JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 2 Expansion of Railway Network Eiichi Aoki Opening of Tokaido Line and First Railway Mania The Meiji government was affected directly by the financial crisis during the second half of 1870s and the project to construct the railway between Tokyo and Osaka/Kobe progressed at a snail's pace. The original route was planned along a main road called Nakasendo running through the central highlands of Honshu, the main island. This route was chosen in an attempt to stimulate economic development in the region. As the government financial reform program, which started in 1880, took effect, the government adopted a I Yotsuya Station on the Kobu Railway in the 1890s, Reprinted from RAILWAYS AND ROLLING STOCK IN JAPAN policy of promoting railway construc- along the outer moat of the Imperial Palace, Tokyo. tion. Part of the budget was collected by selling railway bonds to wayside had been under way at the time of the privatised and renamed the Hokkaido residents, and the preliminary survey route change continued, and two sec- Tanko (Coal Mine) Railway. The above and construction work began in No- tions between Naoetsu and Karuizawa, mentioned railways were called the "Big vember 1883. and Takasaki and Yokogawa started Five" in private railways. In addition, However, the work revealed that the operation in 1885-88. However, con- many private railways serving shorter proposed route would run through struction of the remaining section be- routes were built in the suburbs of Tokyo mountain areas, requiring high costs tween Yokogawa and Karuizawa and Osaka, and in regional cities. Railway and long construction times, so the (11.2 km) was hampered by the rugged mania had arrived! route was changed in 1886 to a new one geography. This section was finally In May 1887, the government estab- along the Tokaido, another main road completed in 1893 using an Abt rack- lished the Private Railways Ordi- along the Pacific coast. Construction of and-pinion system capable of running nance to ensure uniform standards the new route started in November on the 1/15 gradient. for railway construction nationwide. 1886 and proceeded without serious dif- The robust Japanese economy created In July 1889, Japan's railway net- ficulty. The entire railway between by the success of Masayoshi Matsukata's works totalled 880 km for government Shimbashi and Kobe was inaugurated financial reforms, and the success of railways and 840 km for private rail- on 1 July 1899. Nippon Railways, the first private rail- ways. A ceremony attended by repre- By linking the two largest cities of way, led to the establishment of a number sentatives of government and private Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, the Tokaido of private railways after 1885 until the railways to celebrate the completion railway was the first major step in the 1890 economic recession. The new main of 1,000 miles (1,610 km) of tracks development of railways in Japan. lines included the Sanyo, Kyushu, and was held in Nagoya. In the meantime, construction of the Kansai railways. In Hokkaido, the gov- section of the Nakasendo railway that ernment-operated Horonai Railway was 34 Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994 Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Railway Construction Act Hokkaido, which came under the the early 1900s, they invested actively Hokkaido Railway Construction Act in electric streetcar systems (trams) in In July 1891, Masaru Inoue, Director enacted in May 1896. major urban areas. of the Railway Board announced two During this period, capitalists in the important proposals of railway policy. Second Railway Mania and rural regions still played a major finan- First, he pointed out the need for laws cial role, but their financial power was to ensure the establishment of long- Growth of Mainline Railway limited, so that capitalists in large cit- term plans for constructing mainline Networks ies acted as a major force in financing networks, and the issuance of public railway construction projects. Even for Construction of private railways bonds to obtain funds for constructing many railways associated with local in- faced a major setback during the reces- railways. Second, he proposed nation- dustries or railways in regional cities, sion around 1890, but became brisk alization of private railways forming capitalists in large cities were indis- part of the mainline network. Mr. Inoue again in 1893. The second railway ma- was a strong advocate of railway na- nia continued until 1897. Construction tionalization and reiterated his argu- of government railways was also pro- ment at every occasion. His proposals gressing rapidly under the auspices of pointed to the future of railways in Ja- the Railway Construction Act. pan and had an important effect on At the end of March 1893, the total Japan's railway history. length of railways in Japan reached Based on Inoue's proposals, the gov- 3,010 km, divided into 885 km of gov- ernment sent two bills, the Railway ernment railways and 2,125 km of Bond Act and the Railway Nationaliza- private