Initiative to Standardize Tokyo Commuter Emus Satoru Sone
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F Rolling Stock and Manufacturers (part 1) eature Initiative to Standardize Tokyo Commuter EMUs Satoru Sone distance for such travel is about 60 km railway transport in commuting is quite Commuting in Greater Tokyo using conventional railway lines and more low, illustrating the importance of railway than 100 km using shinkansen lines. The services in the GTCA. Greater Tokyo vs. mega-cities in average commuting time exceeds 60 West and Asia minutes. Clearly, the number of daily Current situation of radial The residential population of Tokyo’s 23 commuters and their travel distance in the railway lines in GTCA wards, including the central business area, Greater Tokyo Commuting Area (GTCA) Some 40,000 long-distance commuters is approximately 8 million but the daytime are far larger than the figures for Paris, are using the Tokaido, Tohoku and Joetsu population is believed to be which has a high proportion of inner city shinkansen lines. Since trains on the approximately 11 million. Since more dwellers, or London and New York both Joetsu Shinkansen use the tracks of the than a few workers and students commute with relatively high proportions of Tohoku Shinkansen for the 30-km section from central Tokyo to suburban areas, it suburban dwellers. in and out of Tokyo, the shinkansen is safe to assume that more than 3 million Although there are other mega-cities with service in the immediate vicinity of Tokyo people commute almost every morning a huge number of commuters, such as is provided by two double-track lines. into Tokyo. In many cases, the one-way Shanghai and Bangkok, their share of In addition, there are many conventional Figure 1 Route Map of Greater Tokyo Commuting Area Joetsu Shinkansen Tohoku Shinkansen JR Takasaki Line Tobu Nikko Line T obu Isesaki Line JR Tohoku Line Seibu Ikebukuro Line T obu Tojo Line JR Joban Line JR Narita Line JR Oume Line Hokuso Line JR Itsukaichi Line Keisei Line JR Chuo Line JR Sobu Line Keio Takao Line Keio Sagamihara Line JR Sotobo Line Odakyu Odawara Line Tokyo Bay Odakyu Enoshima Line Sotetsu Line Keisei Chihara Line JR Uchibo Line Tokaido Shinkansen Sotetsu Izumino Line JR Tokaido Line JR Negishi Line Keihin Kyuko Line 24 Japan Railway & Transport Review 41 • October 2005 lines serving the GTCA. This article only considers routes traversing Toyko’s 23 wards and surrounding areas (Fig. 1). JR East, which was formerly part of Japanese National Railways (JNR) before the 1987 division and privatization, has five quadruple-tracked routes—the Tokaido, Sobu, Joban, Tohoku and Chuo lines—and the double-tracked Keiyo and Saikyo lines. There are a total of 16 non-JR routes operated by Keihin Express Electric Railway, Tokyo Metro (two routes), Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) subway, Keisei Electric Railway, Hokuso Railway, Tobu Railway (two routes), Saitama Rapid Series 101 (20-m long) introduced in 1957, combining traction system developed by private railway group and body with four 1.3-m wide doors on each side developed by JNR. This photograph shows the Series 101 on the Transit, Seibu Railway (two routes), Keio Nambu Line, the last line on which it ran. (JR East) Electric Railway (two routes), Odakyu Electric Railway and Tokyu Corporation example, in the Kansai Commuting Area Secondary status of JR East (two routes). Some of these are quadruple- (KCA), which includes Kyoto, Osaka, As can be inferred from the number of tracked (the longest section is 19 km) or Kobe and Nara, the average commuting routes in the GTCA, non-JR lines carry triple-tracked. distance, travel time and congestion levels more passengers than JR East (although JR With exceptions, these routes operate 24 are all markedly lower than in Tokyo East ‘wins’ in terms of passenger-km). to 30 electric multiple unit (EMU) train because of the higher railway network During the postwar period when transport sets in each direction during peak hours density per head of population, multi- demand grew dramatically, non-JNR and each EMU has 10 to 15 cars. The directional flows of workers and students, private railway operators focussed their highest cross-sectional passenger transport and more dispersed locations of cities and efforts on building lighter and higher- figure at peak times is 90,000 (150,000 residential areas. performance EMUs as an easier solution for quadruple track) per hour, which is six to increasing capacity than building new times higher than the seating capacity! tracks. JNR also adopted technologies for As described, non-shinkansen lines have Outline of EMUs in Japan high-performance EMUs developed by the approximately 30 routes based on double private sector. A major factor favouring track and many provide through services Development based on non- EMUs has been the relatively weaker load- to a subway line in central Tokyo. Morning government railways bearing capacity