For God sake, yet another channel succumbing to the cancer that is sponsorship. Do you hate your viewers? I think you do like so many others you don't give a flying damn!
The most interesting part about Japanese railways is the fact that they develop new properties centered around the railway itself, allowing for excellent planning that encourages people to use the trains as a primary mode of transit
That was pioneered by Ichizo Kobayashi of Hankyu rail in Osaka. Now, yes you’re right, urban railways all over the world use this recipe to secure customers and income. Hong Kong’s MTR is probably the best example, it’s the most profitable subway/metro in the world because of this.
@@Mew178 Yes, it would be a great thing. It's really a great tactic because it's a positive reinforcement cycle: residences/shopping/office close to train stations means they are inherently more valuable because of the convenience train lines with this real estate they sell close to train stations are now more popular because people use them for shopping, to get to the office etc.. Unfortunately in Europe despite some great train services and public transportation, public authorities just basically donate all that real estate close to new train lines to random developers. It's unfair for real estate developers to "capture" all the value around new train lines and stations, when the train is the reason why the land price in that area increases so much! This is a big reason why European transit companies are all basically losing a lot of money and supported by the government.
Exactly. In fact Hong Kong Has a truly awesome system like that that is profitable and self sustaining because they are property developers and use the power of one of the best Metros on earth
I just did the math and to get from my home town to Scarborough, a popular coastal town for holidaymakers, on the train, it’ll take around 3hrs 20mins to do the ~200km journey, and require 2 transfers, costing £183.25. A journey from Tokyo to Osaka (a ~500km journey) normally takes between 2hrs 30 mins and 3hrs 30 mins, and costs ~¥15,000 (which is ~£93). So basically in Japan you can go two and a half times further in the same time (if not quicker) for half the price :(
@@lzh4950 you're right. It's a long time since I've been to Beijing & I must have used old information! Sorry. I also heard from friends in the UK that ticket prices vary depending on when you by the ticket, getting more expensive the nearer the travel date! That's an alien concept after living in China.
Ah, Japanese railways, my love, my obsession. I enjoy the whole experience of using the Japanese trains so much! The diversity of trains is unmatched, Japanese railways buffs are super passionate, the trains take you through all sorts of place, from the busy city to the beautiful Japanese countryside and for its size and complexity, no other railway system in the world is so easy to use. Plus, there are so many unique features/quirks that you’ll be hard pushed to find elsewhere, like platform jingles, station stamps, ekiben lunch boxes, oshiya, etc. Have been in love since I was 6 years old and will continue to be to my grave.
Japan's major private railway companies are essentially real estate companies. Private railway companies develop commercial, tourist and residential areas in the suburbs. They then connect them to the city centre.
15:08 The number of employees per km of line is not an indicator of working efficiency. This is because measuring efficiency requires at least one of the parameters to be linked to the purpose of the company : either passengers transported or the company's turnover.
JR Tokai has a lot of non-train businesses such as properties, hotels, travel agencies and a department store and JR Shikoku has less. So, many of Tokai employees are not related to train services.
[[[ Why Are These Railways so Perfect? ]]] --- Stop at 20:21 , as you can see clearly, you have to step up and step down to be on and off the train, don't you think this (doorstep) is a stupid design? In addition, those windows are just too small, like the windows of aeroplanes, it must be very stressful inside the train with limited views, Chinese train windows twice the size. Furthermore, the Japanese train is not stable, when moving, the train up and down, left and right, compared to the Chinese train ua-cam.com/video/Wx1GV0R79Tw/v-deo.html. In summary, it is far from perfect.
The economic background of Japans railway success is the most important lesson other countries should learn. Separating track and rolling stock creates bad incentives. Keep it all together and let railway companies develop the land around their stations and you don’t need to subsidize them.
We tried that here in the UK and it lead to the private contractor companies relaxing their rail maintenance practices. As a result of which we had 3 major accidents in two years. Also land development is much more controversial here in the UK. But I think you also need to realise that success the Japanese “privatisation” is a myth, because they’re monopolies, not competitive companies.
Unfortunately privatization only works in major urban area. Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka have thriving private railways, but elsewhere in Japan smaller companies are running in the red. Technically they are "monopolies" in the sense that only one company run a single route (some exceptions in major corridor like Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe), but they "compete" to attract people to live in areas near their station, which is often developed by the train companies themselves.
@@hcguyz what if I can’t afford to live in an area developed by JR? Also should JR be investing in network expansion using the profits garnered by there own revenue, you know like any other private company? Because by the sounds of it, the Japanese government are the ones expanding the network therefor they’re really state subsidised private companies.
@@peteradaniel Price is most often determined by how close it is to the city center, so if it's too expensive you can choose to live somewhere a bit further from the city center. I think the problem now is that most of the recent expansions are for new Shinkansen lines, which are too expensive to be covered solely by their profits. They're not strictly speaking subsidized, but they got cheap loans from the government. Considering those Shinkansen lines are national-level major infrastructure project, I think the government consider it a good investment.
Except that it was not an economic success, but something that loaded up the Japanese government with 300 billion dollars in long term debts, debts that have so far not been paid off. It is one of the main causes of the large government debt that Japan currently has.
I think the high numbers of employees per length of track in JR Central are because of the relatively small area and density of the area. Almost the entire area serviced is the Nagoya metropolitan area and the Japanese Alps (which has very few train lines). In comparison, East and West have large densely populated lines, but also extend into other less densely populated prefectures. As for JR Shikoku, my guess is that many of the lines are very sparsely staffed because there is a large amount of unmanned stations and many trains are operated by a single driver. Also, the Shikoku Shinkansen might be an interesting thing to look into. The project was cancelled, and there are still places where you can see gaps where the Shinkansen was supposed to run.
You are right . I live in Shikoku. JR Shikoku has many of unmanned stations. Shikoku is covered with mountains so railways are very very winding. But Shikoku has many beautiful sightseeing spot. I want you to visit Shikoku my beautiful home land.
@@わし-i7k Actually, I live in Aichi now, but I lived in Tokushima for several years. Shikoku is one of the most underrated places in Japan. Most Japanese people have never even been there. Hopefully more people will visit in the future.
@@millevenon5853 Instead, I'll answer, some unmanned stations in Shikoku have automatic ticket vending machines and automatic ticket gates, but most pay on the train like a bus. Sorry for the poor English.
15:24 The reason is because not all "per km" is the same everywhere. Some are more densely populated than others and such need more staff to handle passengers in train stations and paperwork in the background.
15:24 I'm Japanese.It's have two reasons. First,JR central (JR東海)has Tokaido Shinkansen.Tokaido Shinkansen is the most profitable route in Japan.(378 trains run/1days) Second,If we drive Shinkansen,we must get a special license. So it has a lot of employees. (sorry.I can't speak English well. if you can't understand this sentence,I'm very sorry.)
I appreciate people that love my country but you can’t say Japan does everything perfectly with no problems. Each country needs solutions for their respective countries. You can’t just apply a system that works for one country to any country.
@@millevenon5853 The idea was originally from back when Korean was still a part of Japan, therefore there was a reason to link it up to the railway network. With the current state of two countries and their relationship, it is unrealistic to think that it would happen in the future.
This video is talking about JNR/JR mostly so I want to list the footage of non-JNR/JR trains: 0:40 Tokyu 0:57 Keisei 1:07 Keikyu 10:24 Kintetsu 13:42 Soutetsu 14:15 Odakyu (possibly) 17:16 Tobu btw JR Hokkaido's yearly debt of 2020 is 80 billion yen
besides financial problems, JR Hokkaido got serious incidents in the past few years JR Central is arrogant to local governments (Shizuoka case) JR Freight is shifting some services to trucks Only one sleeper train is in service, and freight hump yards are nowhere to be found Saying it's perfect means it did better on passenger service than other countries, despite some problems ... and remember to lay railways early. Other asian cities didn't do that, and has to endure road jams plus debt of subway system
JR Hokkaido is seriously failing on maintenance due to scarce fund. At least a train derailed due to rail gauge slipping on a curve hence the gauge is too wide few centimeters above tolerance. It's a fatal mistake.
