I’m from America, and if you know about our rail infrastructure, it’s… not very good. I’ve never ridden a passenger train except a short distance when I was little. Not many people at least around where I live use Amtrak, so I never thought of this until now.
But in Japan, with so much passenger rail, how do they share tracks with freight trains? Freight trains move much slower. Do passenger trains ever get stuck behind them? Are the Shinkansen lines strictly for passengers? I know that JR Freight operates on the rest of the JR passenger lines because they don’t own much track themselves.
Im fascinated by such well done public infrastructure and I wish we had that kind of stuff here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/uzgolk/how_do_passenger_trains_and_freight_trains_share/
12 comments
We have like 4 tracks side by side for busy routes, and 4 platforms (1 for passing and 1 for local) usually.
There’s not a lot of rail freight in Japan (~5% or all freight). And most (~90%) of it is done at night, when passenger trains are not operating.
They do have some of their own tracks, but when they need to use shared tracks, there’s multiple tracks enabling faster trains passing slower trains. Some sections may be single tracks, but with areas where there are dual tracks for passing/meeting.
>Are the Shinkansen lines strictly for passengers?
Yes. The Shinkansen was built using standard gauge explicitly for high-speed passenger trains. Versus the narrow gauge (3 ft 6 in) national network.
Caveat I don’t live in Japan, but freight trains aren’t really a huge thing in Japan. The current day network is basically set up to prioritise passenger traffic, so there’s a lot of 2-8 track lines. Additionally a lot of rail freight is sent at night.
Also, the mode share of weight per ton in Japan vs the US this this:
||Japan|US (excluding pipelines)|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Road|52.9%|47.6%|
|Rail|4.9%|40.5%|
|Water|42%|14.3%|
|Air|0.2%|0.3%|
Rail freight is not that important for Japan. Especially considering how developed the rail system is.
There are some lines off limits for freight. Ironically, the Shōnan Shinjuku freight line through Tokyo is off limits for freight trains after a gas tank exploded downtown ages ago. It’s now for passenger trains only. From my observation, the freight trains get stuck behind the passenger trains more often than the other way around. They usually don’t go on single-track passenger lines but only operate where there are frequent turnouts and spare tracks. Big emphasis on planning and maintenance and it works out okay!
A proper trainspotter should answer your question in exhaustive detail soon, but the answers here are generally accurate. A few things to clear up:
A lot of freight is using smaller intermodal containers; half and third size are common sites. You’ll of course see LNG containers, containers for fuel, mined materials, cars, and even garbage, generally transported in modular units smaller (12’!) than the continental US, and in less lengthy overall trains. As such, you’ll see one or two locomotives, often pure electric when in urban areas.
So you’ve got smaller trains overall, meaning they can slow down and pick up speed a little faster. That’s super important, as it means you can get through grade crossings a lot faster, meaning less slow down.
As others have said, there’s not a lot of passenger rails that will be handing freight during the same time, especially during the day. There are some parallel lines which are exclusively freight or handle passengers infrequently (such as the transit track five through Omiya station to northern lines, which typically goes underground before joining the Mushashino which is perpendicular to transit and runs east-west rather than directly crossing into Tokyo.
You will see some pretty significant dedicated freight depots. The area now called Saitama Shintoshin was a massive rail yard and transshipment area; it’s been divided up into a few separate areas.
There are no “bullet freight trains,” even at night, but there is some light use by Japan Railroad to promote seasonal local delicacies as delivered by train from across the country.
The trucking and sea shipping industry takes care of most logistics by far domestically. Freight trains use passenger lines such as the JR Musashino Line, which loops around Tokyo, and the JR Utsunomiya (Tohoku Main) Line going north of Tokyo. My home is situated near the latter and I see freight trains pass a few times during the day and overnight as well.
Japan is not big on freight train, most freight are done with trucks.
I was walking around koto-ku, when I saw a freight train [here](https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@35.6617448,139.8149575,149m/data=!3m1!1e3). I realized at that point after 8 years in Japan, that was the first time I saw a freight train. So I did a little research.
Historically, the freight trains were pulled together with over-night sleeping trains for passengers. With the development of faster locomotives and especially the shinkansen, the demand for over-night passenger train lines were pretty much eliminated. Add to that, government’s investment on highway, and the condition of Japanese roads (many narrow roads) makes it not economical to maintain freight trains.
Also, the event know as “[taking back rights to strike](https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/tv60bin/detail/index.cgi?das_id=D0009030600_00000)” from the freight train workers, apparently reduced industry trust on freight trains.
But, with COVID 19, labor crisis for truck-drivers, and push for CO2 reduction, the use of freight trains is rising.
I can only hope I can see freight trains again just walking around the cities.
Edit: that train line in koto-ku is known as 越中島支線, on a special rail.
In Shikoku, freight trains run late at night after nearly all passenger trains have stopped. (~10pm- midnight)
Go play a game called Factorio and it will all become clear
The freight trains are always switching lines to let the passenger train go past when I’m waiting at the railway crossing on my way home from work. Other than that, no idea. Ha.
I don’t know about other lines, but JR Freight runs many more trains down the main line late at night and early morning than during the day, at least in our area (Kobe, Western Japan).
I avoided an otherwise-very-nice-apartment that overlooks the tracks once I realized this. The heavily loaded trains cause much more ground rumble to pass into nearby buildings than the (relatively) light passenger cars. I didn’t want my windows repeatedly shaking every night.
Even during the day, though, at least a couple loaded freight trans pass by each way every hour…
Here is a video from NHK that talks about how Japan Rail freight works.
[https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2049091/](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2049091/)