Development of Japanese High-speed Rail Network Shin-Aomori One Year After Hokuriku Shinkansen Opening West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Akita Shinkansen Akita Morioka Introduction first year of service greatly exceeded expectations. This article describes the results and efforts in the With the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen between first year of Hokuriku Shinkansen services and covers Nagano and Kanazawa on 14 March 2015, West expectations for the second year as well as the medium- Japan Railway Company (JR West) worked with local to-long term outlook and issues in anticipation of the line communities to further raise the attractiveness of the extension to Tsuruga (Figure 1). We hope this awareness Hokuriku area as a tourism destination and held the will lead to new efforts to increase use of the Hokuriku Hokuriku Destination Campaign (Hokuriku DC) to Shinkansen even further. promote use of the shinkansen for tourism from the Tokyo Shinjo metropolitan and Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe) region. Transport Volume Characteristics of To spur business demand, we introduced convenient Yamagata Hokuriku Shinkansen Shinkansen online reservation products with airline trends in mind and worked to raise the share for railway travel between Reflection on first year of service Yamagata Sendai the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Hokuriku cities of In its first year of service, usage of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa and Toyama. The number of passengers in the remained at about three times that of railway use in the Niigata Fukushima Figure 1 Route of Hokuriku Shinkansen Joetsu Shinkansen Tohoku Shinkansen Joetsumyoko Itoigawa Kurobe- Shin-Takaoka Unazukionsen Toyama Nagano Kanazawa Hokuriku Shinkansen Takasaki Fukui Omiya Tokyo Tsuruga Tokaido Shinkansen Nagoya Kyoto Shin Osaka Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 68 • Oct 2016 26 Development of Japanese High-speed Rail Network previous year, exceeding expectations with a large number Looking at the number of passengers by quarter, usage of people using the new line. These good results are increased especially in Q1 in line with the extraordinary thought to be due to the success of various promotional demand that came from the start of shinkansen service and measures held in cooperation with local communities to public display of the Buddhist statue at Zenko-ji temple. attract visitors to the Hokuriku area (Ishikawa, Toyama, and Usage also increased greatly in Q3 during the Hokuriku DC Fukui Prefectures) based on reduced travel time due to the promotion (Table 1). opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen and advantage over air Looking at differences between weekdays and in terms of service frequency. weekends/holidays for the full year, weekday use was about The following describes the first year of service, taking 23,000 passengers per day and weekend/holiday use was into account items such as trend in transport volume, change about 30,000 per day. Weekend/holiday use was especially in share, usage on weekdays and weekends/holidays, and high and so was the increase. occupancy of individual train types. The high usage and increase on weekends/holidays Before the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the suggests that many people use the Hokuriku Shinkansen Hakutaka and Hokuetsu limited express trains carried about 8000 passengers a day (between Itoigawa and Naoetsu). This Figure 2 Trend in Railway Passenger Volumes between Joetsumyoko and Itoigawa jumped about three-fold to 25,000 (Passengers/day) passengers a day after the start of 30,000 the Hokuriku Shinkansen (between Joetsumyoko and Itoigawa). 25,295 Although the goal was to double passenger volumes, the actual results were even better (Figure 2). 20,000 10,000 8,606 0 Before Service Start After Service Start 14 March 2014 to 13 March 2015 14 March 2015 to 13 March 2016 Table 1 Daily Passenger Volumes by Quarter on Weekdays and Weekends/Holidays (between Joetsumyoko and Itoigawa) (14 March 2015 to 13 March 2016) (Unit: Passengers/day) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Result 22,874 24,552 24,237 18,680 22,903 Weekdays Change from previous year 323 278 308 239 288 Result 31,290 32,476 30,838 24,520 30,138 Weekends/Holidays Change from previous year 342 304 307 214 292 Result 25,649 27,136 26,389 20,680 25,295 Total Change from previous year 331 290 308 246 295 Note: Q4 figures are for 1 January to 13 March 27 Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 68 • Oct 2016 Table 2 Occupancy by Train Type and Seat Type Train Type Seat Type Train Occupancy Seat Type Occupancy Kagayaki 53% GranClass 46% Hakutaka 41% Green Car (first class) 35% Tsurugi Ordinary Car Reserved 52% 19% (Between Toyama and Kanazawa) Ordinary Car Non-reserved 32% Table 3 Use of Hokuriku DC Travel Products From Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe From JR West Area Product Change from Change from Change from previous Change from previous Result Result previous year year, before previous year