@@kennantjessavi7648 they are in brink of total financial collapse though. Quite sad. even there's doubt of JR Hokkaido's ability in maintaining the Hokkaido Shinkansen
Just a small detail that needs clarification at 2:29 The JNR was not a nationalization of all railways in Japan. Many private operators remained. And in many cases they were more successful and popular than JNR But great video nevertheless! It's the best summary I've seen of JR
Yes, you are right. It was a step by step nationalization, primarily for military reasons and the enlargement of the largest railway companies at that time. But yes, a number of private companies have remained private.
As a Japanese who knew all of this, I think this video did the best explaining the history of JR and former JNR including the brief history and backgrounds👍👍
The answer to JR Central's high employee per km track are two words: Tokaido Shinkansen. This video felt like it covered only half of all the reasons of Japan's railway excellence - the JR side. A second video is required to cover the private commuter railways, and touch about the tiered infrastructure management structure and through running arrangement. For example, how the inter-airport express service from Haneda to Narita runs on tracks owned by like 5 different companies, including Toei the subway company. Also the part about railway companies building real estate on [top of] railway line holds true even more for these private city commuter railway companies. For example, JR's side of Shinjuku station, while occupying the most acreage, is mostly concourses with shops peppered around, but the Keio and Odakyu side has full on department stores and offices on top.
IIRC the _Tokaido Shinkansen_ rolling stock employs not 1 but 2 conductors due to their length (~25m x 16), 1 conductor riding in the middle & another at the back
They have multiple major city (Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima). Compared to Sapporo-dominated Hokkaido and the barely any major centre in Shikoku.
00:22 I think this is a typical image of Tokyo's crowded train. I've been living in central Tokyo for a few decades, and I go to work by train, but I've never been there. (I teleworks almost everyday from Apr. 2020. ) It occurs at stations in specific sections of popular railway routes, and at specific times.
one thing to point out is that japan doesn't use freight on rails much, becasue of the weight limitations of trackbed and becasue it is narrow gauge. in fact, this is why japan's newest MBT is actually fairly light. its a 40 tonne 3.5 gen tank with the defence of a 60 ton 3.0 gen tank basically... casue when they made the type 90 with 3rd gen tank stats it became too heavy to transport by rail.
My thoughts 1. Railway companies, both JR and private operators, are closely integrated with the areas they serve. The train stations are (unlike many other countries) integrated with the local commercial circle, allowing operators to profit off of retails and real estate development. 2. Commuter centered station layout, train design, and scheduling that enabled steady ridership. 3. A tiered (base on distance and speed) but integrated system. There are few administrative barriers between operators (between metro, local, medium, and long distant services): easy interchanges, comprehensive info sharing.
When you're waiting at a Tokyo Metro underground station but an _Odakyu_ Romancecar long-distance train shows up instead (showing how much integration there is between different rail operators, though it can be piecemeal i.e. each Tokyo Metro line is integrated with a different other rail operator)
Japanese Bullet Train, Shinkansen was planned in 1920's. It was originally planned railways from Tokyo to Germany through Korea and Russia/Soviet Sivelia.
I read the title of this video and immediately thought our brother had a traingasm. But seriously, I have been thinking of where to migrate to, the main reason why I just can't imagine myself in the States is because of their f--ked up public transport infrastructure. Japan and anywhere in Europe with bullet train access are my top choices now. Just need the pandemic to clear in 1 or 2 years.
Why JR Central has higher employee density per kilometer: 1) As others have mentioned, the Tokaido Shinkansen is serviced by more people than the conventional train lines. 2) Compared to JR East and JR West, the two other companies occupying honshuu (main island), JR Central is responsible for much less of the Tokai region's rural transport. While JR West has to contend with the empty Sanin region, and JR East is responsible for the Tohoku and the northern part of honshuu (main island); JR Tokai has few lines north of the Tokaido Line. As such, while JR East/West have many kilometers of rail to staff with minimal employees, JR Central only has a few lines to staff.
Japanese National Railways was a profitable, if state-owned, company when it build the first high-speed rail line in 1964. Political pressure to build more high-speed rail lines forced it to borrow over 27 trillion yen ($300 billion in today’s dollars) to finance the construction of those lines and subsidize rail operations. The company effectively went bankrupt in 1987 and the government was forced to absorb most of the debt, which was a major factor in that country’s economic doldrums since that time.
Frequent strikes by JNR trade unions were also a problem. In the early 1980s it costed the JNR 120-130 JPY for every 100 JPY in revenue because the staff costs were going higher and higher.
For whatever reason every vid on japan's railways focus on JR and shinkansen only occasionally mentioning private railway operators. It paints rather false view on Japan's railway stuation. JR operates totally separate tracks than those owned by private companies, you often see that tracks of two or even more companies goes in parallel, competing with each other. They often use different gauge While no private company owns direct competitor to shinkansen, they also operate slower but yet rather high speed rapid trains. In some areas more people use private railways than directly competing JR ones. Comparison to european reforms is rather inaccurate as even in times of nationalisation, JNR still had competition in form of those separate private rail networks.
I haven't been on a shinkasen for over 30 years, I remember traveling from Tokyo to Osaka on a shinkasen in the 90's. In the WC, there were two compartments. The first compartment is a urinal with half- length shield, but no door. The 2nd compartment was the toilet and had a door. A man was supposed to pee in the urinal, while women walked past the narrow passage behind him, and not supposed to glance at his direction.
In about 2007 I did a study on the JR East and had an opportunity to meet and interview the management of JR East. This is a VERY good and accurate video. . . There is a lot more I'd love to add to this video.... but I'll be typing for hours. JR East is actually straddled with a staggering 2 Trillion US$ debt (in 2007) with a life long payment structure (Very unique). JR East has been forced to be creative and find alternative revenue.... and man have they ever found amazing methods to use their rail infrastructure to raise revenue (this video has only touched on some of their alternative revenue streams). They actually raise more revenue through their 'other' streams than they raise from the "farebox". They should now serve as a business model to be repeated by all rail authorities around the world. . . Although in honesty, they sort of copied the MTR of Hong Kong.
just want to add a couple of things: 1. JR Kyushu gave up on making money from normal train service, instead focusing on specialty trains and non-transport related business i.e. hotels, real-estate etc 2. The JNR -> JR switch caused major strikes + sabotages and some ppl were murdered IIRC. 3. JNR was used by politicians to win votes from rural voters by building tracks-to-nowhere. One ex-Prime Minister infamously had the Joetsu shinkansen built just because he was from Niigata. 4. The JR companies are really GLCs (govt-linked companies), with national and regional govts being major shareholders so they will still get cheaper loans and bailouts from the state. 5. IIANM for shinkansen line, the construction cost is split btw national and regional govts. Not sure what the % is.
JR Tokai/JR Central has such a high number of employees per route mile because the Tokaido Shinkansen has such a high intensity of service. There are a truly phenomenal number of 16-car trains per hour on the route, and unlike commuter trains these Shinkansen have food & beverage staff in addition to engineer and conductor staff. Additionally, while some Tokyo commuter lines for JR East may have more trains per hour, the mileages of those routes as a percentage of JR East's total route network is small relative to the Tokaido Shinkansen's percentage of the entire JR Tokai/Central route network.