of Japan’s narrow-gauge commuting stretches across about 2 hours In comparison to other countries, a major railway tracks. For example, the but the evening rush lasts for some 5 hours, characteristic of Japanese passenger permissible axle load for trunk lines used transporting 3 million workers and railway transportation is that it is by freight trains is around 16.8 tonnes and students. The overall shortage of railway conducted almost entirely by EMUs. is lower for many other lines, including transportation capacity has necessitated Locomotive-hauled passenger trains are shinkansen. This figure is much lower staggered commuting, and the evening limited to a small number of sleepers and than the 21 tonnes for trunk lines in peak hours are very long because of regular tourist railways. And even some sleepers Europe and 26 tonnes for lines in S Africa, overtime working and late-night socializing and freight trains are already EMUs. The which use basically the same track gauge with colleagues. Consequently, there is underlying reason for this predominance (1065 mm) as in Japan. Moreover, EMUs routine train congestion even after 22:00. of EMUs is that the EMU technologies long are better suited to shortened travel times used on early local lines constructed by over line sections characterized by tight Cultural differences of Kansai the private sector superseded the older curves and/or steep grades. As a result, Commuting Area technologies on the national railway Japan currently has about 49,000 EMUs, The above situation is not necessarily network constructed mainly by the which is nearly half the total number of common to all major cities in Japan. For government. EMUs in the world. Japan Railway & Transport Review 41 • October 2005 25 Rolling Stock and Manufacturers (part 1) Major impacts on world’s high- design rolling stock, resulting in the Class Recent (Voluntary) speed lines 63 (large) for JNR lines and Ministry of Standardization European railway operators—who have Transport Standard EMUs (medium) for traditionally used loco-hauled passenger non-JNR lines. The Class 63 was also used Recent standardization attempts reflect a trains—had difficulty recognizing the on non-JNR lines when the loading gauge completely different concept. The advantages of EMUs, noting problems was appropriate. The design concepts of primary motivation has been economic such as maintenance of many electric the Class 63, which was 20-m long with and there has been no strong external motors and comfort in the passenger four 1-m wide doors on each side, were force driving such attempts. cabin. In high-speed trains, special later combined into the Class 300 with locomotives have been developed for the 1.3-m wide double-leaf doors used on the JR East’s Series 209 development French TGV and German ICE. Similarly, Marunouchi Line from 1954. concept and performance in urban transport, special locomotives Subsequently, similar types of EMUs were The latest standardization initiative started have been developed for the S-Bahn in used widely on both JNR and non-JNR lines when the newly established JR East Zürich, Switzerland and elsewhere. in the GTCA. A typical example is the wanted to renovate many of its old- However, EMUs are being adopted Series 101 that was mass-produced by JNR fashioned inherited EMUs for urban and gradually as shown by the development from 1958. It must be noted that such inner suburban services, consisting of the of the AGV, ICE-3 and new S-Bahn. development simply means adoption of a old Series 103, the Series 201 with common idea—the actual design chopper control that had been rejected specifications differed completely between by non-JNR operators, and the Series 205 Past Standardization Initiatives companies. The unification of ideas and that was comparable to EMUs of non-JNR functions began in Tokyo in 1960 and operators. The Series 103 was a modified There have been previous initiatives to helped promote through services between version of the Series 101 built to achieve standardize commuter trains in the GTCA. central and suburban lines. It is also true better economic performance and was At the end of WWII, wartime shortages to say that such unification was also needed meant to be used exclusively on the and damaged manufacturing to some extent in order to make through Yamanote Line. The Series 103 was infrastructure forced use of austerity- services a reality. unique to JNR and the original plan was to manufacture only 400 carriages. However, JNR continued manufacturing Series 103 EMUs until the total exceeded 3000—even well after non-JNR operators were regularly using lightweight EMUs with regenerative braking systems and air suspension. JNR’s insistence on the Series 103 is now widely considered to be a failed example of standardization. Meanwhile, the Series 201 used an armature chopper control despite the fact that such technology was regarded by private rail operators as being exclusive to subway lines.