inJapan. Unlike the previously describedurban Iyo Railway which runs solelywithin Matsuyama, Tosa Electric Railwayis a typical suburban railway that crossesKochi to link with surrounding towns andvillages. Tosa Electric Railway used toown a railway line in the south-east partof the prefecture and the electric tramwayprovided through operations on this line.As part of its strategy to revitalize business,the company has imported tramcars fromLisbon (Portugal), Stuttgart (Germany),

Oslo (Norway), and Gratz (Austria). Morerecently, it tried introduction of low-floorarticulated trams but it seems difficult toobtain sufficiently good returns on theinvestment and the plan has come to ahalt with only one set.

Third-Sector Local Lines

JNR’s postwar railway construction wascoming to an end after improvements onmain-line infrastructure were finishedand planners started construction of locallines with low riderships. Lines wereconstructed through regions with lowtrackside populations, such as theextreme end of the Dosan Line west ofKochi; the Yodo Line crossing Ehime andKochi prefectures; the Nakamura andSukumo lines branching from the DosanLine to Uwajima via Sukumo; and the AsaLine pass ing through Kochi andTokushima pre fec tures v ia CapeMuroto. When JNR urgently need torestructure its poor finances, it decidedto freeze all construction of new lineswith no good economic prospects andto dispose of loss-making local lines. In1988, JR Shikoku abandoned three JNRlines but ownership of the Nakamura Linewas transferred to Tosa Kuroshio Railway,a third-sector company, so only two lines

Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad replaced old worn stock with carriagespurchased from private railways in Tokyo and Nagoya Municipal Subway. (Author)

Lisbon tram dating from 1947 operated by Tosa Electric Railway (Author)


with a total length not exceeding 8.8 km(excluding freight lines) were actuallyclosed. The Yodo Line inherited by JRShikoku was saved because there was noexpressway parallel to the line and it isstill in operation. However, there arefuture plans to build a high-grade roadparallel to the line, so passenger trendsare a focus of attention.On the other hand, the Asa and Sukumol i n e s i n K o c h i a n d To k u s h i m aprefectures—construction of which hadbeen frozen and both of which had noprospects of ever opening—receivedinves tment f rom the pre fec tura lgovernments and trackside municipalitiesenabling construction to continue with theintention of opening as a third-sectorrailway businesses. As a result, theSukumo Line opened in 1997 as TosaKuroshio Railway’s Sukumo Line, whilethe Asa Line in Kochi Prefecture openedin 2002 as the Tosa Kuroshio RailwayGomen–Nahari Line. The part of the Asa

Line in Tokushima Prefecture became theAsa Kaigan Railway in 1992.Tosa Kuroshio Railway’s 23.6-km SukumoLine is characterized as an extension ofthe JR Shikoku Dosan Line via TosaKuroshio Railway’s 43.0-km NakamuraLine. It has reasonably good levels ofpassengers taking limited-express servicesfrom Takamatsu. Conversely, the 8.5-kmA s a K a i g a n R a i l w a y f u n c t i o n ssubstantially as an extension of JRShikoku’s Mugi Line but since it runsmostly through sparsely populated localregions, the total number of passengersin FY2002 was just 100,000 and thecompany accrued an annual loss of morethan ¥52 million (¥100 = US$0.97), afigure that matches the Tosa KuroshioRailway, which is 10 times longer. The42.7-km Gomen–Nahari Line wasoriginally constructed as part of JNR’s AsaLine with Asa Kaigan Railway, and isShikoku’s newest railway line. It isoperated by the Committee for the

Restored special tourist train hauled by diesel engine resembling steam locomotiveon suburban tracks of Iyo Railway (Author)

Special-specification open carriages operate as part of some services on Gomen–Nahari Line of third-sector Tosa Kuroshio Railway opened in 2002. (Author)

Masafumi Miki

Dr Miki is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at

Nara University where he specializes in studies of regional transport

networks. He graduated from Kansai University.

Yuichiro Kishi

Mr Kishi is Curator of the Transportation Museum, Tokyo. He obtained

Masters degree in 2000 from Tokyo Gakugei University. His main

research interests are the management history of local private

railways and the history of museum development. He is co-author

of Zenkoku torokko ressha (Trolley Trains in Japan) published by the

JTB.

Activation of the Gomen–Nahari Line, agroup comprised of the prefecturalgovernment and trackside municipalitiesthat provides support by holding localevents, etc., to encourage ridership on theline and its future seems secure for thepresent. Bus services were running on aroad parallel to the line before it openedbut the appearance of a punctual railwayoffering express services and short journeytimes created severe competition and thenumber of bus passengers dropped byabout 20% even after the bus fare wasreduced to the same level as the rail fare.

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