Essentially, the JR companies adopted the Hankyu and Tokyu private railway model of making money: real estate. Look at all the real estate developments and businesses surrounding JR stations; a good example is JR Kyushu's Hakata Station in Fukuoka, which now has a massive shopping complex built around the station.
Not all did. Famously JR Central (JR Tokai) still makes most of its money from the Tokaido Shinkansen. It's also the most profitable of all JR companies. The percentage of revenue/profits from real estate among all JR companies is still relatively speaking low compared to private railway operators such as Tokyu, Hankyu etc.. Only exception is JR Kyushu which has successfully become profitable thanks to real estate, drugstores etc..
@@AlohaBiatch The current JR Central Nagoya Station essentially is a giant shopping center. Interestingly, there are a lot of shops and restaurants near the Shinkansen platforms at Tokyo Station on both sides of the ticket gates.
@@Sacto1654 I know, however I am just saying compared to the other Japanese railway companies they haven't put as much of an effort on real estate developments, since 80% of their revenues are from rail. You can read the JR Central annual report (2019 or earlier is better because no COVID rail usage impact) to learn more about their business. You can also compare with all the other publicly listed JR railway companies (JR East, JR West, JR Kyushu) global.jr-central.co.jp/en/company/ir/annualreport/_pdf/annualreport2019.pdf
India has most late running train in world with trains running 15+ hours late, a km long list of train accident, but ya due to replacement of ICF coaches with lhb coach and good training of staff Indian railways achieved 0 casualties due to accident in 2019
@Ashish Saxena no I am not criticizing Indian railways, I love Indian railways, I just want to say Indian railways must implement new technology as quickly as possible either indigenous ( for example tcas system which is on par with etcs but at very low cost and better features) or other countries technology, we have to improve our infrastructure, yesterday tracks was washed away in and near Maharashtra, so we have do something, this happens every year, we so many genius in our country but they don't directly get chance to use their knowledge, we use their knowledge through global MNCs and higher price and 90 pc of the price we paid for our own knowledge to MNC goes to a particular country and in that 10 percent goes to corrupt politician which always resists development especially indigenous development
@Ashish Saxena we have developed our own signalling and telecommunication system like tcas, rtis, vande Bharat or train 18 , these have passed the test but still they are not deploying them, instead we invest in etcs junk, Indian railways need a good leadership to improve it, I love Indian railways ❤️🚄
Around 1947 India's and Japan was not in good condition, but Japan worked very hard now they are 40 years ahead of world, while India was developing till 1970 then many gems of India left the world and India's development got struck in political, bureaucracy and corruption, then ones again picked up speed in atal Bihari Vajpayee time and ones again slowed down and now picked up speed in modi time, note- I don't like politics
Nice video. I think the prevalence of so many toll roads between major cities and the lack of free parking in those cities is also a great incentive for people to take the train instead of driving. Sadly JR Shikoku was given a tough hand in the privatization of JR. It’s a relatively sparsely populated part of Japan compared to Honshu, which limits revenues. Also, there’s no Shinkansen service to anywhere on the island, which encourages people to fly and drive more to destinations than take the train.
Yes so many people forget these aspects (also that in Japan employers pay 100% of the train commuting costs for employees and often ban people from commuting by car for liability reasons) What mode of transport you choose is not just about how good it is, it's about how superior it is compared to alternatives. And in order to push for efficient rail operations, sometimes the best nudge is to make other forms of transportation less convenient by implementing tolls and making people pay market rate for parking. Politicians in the US are never going to get far by just improving rail when highways are free despite the enormous costs involved and on street parking is often free. You need to use both the carrot and the stick!
@@AlohaBiatch In Singapore the government taxes private vehicles a lot & limits how many of them can be registered too. So you end up having an entry-level S-Class cost about the same as a previous-generation Mercedes-Benz Citaro public bus, or a motorcycle cost ~3months salary of a fresh graduate. But as demand for private vehicles drop as our MRT (subway/metro) network expands, tax revenue here will probably drop, so the government might then make up for the shortfall by hiking public transport fares instead
@@AlohaBiatch the problem is that train service is so bad that in order to get support for discouraging cars you have to FIRST make transit excellent first. The one thing you can do is make rapid transit run on viaducts and existing train lines or use monorail (suspended) to avoid traffic disruption. Use highways and separate ROW for buses and other methods to speed up buses without messing with cars
@@lzh4950 Singapore also has trains nearly everywhere and they are frequent. Good luck doing that when buses run hourly or trains barely run a mere 5 per day
9:41 this should be an exemple on how to do things. If you wanna lay off government employees try to at least find them a job to recycle to instead of just saying "aight you're fired, ta-ta!"
Well I think the discrepancy in employees per km of line originated from the station staff, JR East and Central station are almost always fully staffed while Shikoku and Hokkaido have a lot of staff-less station
Thanks for another great video - very informative and entertaining. I think the discrepancy in relation to JR Central may be due to the fact that they run the whole Tokkaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka - which is the busiest rail corridor in the country. Please feel free to as many videos on Japanese trains as you like - possible subjects could be the incredible diversity in rolling stock designs for passenger trains, the non-JR private operators or the special "joyful trains" with bespoke local rolling stock designs, including the "art gallery" shinkansen that runs on the Niigata line.
I would love to have trains in the US but then I realize I wouldn't give up my car because everything is so separated i would need to use a car to get to a practical location for a station. Never even been in a train. I have seen one Amtrak Train and all cars were empty except one guy in one.
Great video. Here in Kyushu Island, they're building a New Line from Fukuoka City to Nagasaki and we have a bullet train stop in my town in Saga Prefecture. I can finally take the fast train instead of taking the bus to the bigger city next to mine. 2023 is when the line will be opened. Can't wait😊✌️🚄
@@kkf54353, actually it will connect to the Shin-Tosu station which connects to the Fukuoka-Kagoshima Line. So you have to transfer to that line to reach Fukuoka
@@carlosa7598 Nishi-kyushu line will only see the completion between Takeo-Onsen to Nagasaki in 2022. The Japanese government still haven't figure out what they want to do for the Shin-Tosu to Takeo-Onsen portion yet. So the completion of route will probably take another 10 years.
@@kkf54353 yeah. I live in Ureshino. The reason its taking long because JRKyushu is still having trouble with that new Rail train. Not sure weather to keep it at that or make a new Line all the way to Shin-Tosu, which some constructions is going on as we speak. Seems like the rail train is having problems switching over to the wider rail line. Its still set to be completed by August or October 2023
@@carlosa7598 Heard it's also because residents along the existing Nagasaki Main Line (connecting Nagasaki-Fukuoka/Hakata) are resisting the new _Shinkansen_ as they fear it'd cannabalise ridership from the existing line & thus lead to train service cuts to their areas
Japan is the only country that can succeed on railway privatization. Britains attempt was an absolute disaster and as for the North American network, it’s failing but still getting pushed. I’d say if it fails it’ll be worse than Britain’s privatization attempt
The only thing I dislike about the Japanese Railways is the fact that there is no long-distance alternative to the Shinkansen. in countries such as France and Germany, you have the option of using slower InterCity services at a lower price. If I want to travel from Tokyo to Osaka without having to pay a fortune for the Shinkansen, I need to change trains 5 times. Japan also lacks a proper night train network. There are currently only 2 sleeper trains in the country that are even more expensive than the Shinkansen and require you to book tickets months in advance.
Have you travelled with China’s HSR system before ?, as this country has the most extensive HSR network in the world and its high speed trains are unbelievable machines at speeds well over 380kph. Their network covers most parts of China & there is one latest addition of HSR in Tibet recently, starting from Lhasa to another city near to Beijing. The fares are affordable for many riders throughout their system, the rides are very smooth & seats r comfortable from economy to their impressive first class. Their HSR system is very efficient & on time performance.
