Railway in Sweden and Japan – a Comparative Study Report 2014:12
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Railway in Sweden and Japan Report – a comparative study 2014:12 Railway in Sweden and Japan Report – a comparative study 2014:12 Transport Analysis Address: Torsgatan 30 SE-113 59 Stockholm Phone: +46 10 414 42 00 Fax: +46 10 414 42 10 E-mail: [email protected] Webaddress: www.trafa.se Publisher: Brita Saxton Publication date: 2014-11-11 Preface May 2013 saw the signing of a memorandum of cooperation in the railway area between the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications in Sweden and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) in Japan. The main purpose of the cooperation is to increase the mutual understanding of policies, laws, and other regulations and of organization and planning in the railway sector in Sweden and Japan and to exchange experience and technology in areas of common interest.1 This comparative case study seeks to increase the mutual understanding of the organization of the railway sector in Sweden and Japan. The study compares the current organization of railways in Sweden and Japan. The scope includes infrastructure and traffic organization, freight and passenger traffic solutions, and railway sector authorities. The project has been managed by Anna Ullström, Transport Analysis (Sweden); Takaaki Furuhashi, MLIT (Japan) submitted comments on chapters four and five. October 2014 Brita Saxton Director General 1 Överenskommelse mellan Näringsdepartementet i Konungariket Sverige och Ministeriet för mark, infrastruktur, transport och turism i Japan om samarbete inom järnvägsområdet, Tokyo den 17 maj 2013, N2013/2621/TE, Stockholm: Näringsdepartementet, 2013. 3 4 Contents Preface ................................................................................................................. 3 1 A comparative Sweden–Japan rail organization study ............................ 7 2 Functions of a railway system .................................................................... 9 2.1 Value chain of the railway system ........................................................ 9 2.2 Functions of a railway system ............................................................ 10 2.3 Planning and coordination in various time horizons ........................... 10 2.4 Rulemaking and interventions ............................................................ 12 2.5 Framework for analysis ...................................................................... 12 3 Rail organization in Sweden ..................................................................... 13 3.1 The rail network in Sweden................................................................ 13 Signalling systems ......................................................................................... 15 Ongoing and planned expansions .................................................................. 16 3.2 Rail traffic in Sweden ......................................................................... 16 3.3 Characteristics of the railway organization......................................... 17 3.4 The initiative in transport policy .......................................................... 18 Political bodies ............................................................................................... 18 3.5 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within construction ........................ 21 3.6 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within management ...................... 22 Vehicle companies and vehicle managers ..................................................... 22 Property managers ........................................................................................ 23 Infrastructure managers ................................................................................. 23 3.7 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within maintenance ....................... 25 Vehicle maintenance companies .................................................................... 25 Track contractors ........................................................................................... 25 3.8 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within operations ........................... 26 Transport organizers ...................................................................................... 26 Railway companies ........................................................................................ 26 Other support functions .................................................................................. 28 3.9 Rulemaking and supervision .............................................................. 28 3.10 Current Swedish rail policy and future challenges ............................. 29 Future challenges .......................................................................................... 30 4 Rail organization in Japan ........................................................................ 33 5 4.1 The rail network in Japan ................................................................... 33 The existing HSR network .............................................................................. 33 Ongoing and planned expansions .................................................................. 36 4.2 Rail traffic in Japan ............................................................................ 36 Passenger rail traffic ...................................................................................... 36 Freight railway traffic ...................................................................................... 38 4.3 Characteristics of Japanese railway organization .............................. 39 4.4 The initiative in transport policy .......................................................... 42 Political bodies ............................................................................................... 42 Other organizations influencing Japanese transport policy ............................. 44 4.5 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within construction ........................ 45 Manufacturers ................................................................................................ 47 4.6 Actors, responsibilities, and roles within management, maintenance, and operations ............................................................................................. 47 Railway companies within passenger transport .............................................. 47 Rail companies offering freight services ......................................................... 50 Maintenance .................................................................................................. 51 Property managers ........................................................................................ 52 Coordination of through-train services ............................................................ 52 4.7 Rulemaking and supervision .............................................................. 53 Supervising authorities ................................................................................... 53 4.8 Current Japanese rail policy and future challenges ........................... 54 5 Railway organization compared ............................................................... 59 5.1 The organization of the railway functions ........................................... 59 5.2 Structuring of the railway ................................................................... 60 Two ways of organizing the rail market .......................................................... 60 5.3 Coordination in the railway sector ...................................................... 66 5.4 Transport policy and future challenges .............................................. 66 6 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 67 7 Sammanfattning på svenska .................................................................... 69 8 References ................................................................................................. 75 8.1 Literature............................................................................................ 75 8.2 Sources.............................................................................................. 75 6 1 A comparative Sweden– Japan rail organization study The way the railway system produces transport services can be described as a process in which various functions interact and are dependent on one another in order to deliver services to rail customers, i.e., freight companies and passengers. How the railway system is organized differs between countries. May 2013 saw the signing of a memorandum of cooperation in the railway area between the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications in Sweden (MEEC) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) in Japan. The main purpose of the cooperation is to increase the mutual understanding of policies, laws, and other regulations and of organization and planning in the railway sector in Sweden and Japan and to exchange experiences and technology in areas of common interest.2 This comparative case study seeks to increase the mutual understanding of the organization of the railway sector in Sweden and Japan. The study compares the current organization of railways in Sweden and Japan. The scope includes infrastructure and traffic organization, freight and passenger traffic solutions, and railway sector authorities. Chapter 2 presents the typical functions of a railway system, while chapters 3 and 4 discuss the organization of these functions in Sweden and