year, before campaign campaign Travel products 69,760 110% 109% 75,735 113% 111% Individual 31,807 113% 98% 33,977 116% 102% Group 37,953 108% 116% 41,758 110% 117% Products sold directly 25,507 212% 102% 27,281 219% 102% Special plans 15,124 172% 104% 16,030 181% 104% Stationmaster 10,383 323% 82% 11,251 309% 90% recommended trips Total 95,267 126% 109% 103,016 129% 111% for tourism, so there may be room to further increase Shinkansen, and provides snacks and drinks served by full- business use. time attendants in a high-quality and roomy space to give Looking at occupancy by train type, the Kagayaki passengers a premium experience. High occupancy rates services with shorter travel times had high usage in excess have been maintained since the service start, and a high of 50%. The Hakutaka services, which stop at all stations, interest level has been shown by many passengers. also had usage in excess of 40%. The Tsurugi services, Use of the Hokuriku Shinkansen was 321% that of railway which connect with the Thunderbird and Shirasagi limited use in the previous year during the period of the Hokuriku expresses to link the Hokuriku area with the Kansai region DC from 1 October to 31 December 2015 (tabulated from 1 and Chukyo (Nagoya, Gifu, and Mie) regions, had only October to 20 December to remove impact of use during the about 20% occupancy. All Hokuriku Shinkansen services peak New Year holiday period). Use of Thunderbird limited are 12-car trainsets, and this number of seats is considered express between Kyoto and Tsuruga too was 109% that of necessary due to usage changes at peak periods and the previous year, maintaining favourable results. Comparing weekends (Table 2). this with the increase in the first half-year after the start of Looking at occupancy by seat type, we see that the Hokuriku Shinkansen services (April to September), the GranClass has a high occupancy rate in excess of 50%. JR Hokuriku Shinkansen results were 13% higher and the West adopted GranClass for the first time on the Hokuriku Thunderbird were 4% higher. Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 68 • Oct 2016 28 Development of Japanese High-speed Rail Network Table 4 Passengers Boarding at Hokuriku Shinkansen Stations Kurobe- Kanazawa Shin-Takaoka Toyama Itoigawa Unazukionsen Passengers 22,999/day 1929/day 7901/day 967/day 482/day boarding Note: Including users boarding conventional trains Sales of products for trains run by members of the Creating buzz and improving recognition JR group of operators (travel products, stationmaster First, JR West worked to provide basic information about recommended trips, and special tickets) sold in JR West train schedules (frequency) and ticket prices and to create operations areas such as Kansai region and Chugoku a buzz from the perspective of telling customers about area (Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi the convenience and comfort of the Hokuriku Shinkansen prefectures) were up 129% year-on-year with demand and its attractions. We enhanced provision of information exceeding that of the first half-year. Moreover, the Nanao using websites by means such as expanding the content on Line Hanayome Noren sightseeing train and Johana Line/ fan sites and publishing the ‘MY FAVOURITE HOKURIKU’ Himi Line Belles montagnes et mer sightseeing train were web magazine. almost completely sold out. In the ‘Japanese Beauty Hokuriku’ campaign run from Sales by travel agencies of travel products using trains January, we set up travel products using regional foods—a run by members of the JR group of operators in the year from major feature of Hokuriku in the winter—as a hook and gave the start of service have remained good with totals for those away gifts. Television commercials featuring actress Yukie departing Hokuriku to the Tokyo metropolitan area of 211% Nakama were run to help spur demand for travel to Hokuriku of the previous year. Those departing Kansai for Hokuriku in the first winter after the start of shinkansen services. were 108% of the previous year, and those departing Kansai The Hokuriku Shinkansen was also picked-up by for Nagano and Niigata were 221% of the previous year, many media outlets, leading to more buzz and improved demonstrating a large increase. Sales by travel agents of recognition. stays at major hot springs in the Hokuriku area and visitors to major sightseeing spots also increased, suggesting an Creating tourism demand increase over a broad area and demonstrating widespread Next, I would like to mention demand through tourism. effects from the start of the shinkansen service (Table 3). JR West worked from the start of service to promote use Table 4 shows passengers boarding at the five Hokuriku of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Japan’s three major Shinkansen stations in 2015. Management of conventional conurbations (Tokyo metropolitan area, Kansai area, and lines running parallel to the shinkansen has been spun-off to Chukyo area) by introducing attractive products and putting third-party operators, making simple evaluation difficult, but in place intermodal transport routes.