The cape gauge is 3feet 6inches and is used in Queensland and Tasmania Australia, in Queensland because of the need to replace sleepers very often because of white ants, you get more shorter sleepers per tree, and in Tasmania because of the tight turns and need for lots of tunnels.
employees per km of rail isn't good for showing effeciency. Many of Tokyo's busiest stations are located on the yamanote line. The yamanote line isn't that long and yet out of the top 20 busiest stations in Japan, the yamanote line passes through 10 of them. Busy stations means more employess.
JR Central covers the higher populated areas, so that brings more stations, so more staff are needed to maintain them. Also they are more likely to run more trains esp Tokyo. So I would say that going by the KM - staff is wrong here, it should be passenger numbers to staff. I think JR Central covers just over 60% of Japans population.
That is wrong. JR central runs the tokaido shinkansen line which is their main money maker, but they run lines mostly in the Nagoya area. JR east is the company that runs train lines in Tokyo. It's a bit confusing because only for the Tokaido Shinkansen, even though it goes from Tokyo to Osaka, it is all run by JR Central. Whereas all other rail lines are simply based on the region that the JR rail company controls.
JR Central doesn’t run the trains in Tokyo. JR Central run trains around the Nagoya metropolitan area and the Tokaido Shinkansen. All JR trains in Tokyo except the Tokaido Shinkansen are run by JR East.
@@AlohaBiatch Other than the _Tokaido Shinkansen_ & Sunrise Express I don't think JR Central operates services west of _Maibara_ (~50km E of _Kyoto_ ) or east of _Atami_ (~90km SW from _Tokyo_ ). Probably that's a way to evenly more distribute rail revenue between the 3 original privatised JR companies - JR West gets to serve & profit/earn revenue from the highly populated _Osaka_ plains/ _Kinki_ region, likewise for JR East from the _Tokyo_ plains/metropolis, while JR Central gets to profit from the world's busiest HSR line connecting the 2 (contributing to ~85% of the company's profit I heard)
Fyi oshiya, jingle stations and pointing are also carried out in Indonesia and 95 percent of 電車(electric trains) in Indonesia are used trains from Japan. Btw would you like to make a video about how Indonesia can change its train system from the worst in the world to the best in Southeast Asia
My only criticism of the video is that you didn't address the toxic work culture many japanese train drivers face, e.g. facing punishments (such as being shouted at by managers or being forced to clean pigeon droppings from tracks) for doing things such as arriving less than a minute late at stations (I know punctuality is important and all, but this is just bonkers). It was also this work culture that caused the Amagasaki Derailment in 2005, where a commuter train derailed due to overspeeding into a curve and 107 people (including the driver) where killed.
The most important thing which is shocked me for the first time coming to Japan is *_the subway line system_* for instance in the city of Tokyo, as you know *_there are so many subway line also JR line_* same times it's confusing me if I am gong to go to somewhere without *_subway line map_* on my pocket. On the other hand I am not so surprised talking about high speed or bullet train because at least there are 10 countries have been operated it, such as china/british/france/germany/spain/belgium/netherland/italy/portugal, etc.
I would speculate that wherever a State acts as a honest agent for Public Interest suitable outcomes are obtained. Wherever a State acts as an agent for Private Interests unsuitable outcomes are realized. A State should always hold Public Interest as Paramount. I suspect that is the case concerning Japan. To some degree it is most likely cultural. Do we care about each others interests or not.
One thing they are associated with (and fascinating to watch) are the point and calling procedure. It looks weird if you are watching it first time but it's very logical once you understand the science behind the procedure.
When the isolationist Conservative Government sold off the rail network they chose completely the wrong model. They should have followed the Japanese system.
Seems like more densely populated areas have more employees per km of track. I would think the discrepancy is just more stations and more frequent trains.
I'm usually a big proponent of nationalization, but I suppose in this case it made it so that it was such a large thing that it couldn't be steered correctly. I guess privitization and nationalization/federalization works in their own merits.
Japan has invested heavily in it's rail services. The railway is upgraded totally, not in bits and pieces like Britain's. The high speed trains run on their own dedicated tracks. They don't share their line with freight or commuter trains. Japanese trains aren't always perfect. Currently the fleet of Hitachi trains used by GWR and LNER in Britain are being withdrawn for rectification work.
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For God sake, yet another channel succumbing to the cancer that is sponsorship. Do you hate your viewers? I think you do like so many others you don't give a flying damn!
ua-cam.com/video/hYUtOj-wtQg/v-deo.html shocking culture of japanese railways led to huge train accident.
Your channel is called railway explained then Explain Maglev train.
We already did that. Check it out: ua-cam.com/video/GGnzB9BqtIc/v-deo.html
I wonder how JR Hokkaido’s profit margin will change when the Shinkansen to Sapporo gets completed.
The most interesting part about Japanese railways is the fact that they develop new properties centered around the railway itself, allowing for excellent planning that encourages people to use the trains as a primary mode of transit
The best thing about it it's all walkable, no need to drive a car and only in rare cases do you need to use a bus to get to the railways line.
That was pioneered by Ichizo Kobayashi of Hankyu rail in Osaka. Now, yes you’re right, urban railways all over the world use this recipe to secure customers and income. Hong Kong’s MTR is probably the best example, it’s the most profitable subway/metro in the world because of this.
@@magnustan841 I wish European railways adopted this.
@@Mew178 Yes, it would be a great thing. It's really a great tactic because it's a positive reinforcement cycle:
residences/shopping/office close to train stations means they are inherently more valuable because of the convenience
train lines with this real estate they sell close to train stations are now more popular because people use them for shopping, to get to the office etc..
Unfortunately in Europe despite some great train services and public transportation, public authorities just basically donate all that real estate close to new train lines to random developers. It's unfair for real estate developers to "capture" all the value around new train lines and stations, when the train is the reason why the land price in that area increases so much!
This is a big reason why European transit companies are all basically losing a lot of money and supported by the government.
Exactly. In fact Hong Kong Has a truly awesome system like that that is profitable and self sustaining because they are property developers and use the power of one of the best Metros on earth
I just did the math and to get from my home town to Scarborough, a popular coastal town for holidaymakers, on the train, it’ll take around 3hrs 20mins to do the ~200km journey, and require 2 transfers, costing £183.25. A journey from Tokyo to Osaka (a ~500km journey) normally takes between 2hrs 30 mins and 3hrs 30 mins, and costs ~¥15,000 (which is ~£93).
So basically in Japan you can go two and a half times further in the same time (if not quicker) for half the price :(
Then there's Beijing to Shanghai, 350kph, 1,300+km, 4.5hrs total for (in UK money), around £62 ...
@@daweilaotou1269 首先物价水平截然不同，根本不在一个比较水平。而且高铁巨额负债你没听说过？换言之，所有高铁使用者的部分成本是由全国人买单，至于决议过程？显然是没有的。在这里说中国高铁只是丢人现眼。
@@daweilaotou1269 Thought that goes for ~¥800, which is more like ~£90 instead
@@lzh4950 you're right. It's a long time since I've been to Beijing & I must have used old information! Sorry. I also heard from friends in the UK that ticket prices vary depending on when you by the ticket, getting more expensive the nearer the travel date! That's an alien concept after living in China.
Ah, Japanese railways, my love, my obsession. I enjoy the whole experience of using the Japanese trains so much! The diversity of trains is unmatched, Japanese railways buffs are super passionate, the trains take you through all sorts of place, from the busy city to the beautiful Japanese countryside and for its size and complexity, no other railway system in the world is so easy to use. Plus, there are so many unique features/quirks that you’ll be hard pushed to find elsewhere, like platform jingles, station stamps, ekiben lunch boxes, oshiya, etc. Have been in love since I was 6 years old and will continue to be to my grave.
i fell in love with trains after seeing the jaw dropping countryside on a bullet trip from sendai up north
Japan's major private railway companies are essentially real estate companies.