railways. tion Act to the Imperial Diet. After ma- By the end of March 1906, immedi- jor amendments, the diet passed the ately before railway nationalization, Railway Construction Act in June 1892. government railways covered 2,413 km Compared to Inoue's original proposal, with private railways reaching 5,213 the Act deleted the provisions for na- km. Although construction of govern- tionalization of private railways, but ment railways progressed smoothly, envisaged much larger railway net- private railways were always built at a works than already planned. It also re- faster pace, with the result that, despite quired Diet approval for major modifi- frequent mergers, the number of pri- cation of railway construction plans vate railway companies increased from and commencement of new railway con- 13 in March 1893 to 37 by the end of Courtesy: Transportation Museum, Tokyo struction. Proposing construction of March 1906. Masaru Inoue (1843-1910) larger railway networks than the Private railway companies in Japan Masaru Inoue was brought up as the son of a government's original plan reflected at that time were relatively large stock samurai belonging to the Choshu fief. At 15, he companies generating large profits. entered the Nagasaki Naval Academy established public demand for early railway con- by the Tokugawa government under the direction struction in local communities, which This favorable business environment of a Dutch naval officer. In the early Meiji era, the recognized the value of railways. led to the emergence of groups showing academy produced many prominent persons who strong investment interest in railways. worked as leaders in the military and the govern- The act required the government to ment, as well as engineers. In 1863, Inoue and submit railway construction plans to They were divided into two main four friends stowed away on a vessel to the United the Railway Council for consultation groups: the zaibatsu or big business Kingdom. He studied civil engineering and mining before the submission to the Diet. The group, and commercial capitalists. at University College in London and returned to Japan in 1868. After working for the government Railway Council was composed of offi- Typical zaibatsu were Mitsui and as a technical officer supervising the mining in- cials of the Railway Agency, related au- Mitsubishi (Iwasaki). They were major dustry, he was appointed Director of the Railway thorities, the army, the navy, and Diet shareholders in early mainline rail- Board in 1871. After temporary retirement, Inoue ways such as Hokkaido Tanko Rail- served as a leader in the government guiding the members. It was authorized to amend nascent railway industry until 1893. the Railway Construction Act, and to ways, Kansai Railways, Sanyo Rail- During his career, Inoue played a leading role in determine railway construction bud- ways, Kyushu Railways, and Chikuho many decisions related to railway planning and gets, the licensing and nationalization Railway, earning large profits from construction, including construction of the Nakasendo Railway, selection of the alternative of private railways, train operation railway management. They promoted route (Tokaido), and the proposals for future plans, and railway fares. production and distribution in a variety mainline railway networks. Also, as one of a hand- The Railway Construction Act es- of industrial fields using railways. ful of Japanese railway engineers, he often visited The commercial capitalists were construction sites and directed workers. tablished detailed rules for railway After retirement from the government, Inoue construction in Japan, and allowed lo- found in the Tokyo-Yokohama and founded Kisha Seizo Kaisha, the first locomo- cal communities to request construc- Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe regions and sought tive manufacturer in Japan, becoming its first profits from management of railway president in 1896. In 1909, he was appointed tion of railways through their elected President of the Imperial Railways Association. Diet members. However, the Railway businesses. In addition to mainline He became ill and died in London in 1910 dur- Construction Act did not apply to railways, they showed great interest in ing a visit to Europe as an advisor to the Minis- railways in and around large cities. In try of Railways. Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994 35 JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 2 Railway Network Proposed by Railway Construction Act (1892 and 1896 in Hokkaido) pensable as major shareholders for fi- Many railways quickly followed suit: construction of new roads, widening of nancing construction projects. Nagoya Electric Railways (1898), existing roads, and construction of Daishi Electric Railways (Kawasaki, bridges. The railway served as a major Debut of Electric Railways 1899), Odawara Electric Railways source of finances for the city to carry (Kozu-Odawara-Hakone Yumoto, out its plans, and marked the first elec- In May 1890, Tokyo Electric Light 1990), and Hoshu Electric Railways tric railway operated by a municipality.