Private railway companies develop commercial, tourist and residential areas in the suburbs. They then connect them to the city centre.
15:26 my guess would be maybe that, despite JR Central’s small geographic area, they run the Tokaido Shinkansen
5:09 😐
15:08 The number of employees per km of line is not an indicator of working efficiency. This is because measuring efficiency requires at least one of the parameters to be linked to the purpose of the company : either passengers transported or the company's turnover.
JR Tokai has a lot of non-train businesses such as properties, hotels, travel agencies and a department store and JR Shikoku has less. So, many of Tokai employees are not related to train services.
Japanese trains should be the model everyone envies.
Australia needs to take a page out of JR.
It is.
They are though
@@rpyc Airlines and road builders have too much sway over here
[[[ Why Are These Railways so Perfect? ]]] --- Stop at 20:21 , as you can see clearly, you have to step up and step down to be on and off the train, don't you think this (doorstep) is a stupid design? In addition, those windows are just too small, like the windows of aeroplanes, it must be very stressful inside the train with limited views, Chinese train windows twice the size. Furthermore, the Japanese train is not stable, when moving, the train up and down, left and right, compared to the Chinese train ua-cam.com/video/Wx1GV0R79Tw/v-deo.html. In summary, it is far from perfect.
The economic background of Japans railway success is the most important lesson other countries should learn. Separating track and rolling stock creates bad incentives. Keep it all together and let railway companies develop the land around their stations and you don’t need to subsidize them.
We tried that here in the UK and it lead to the private contractor companies relaxing their rail maintenance practices. As a result of which we had 3 major accidents in two years. Also land development is much more controversial here in the UK.
But I think you also need to realise that success the Japanese “privatisation” is a myth, because they’re monopolies, not competitive companies.
Unfortunately privatization only works in major urban area. Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka have thriving private railways, but elsewhere in Japan smaller companies are running in the red.
Technically they are "monopolies" in the sense that only one company run a single route (some exceptions in major corridor like Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe), but they "compete" to attract people to live in areas near their station, which is often developed by the train companies themselves.
@@hcguyz what if I can’t afford to live in an area developed by JR?
Also should JR be investing in network expansion using the profits garnered by there own revenue, you know like any other private company? Because by the sounds of it, the Japanese government are the ones expanding the network therefor they’re really state subsidised private companies.
@@peteradaniel Price is most often determined by how close it is to the city center, so if it's too expensive you can choose to live somewhere a bit further from the city center.
I think the problem now is that most of the recent expansions are for new Shinkansen lines, which are too expensive to be covered solely by their profits.
They're not strictly speaking subsidized, but they got cheap loans from the government.
Considering those Shinkansen lines are national-level major infrastructure project, I think the government consider it a good investment.
Except that it was not an economic success, but something that loaded up the Japanese government with 300 billion dollars in long term debts, debts that have so far not been paid off. It is one of the main causes of the large government debt that Japan currently has.
地方と都市間のギャップはいい指摘です。
実際、都市部では2分に1本という過密運転を行っている路線がある一方、一日に列車が3本しか来ない路線もあります。
これは、高速道路の発達により、ハイウェイバスが料金、所要時間の面で有利になり、鉄道のメリットが少なくなったことが理由の1つとしてあげられます。
北海道は、利用客が少ない路線では赤字になり廃線になることがあります。今年も春に富良野ー新得が廃線となります。
I think the high numbers of employees per length of track in JR Central are because of the relatively small area and density of the area. Almost the entire area serviced is the Nagoya metropolitan area and the Japanese Alps (which has very few train lines). In comparison, East and West have large densely populated lines, but also extend into other less densely populated prefectures.
As for JR Shikoku, my guess is that many of the lines are very sparsely staffed because there is a large amount of unmanned stations and many trains are operated by a single driver.
Also, the Shikoku Shinkansen might be an interesting thing to look into. The project was cancelled, and there are still places where you can see gaps where the Shinkansen was supposed to run.
You are right . I live in Shikoku. JR Shikoku has many of unmanned stations. Shikoku is covered with mountains so railways are very very winding. But Shikoku has many beautiful sightseeing spot. I want you to visit Shikoku my beautiful home land.
@@わし-i7k Actually, I live in Aichi now, but I lived in Tokushima for several years. Shikoku is one of the most underrated places in Japan. Most Japanese people have never even been there. Hopefully more people will visit in the future.
@@わし-i7k unmanned as in automated ticketing?
@@millevenon5853 Instead, I'll answer, some unmanned stations in Shikoku have automatic ticket vending machines and automatic ticket gates, but most pay on the train like a bus. Sorry for the poor English.
Now i know why the stations are so well integrated with the shopping malls. Interesting history too.
15:24 The reason is because not all "per km" is the same everywhere. Some are more densely populated than others and such need more staff to handle passengers in train stations and paperwork in the background.
Japan is a very efficient country and they take great pride in what they do
15:24 I'm Japanese.It's have two reasons.
First,JR central (JR東海)has Tokaido Shinkansen.Tokaido Shinkansen is the most profitable route in Japan.(378 trains run/1days)
Second,If we drive Shinkansen,we must get a special license.
So it has a lot of employees.
(sorry.I can't speak English well. if you can't understand this sentence,I'm very sorry.)
No please don’t be sorry, your English is perfect mate. Cheers ❤
I appreciate people that love my country but you can’t say Japan does everything perfectly with no problems. Each country needs solutions for their respective countries. You can’t just apply a system that works for one country to any country.
Do you guys plan to build an underground train to korea?
Well, that would be unrealistic and there is very little support for it.
@@millevenon5853 The idea was originally from back when Korean was still a part of Japan, therefore there was a reason to link it up to the railway network. With the current state of two countries and their relationship, it is unrealistic to think that it would happen in the future.
日本の鉄道を解説してくれてありがとう❗
YES, Japan. This is a great train country.
This video is talking about JNR/JR mostly so I want to list the footage of non-JNR/JR trains:
0:40 Tokyu
0:57 Keisei
1:07 Keikyu
10:24 Kintetsu
13:42 Soutetsu
14:15 Odakyu (possibly)
17:16 Tobu
btw JR Hokkaido's yearly debt of 2020 is 80 billion yen
besides financial problems, JR Hokkaido got serious incidents in the past few years
JR Central is arrogant to local governments (Shizuoka case)
JR Freight is shifting some services to trucks
Only one sleeper train is in service, and freight hump yards are nowhere to be found
Saying it's perfect means it did better on passenger service than other countries, despite some problems
... and remember to lay railways early. Other asian cities didn't do that, and has to endure road jams plus debt of subway system
JR Hokkaido is seriously failing on maintenance due to scarce fund. At least a train derailed due to rail gauge slipping on a curve hence the gauge is too wide few centimeters above tolerance. It's a fatal mistake.
Yeah JR Hokkaido and Shikoku are suffering by lack of population density.
@@kennantjessavi7648 they are in brink of total financial collapse though. Quite sad.
even there's doubt of JR Hokkaido's ability in maintaining the Hokkaido Shinkansen
@@youcanpunchmeintheface should the railways been nationalised ??
Just a small detail that needs clarification at 2:29 The JNR was not a nationalization of all railways in Japan. Many private operators remained. And in many cases they were more successful and popular than JNR
But great video nevertheless! It's the best summary I've seen of JR
Yes, you are right. It was a step by step nationalization, primarily for military reasons and the enlargement of the largest railway companies at that time. But yes, a number of private companies have remained private.
As a Japanese who knew all of this, I think this video did the best explaining the history of JR and former JNR including the brief history and backgrounds👍👍
Thank you ☺️
Where is this 0:13 location in Japanese please?
@@arbs3ry Its the west side of Ouji station (王子駅) in Tokyo. Coordinates: 35°45'10.1"N 139°44'13.5"E
The answer to JR Central's high employee per km track are two words: Tokaido Shinkansen.
This video felt like it covered only half of all the reasons of Japan's railway excellence - the JR side. A second video is required to cover the private commuter railways, and touch about the tiered infrastructure management structure and through running arrangement. For example, how the inter-airport express service from Haneda to Narita runs on tracks owned by like 5 different companies, including Toei the subway company.
Also the part about railway companies building real estate on [top of] railway line holds true even more for these private city commuter railway companies. For example, JR's side of Shinjuku station, while occupying the most acreage, is mostly concourses with shops peppered around, but the Keio and Odakyu side has full on department stores and offices on top.
IIRC the _Tokaido Shinkansen_ rolling stock employs not 1 but 2 conductors due to their length (~25m x 16), 1 conductor riding in the middle & another at the back
10:46 despite being island isolated from the main Honshu Island, JR Kyushu seems doing well than JR Hokkaido and JR Shikoku.
They have multiple major city (Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima). Compared to Sapporo-dominated Hokkaido and the barely any major centre in Shikoku.
00:22 I think this is a typical image of Tokyo's crowded train.
I've been living in central Tokyo for a few decades, and I go to work by train, but I've never been there. (I teleworks almost everyday from Apr. 2020. )
It occurs at stations in specific sections of popular railway routes, and at specific times.
Japanese and Indonesian trains are like brothers ❤🇮🇩🇯🇵🚝 greetings from Indonesian train lovers.
Said by traitor
one thing to point out is that japan doesn't use freight on rails much, becasue of the weight limitations of trackbed and becasue it is narrow gauge.
in fact, this is why japan's newest MBT is actually fairly light. its a 40 tonne 3.5 gen tank with the defence of a 60 ton 3.0 gen tank basically... casue when they made the type 90 with 3rd gen tank stats it became too heavy to transport by rail.
Actually South Aftica uses the same gauge, but has a lot of heavy freight trains, so i don’t think narrow gauge has much to do with it
My thoughts
1. Railway companies, both JR and private operators, are closely integrated with the areas they serve. The train stations are (unlike many other countries) integrated with the local commercial circle, allowing operators to profit off of retails and real estate development.
2. Commuter centered station layout, train design, and scheduling that enabled steady ridership.
3. A tiered (base on distance and speed) but integrated system. There are few administrative barriers between operators (between metro, local, medium, and long distant services): easy interchanges, comprehensive info sharing.
When you're waiting at a Tokyo Metro underground station but an _Odakyu_ Romancecar long-distance train shows up instead (showing how much integration there is between different rail operators, though it can be piecemeal i.e. each Tokyo Metro line is integrated with a different other rail operator)
Japanese Bullet Train, Shinkansen was planned in 1920's. It was originally planned railways from Tokyo to Germany through Korea and Russia/Soviet Sivelia.
Wow. They should totally build it
I read the title of this video and immediately thought our brother had a traingasm.
But seriously, I have been thinking of where to migrate to, the main reason why I just can't imagine myself in the States is because of their f--ked up public transport infrastructure. Japan and anywhere in Europe with bullet train access are my top choices now. Just need the pandemic to clear in 1 or 2 years.
Why JR Central has higher employee density per kilometer:
1) As others have mentioned, the Tokaido Shinkansen is serviced by more people than the conventional train lines.
2) Compared to JR East and JR West, the two other companies occupying honshuu (main island), JR Central is responsible for much less of the Tokai region's rural transport. While JR West has to contend with the empty Sanin region, and JR East is responsible for the Tohoku and the northern part of honshuu (main island); JR Tokai has few lines north of the Tokaido Line. As such, while JR East/West have many kilometers of rail to staff with minimal employees, JR Central only has a few lines to staff.
Japanese National Railways was a profitable, if state-owned, company when it build the first high-speed rail line in 1964. Political pressure to build more high-speed rail lines forced it to borrow over 27 trillion yen ($300 billion in today’s dollars) to finance the construction of those lines and subsidize rail operations. The company effectively went bankrupt in 1987 and the government was forced to absorb most of the debt, which was a major factor in that country’s economic doldrums since that time.
Frequent strikes by JNR trade unions were also a problem.
In the early 1980s it costed the JNR 120-130 JPY for every 100 JPY in revenue because the staff costs were going higher and higher.
Tokyo Metropolitan Employment Area :3,925km2
Tokyo metropolitan area:Railway length 4904.3km
Japan total:Railway length 3,0000kmover😃
For whatever reason every vid on japan's railways focus on JR and shinkansen only occasionally mentioning private railway operators. It paints rather false view on Japan's railway stuation.
JR operates totally separate tracks than those owned by private companies, you often see that tracks of two or even more companies goes in parallel, competing with each other. They often use different gauge While no private company owns direct competitor to shinkansen, they also operate slower but yet rather high speed rapid trains. In some areas more people use private railways than directly competing JR ones.
Comparison to european reforms is rather inaccurate as even in times of nationalisation, JNR still had competition in form of those separate private rail networks.
it would be interesting if there was a series that compared various railway network of different countries
We already covered Switzerland, and there will be more interesting countries 🙂
@@RailwaysExplained Do you think that you can cover the Italian railway network? Cos i think that Italy has beautiful railways and rolling stock.
@@thealitaliaa7714 yes, Italy could be covered
@@RailwaysExplained The Netherland please
Japan also has a geographic advantage in that all of its major cities are in line from A to B to C as opposed to major population cities spread out.
I haven't been on a shinkasen for over 30 years, I remember traveling from Tokyo to Osaka on a shinkasen in the 90's. In the WC, there were two compartments. The first compartment is a urinal with half- length shield, but no door. The 2nd compartment was the toilet and had a door. A man was supposed to pee in the urinal, while women walked past the narrow passage behind him, and not supposed to glance at his direction.
I wish the US could have a rail network like this, but we are not allowed to have nice things here
The Japanese do not have the “diversity problem” that the US has - so their nice things tend to stay nice ...
In about 2007 I did a study on the JR East and had an opportunity to meet and interview the management of JR East. This is a VERY good and accurate video.
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There is a lot more I'd love to add to this video.... but I'll be typing for hours. JR East is actually straddled with a staggering 2 Trillion US$ debt (in 2007) with a life long payment structure (Very unique). JR East has been forced to be creative and find alternative revenue.... and man have they ever found amazing methods to use their rail infrastructure to raise revenue (this video has only touched on some of their alternative revenue streams). They actually raise more revenue through their 'other' streams than they raise from the "farebox". They should now serve as a business model to be repeated by all rail authorities around the world.
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Although in honesty, they sort of copied the MTR of Hong Kong.
just want to add a couple of things:
1. JR Kyushu gave up on making money from normal train service, instead focusing on specialty trains and non-transport related business i.e. hotels, real-estate etc
2. The JNR -> JR switch caused major strikes + sabotages and some ppl were murdered IIRC.
3. JNR was used by politicians to win votes from rural voters by building tracks-to-nowhere.
One ex-Prime Minister infamously had the Joetsu shinkansen built just because he was from Niigata.
4. The JR companies are really GLCs (govt-linked companies), with national and regional govts being major shareholders so they will still get cheaper loans and bailouts from the state.
5. IIANM for shinkansen line, the construction cost is split btw national and regional govts. Not sure what the % is.
JR Tokai/JR Central has such a high number of employees per route mile because the Tokaido Shinkansen has such a high intensity of service. There are a truly phenomenal number of 16-car trains per hour on the route, and unlike commuter trains these Shinkansen have food & beverage staff in addition to engineer and conductor staff. Additionally, while some Tokyo commuter lines for JR East may have more trains per hour, the mileages of those routes as a percentage of JR East's total route network is small relative to the Tokaido Shinkansen's percentage of the entire JR Tokai/Central route network.
Your inflection reminds me of a flight attendant explaining the safety procedures, haha. Enjoyed the video
In less urban area like Shikoku, they have in unmanned stations and 1 man operated trains, which likely contribute to the low head count per km
Essentially, the JR companies adopted the Hankyu and Tokyu private railway model of making money: real estate. Look at all the real estate developments and businesses surrounding JR stations; a good example is JR Kyushu's Hakata Station in Fukuoka, which now has a massive shopping complex built around the station.
Not all did. Famously JR Central (JR Tokai) still makes most of its money from the Tokaido Shinkansen. It's also the most profitable of all JR companies.
The percentage of revenue/profits from real estate among all JR companies is still relatively speaking low compared to private railway operators such as Tokyu, Hankyu etc..
Only exception is JR Kyushu which has successfully become profitable thanks to real estate, drugstores etc..
@@AlohaBiatch The current JR Central Nagoya Station essentially is a giant shopping center. Interestingly, there are a lot of shops and restaurants near the Shinkansen platforms at Tokyo Station on both sides of the ticket gates.
@@Sacto1654 I know, however I am just saying compared to the other Japanese railway companies they haven't put as much of an effort on real estate developments, since 80% of their revenues are from rail.
You can read the JR Central annual report (2019 or earlier is better because no COVID rail usage impact) to learn more about their business. You can also compare with all the other publicly listed JR railway companies (JR East, JR West, JR Kyushu)
global.jr-central.co.jp/en/company/ir/annualreport/_pdf/annualreport2019.pdf
Thank you for that comment display 😀. Yeah it's a shame it's declining. Many scenic routes are rural lines.
India has most late running train in world with trains running 15+ hours late, a km long list of train accident, but ya due to replacement of ICF coaches with lhb coach and good training of staff Indian railways achieved 0 casualties due to accident in 2019
@Ashish Saxena no I am not criticizing Indian railways, I love Indian railways, I just want to say Indian railways must implement new technology as quickly as possible either indigenous ( for example tcas system which is on par with etcs but at very low cost and better features) or other countries technology, we have to improve our infrastructure, yesterday tracks was washed away in and near Maharashtra, so we have do something, this happens every year, we so many genius in our country but they don't directly get chance to use their knowledge, we use their knowledge through global MNCs and higher price and 90 pc of the price we paid for our own knowledge to MNC goes to a particular country and in that 10 percent goes to corrupt politician which always resists development especially indigenous development
@Ashish Saxena we have developed our own signalling and telecommunication system like tcas, rtis, vande Bharat or train 18 , these have passed the test but still they are not deploying them, instead we invest in etcs junk, Indian railways need a good leadership to improve it, I love Indian railways ❤️🚄
Around 1947 India's and Japan was not in good condition, but Japan worked very hard now they are 40 years ahead of world, while India was developing till 1970 then many gems of India left the world and India's development got struck in political, bureaucracy and corruption, then ones again picked up speed in atal Bihari Vajpayee time and ones again slowed down and now picked up speed in modi time, note- I don't like politics
A railway educational channel that I'm looking for... done sub! Thank you!
Thanks for the video. Please do a video on the Shinkansen rolling stock. That would be great
Research,efficient design and good planning from start to finish makes a railway nation like Japan.
Nice video. I think the prevalence of so many toll roads between major cities and the lack of free parking in those cities is also a great incentive for people to take the train instead of driving.
Sadly JR Shikoku was given a tough hand in the privatization of JR. It’s a relatively sparsely populated part of Japan compared to Honshu, which limits revenues.
Also, there’s no Shinkansen service to anywhere on the island, which encourages people to fly and drive more to destinations than take the train.
Yes so many people forget these aspects (also that in Japan employers pay 100% of the train commuting costs for employees and often ban people from commuting by car for liability reasons)
What mode of transport you choose is not just about how good it is, it's about how superior it is compared to alternatives. And in order to push for efficient rail operations, sometimes the best nudge is to make other forms of transportation less convenient by implementing tolls and making people pay market rate for parking.
Politicians in the US are never going to get far by just improving rail when highways are free despite the enormous costs involved and on street parking is often free. You need to use both the carrot and the stick!
@@AlohaBiatch In Singapore the government taxes private vehicles a lot & limits how many of them can be registered too. So you end up having an entry-level S-Class cost about the same as a previous-generation Mercedes-Benz Citaro public bus, or a motorcycle cost ~3months salary of a fresh graduate. But as demand for private vehicles drop as our MRT (subway/metro) network expands, tax revenue here will probably drop, so the government might then make up for the shortfall by hiking public transport fares instead
@@AlohaBiatch the problem is that train service is so bad that in order to get support for discouraging cars you have to FIRST make transit excellent first. The one thing you can do is make rapid transit run on viaducts and existing train lines or use monorail (suspended) to avoid traffic disruption. Use highways and separate ROW for buses and other methods to speed up buses without messing with cars
@@lzh4950 Singapore also has trains nearly everywhere and they are frequent. Good luck doing that when buses run hourly or trains barely run a mere 5 per day
こんな風に紹介されると日本人として嬉しいな！
Hope youve given credit to Mustard for those shinkansen animations!
amazing video though!
9:41 this should be an exemple on how to do things. If you wanna lay off government employees try to at least find them a job to recycle to instead of just saying "aight you're fired, ta-ta!"
EXCELLENT summary! Thanks for this video.
Well I think the discrepancy in employees per km of line originated from the station staff, JR East and Central station are almost always fully staffed while Shikoku and Hokkaido have a lot of staff-less station
Thanks for another great video - very informative and entertaining. I think the discrepancy in relation to JR Central may be due to the fact that they run the whole Tokkaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka - which is the busiest rail corridor in the country. Please feel free to as many videos on Japanese trains as you like - possible subjects could be the incredible diversity in rolling stock designs for passenger trains, the non-JR private operators or the special "joyful trains" with bespoke local rolling stock designs, including the "art gallery" shinkansen that runs on the Niigata line.
I would love to have trains in the US but then I realize I wouldn't give up my car because everything is so separated i would need to use a car to get to a practical location for a station. Never even been in a train. I have seen one Amtrak Train and all cars were empty except one guy in one.
Amtrak doesn’t run enough service to attract consistent ridership
How about a video on the breakdown of cost of a single passenger ticket? I think people would be surprised that fuel is only 5 to 10 %...
Great video. Here in Kyushu Island, they're building a New Line from Fukuoka City to Nagasaki and we have a bullet train stop in my town in Saga Prefecture. I can finally take the fast train instead of taking the bus to the bigger city next to mine. 2023 is when the line will be opened. Can't wait😊✌️🚄
The Nagasaki line will not be connect to Fukuoka in the foreseeable future. You still have to take local train/bus.
@@kkf54353, actually it will connect to the Shin-Tosu station which connects to the Fukuoka-Kagoshima Line. So you have to transfer to that line to reach Fukuoka
@@carlosa7598 Nishi-kyushu line will only see the completion between Takeo-Onsen to Nagasaki in 2022. The Japanese government still haven't figure out what they want to do for the Shin-Tosu to Takeo-Onsen portion yet. So the completion of route will probably take another 10 years.
@@kkf54353 yeah. I live in Ureshino. The reason its taking long because JRKyushu is still having trouble with that new Rail train. Not sure weather to keep it at that or make a new Line all the way to Shin-Tosu, which some constructions is going on as we speak. Seems like the rail train is having problems switching over to the wider rail line. Its still set to be completed by August or October 2023
@@carlosa7598 Heard it's also because residents along the existing Nagasaki Main Line (connecting Nagasaki-Fukuoka/Hakata) are resisting the new _Shinkansen_ as they fear it'd cannabalise ridership from the existing line & thus lead to train service cuts to their areas
Japan is the only country that can succeed on railway privatization. Britains attempt was an absolute disaster and as for the North American network, it’s failing but still getting pushed. I’d say if it fails it’ll be worse than Britain’s privatization attempt
The only thing I dislike about the Japanese Railways is the fact that there is no long-distance alternative to the Shinkansen. in countries such as France and Germany, you have the option of using slower InterCity services at a lower price. If I want to travel from Tokyo to Osaka without having to pay a fortune for the Shinkansen, I need to change trains 5 times. Japan also lacks a proper night train network. There are currently only 2 sleeper trains in the country that are even more expensive than the Shinkansen and require you to book tickets months in advance.
Have you travelled with China’s HSR system before ?, as this country has the most extensive HSR network in the world and its high speed trains are unbelievable machines at speeds well over 380kph. Their network covers most parts of China & there is one latest addition of HSR in Tibet recently, starting from Lhasa to another city near to Beijing. The fares are affordable for many riders throughout their system, the rides are very smooth & seats r comfortable from economy to their impressive first class. Their HSR system is very efficient & on time performance.
The cape gauge is 3feet 6inches and is used in Queensland and Tasmania Australia, in Queensland because of the need to replace sleepers very often because of white ants, you get more shorter sleepers per tree, and in Tasmania because of the tight turns and need for lots of tunnels.
Ohh been waiting for this
Japanese Railways are really interesting
employees per km of rail isn't good for showing effeciency. Many of Tokyo's busiest stations are located on the yamanote line. The yamanote line isn't that long and yet out of the top 20 busiest stations in Japan, the yamanote line passes through 10 of them. Busy stations means more employess.
JR Central covers the higher populated areas, so that brings more stations, so more staff are needed to maintain them. Also they are more likely to run more trains esp Tokyo. So I would say that going by the KM - staff is wrong here, it should be passenger numbers to staff. I think JR Central covers just over 60% of Japans population.
That is wrong. JR central runs the tokaido shinkansen line which is their main money maker, but they run lines mostly in the Nagoya area. JR east is the company that runs train lines in Tokyo.
It's a bit confusing because only for the Tokaido Shinkansen, even though it goes from Tokyo to Osaka, it is all run by JR Central. Whereas all other rail lines are simply based on the region that the JR rail company controls.
JR Central doesn’t run the trains in Tokyo. JR Central run trains around the Nagoya metropolitan area and the Tokaido Shinkansen. All JR trains in Tokyo except the Tokaido Shinkansen are run by JR East.
@@AlohaBiatch Other than the _Tokaido Shinkansen_ & Sunrise Express I don't think JR Central operates services west of _Maibara_ (~50km E of _Kyoto_ ) or east of _Atami_ (~90km SW from _Tokyo_ ). Probably that's a way to evenly more distribute rail revenue between the 3 original privatised JR companies - JR West gets to serve & profit/earn revenue from the highly populated _Osaka_ plains/ _Kinki_ region, likewise for JR East from the _Tokyo_ plains/metropolis, while JR Central gets to profit from the world's busiest HSR line connecting the 2 (contributing to ~85% of the company's profit I heard)
0:13 That video is so old!! The video must be taken more than 10 years ago.
Fyi oshiya, jingle stations and pointing are also carried out in Indonesia and 95 percent of 電車(electric trains) in Indonesia are used trains from Japan.
Btw would you like to make a video about how Indonesia can change its train system from the worst in the world to the best in Southeast Asia
is it actually the best in southeast asia tho?
Lol its hard to say best in South east asia when there is singapore right there
What i mean in term of intercity
How about Thailand? I heard they are pretty good too
Over here in India thats why we don't have doors on suburban trains . No need for pushers .
My only criticism of the video is that you didn't address the toxic work culture many japanese train drivers face, e.g. facing punishments (such as being shouted at by managers or being forced to clean pigeon droppings from tracks) for doing things such as arriving less than a minute late at stations (I know punctuality is important and all, but this is just bonkers). It was also this work culture that caused the Amagasaki Derailment in 2005, where a commuter train derailed due to overspeeding into a curve and 107 people (including the driver) where killed.
What about Brunel's line from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads? Wasn't that the world's first high speed line?
The most important thing which is shocked me for the first time coming to Japan is *_the subway line system_* for instance in the city of Tokyo, as you know *_there are so many subway line also JR line_* same times it's confusing me if I am gong to go to somewhere without *_subway line map_* on my pocket. On the other hand I am not so surprised talking about high speed or bullet train because at least there are 10 countries have been operated it, such as china/british/france/germany/spain/belgium/netherland/italy/portugal, etc.
I would speculate that wherever a State acts as a honest agent for Public Interest suitable outcomes are obtained. Wherever a State acts as an agent for Private Interests unsuitable outcomes are realized. A State should always hold Public Interest as Paramount. I suspect that is the case concerning Japan. To some degree it is most likely cultural. Do we care about each others interests or not.
We can only dream about such great high speed rail in US. Can't even manage to create one route between LA and SF. :(
One thing they are associated with (and fascinating to watch) are the point and calling procedure. It looks weird if you are watching it first time but it's very logical once you understand the science behind the procedure.
When the isolationist Conservative Government sold off the rail network they chose completely the wrong model. They should have followed the Japanese system.
Missed your videos!
The worst part about Japanese trains is you get home and think you have to run for the train that's in 1 minute...
Shinkansen trains don’t have that kind of frequency
@@qjtvaddict I meant when you get home from Japan
15:49 nice!
Wow yokohama train greetings from indonesia
(indonesian and japan railfans🇮🇩❤🇯🇵🚝🚄🚆🚅
Thank you for this excellent review.
The quality of this channel is really superb and sadly very underrated, but that will hopefully change soon!
Seems like more densely populated areas have more employees per km of track. I would think the discrepancy is just more stations and more frequent trains.
YES more japan railway video please.
4:04 @Mustard
I'm usually a big proponent of nationalization, but I suppose in this case it made it so that it was such a large thing that it couldn't be steered correctly. I guess privitization and nationalization/federalization works in their own merits.
lol are you a communist?
Very interesting, thank you!
Its also interesting they run the locos with both pantos up
Wheres the thumbnail in picture from ?
Its from front instead of side so hard to know if its train in japan or china
It's Shinkansen E7/W7
It's the hokuriku e7
4:31 言い方可愛い
ｻﾝﾖｳｼﾝｶﾝｾﾝ
More trains please
I wish Norway could take some inspiration from this
More shinkansen please :)
Will be soon 😉
Looking forward to it!
0:52" Kesei Skyliner on the right
thanks for your explaining Japanese trains in English!!
great video
You see the station staff pushing people like meat into tofu. What's so perfect about.
Nord, again? They're everywhere!
SHINKANSEN YESSSSSSS
Well, interesting would have been all the reasons why they earn so much money, or why they are so perfectly on time.
Japan has invested heavily in it's rail services.
The railway is upgraded totally, not in bits and pieces like Britain's.
The high speed trains run on their own dedicated tracks. They don't share their line with freight or commuter trains.
Japanese trains aren't always perfect. Currently the fleet of Hitachi trains used by GWR and LNER in Britain are being withdrawn for rectification work.
And cultural factor dude.
Technically JR is a privat company yet 100 prozent of the shares are owned by the state similar to how switzerland operates as well as austrians