In 1988 the Seto Ohashi Bridge and the Seikan Tunnel opened (Ichinenkijima), it became possible to cross directly to Shikoku and Hokkaido without changing to a rail connection ship, the convenience of the railroad improved. Among them, the former realized a significant passenger increase by shortening the arrival time, but for the latter, there was almost no passenger increase and only contributed to strengthening cargo transport. Popularization of private cars leads to a decrease in commuters and shoppers who use railways and passengers of local rail in local areas are becoming noticeable to school students and old people.
Meanwhile, in major metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Keihanshin area, the railway has an overwhelming share in commuting and commuting fields because the arrival time is accurate and not affected by traffic jams on the road. For example, in Osaka in Osaka, the Osaka municipal subway Nagahori Tsurumi green lane line opened as the first issue of the Ironwheel type linear motor subway in Osaka, and in Tokyo, too, the following type of Tokyo metropolitan subway The Oedo Line began operation. Mutual attendance to the subway in the Tokyo area became more generalized as “a separate railway enters the other side across the subway”. Even at the subway lines in Nagoya and Kyoto, it has become possible to see mutual rides with private railways.
Moreover, new transportation system is continuing to be added as a public transportation system with a smaller transportation capacity than the subway. It was built in various parts of Japan after the port liner of Kobe and the Neutram of Osaka began running in 1981. There is a high boarding rate in Tokyo as “Yurikamome” goes through popular spots such as Odaiba, but there are cases in which the tendency of visitors is misread. For example, the Peach Blossom New Transportation Taomihadai Line on the outskirts of Nagoya opened in 1991, but the number of customers did not increase and was forced to go out of business in 2006.
Innovation
During this period, technically important improvements were made in speeding up the railway car and improving maintainability. Technological innovation of vehicle body inclined vehicles and progress of electronic control (variable voltage variable frequency control, also known as VVVF control) in electric trains. In particular, the latter is a standard system for trains and electric locomotives newly made regardless of JR private railway.
Technological innovation of vehicle body inclined vehicles
As a method of passing a curve section at a high speed, there is a vehicle body inclined vehicle (commonly referred to as one type of “pendulum type train”). There is a 381 series train that appeared in the central main line in 1973 (Showa 48), but there was no technical progress since then. The 381 series train is a natural pendulum type, the mechanism that the car body begins to tilt with centrifugal force after the train enters the curve, the delay of this tilt has impaired comfort. As a remedy, there is a forced vehicle body inclination system in which the vehicle body is inclined with mechanical force according to the timing to approach the curve.
TSE (mass production car is 2000 series pillar) who began running JR Shikoku in 1989 (the 1989 railway car) is a controlled natural pendulum type express impeller with a combination of a natural pendulum type and a compulsory vehicle body inclination type, Overcoming the problems unnecessary swaying and the problem peculiar to the liquid type diesel which said propeller shaft inhibits the pendulum motion at the time of torque transmission, we achieved a great speed-up of the Tosan line and the priest line. Continuously the Kiha 281 series diesel of JR Hokkaido started commercial operation in 1994 (Heisei 6) and shortened the arrival time among the cities in Hokkaido.
On the train, JR Tokai’s 383 series train “Wide View Shinano” adopted a controlled pendulum + self-steering truck and has been operating from 1995 (Heisei 7). After that, all six passenger companies made a new controlled express pendulum type, but the degree of progress varies depending on the circumstances of each company. For example, JR Tokai switched all 381 series used for “Shinano” to 383 series, but JR West developed a 283 series train of new type pendulum and introduced it to the Kibisumoto line, but does not increase sufficiently Old style 381 series train is used together until October 2015 (Heisei 20), “Hakumo” of Hakuji line is still 381 series.
Besides the pendulum type, there is a forced vehicle body inclination method using an air spring for a pillow spring as a vehicle body inclination method put to practical use. Like the natural pendulum method, it has been studied since the 1960’s, but it has not been put into practical use until recently advanced control technology. This system has been expanded to speed up the company and private express vehicles of the private railway and further speeding up the bullet train after the initial adoption by the JR Hokkaido in 1997 (Heisei 9) are doing.
JR Hokkaido’s controlled natural pendulum type motorcycle has evolved to the Kiha 283 series in 1995, adopting a self-steering truck, making the transmission a cloth ratio, increasing the maximum inclination angle, etc., in particular, Obihiro Fast speed on the Nemuro main line holding a place which is not linear in the east. In addition, JR Hokkaido developed a Kiha 285 system with a controlled natural pendulum device combined with a vehicle body tilting device with an air spring and a motor-assisted hybrid as a power system, and one three-car train constituting a mass-production preceding car is in 2014 ( Heisei era26 year). Completion did. Although this plan aimed at further speeding up, due to successive serious incidents and employee scandals resulting from repeated special safety audits from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, we changed to management policy focusing on safety measures as it is The mass production plan for the Kiha 285 series has been canceled, and the three destinations that had been completed have become unusable and became scrapped in 2015 (Heisei 20).
Electronicization of train control
Since the birth, trains and electric locomotives have been using “direct current electric motors” as motive power, adopting a method called “resistance control” that controls the current flowing through the electric motor by connecting a plurality of electric motors and a number of resistors It was. DC motors are electric motors that are suitable for electric vehicles because of their wide range of tolerance for changes in load and changes in revolution speed. However, since the armature, which is an important component, is physically worn by rotation, periodic cleaning The difficulty is that maintenance is necessary. Since the resistance control also turns on and off the electric contact by the cam shaft, it is inevitable to deteriorate over time, requiring periodic maintenance and loss of electricity by the resistor can not be avoided.
The 6000 series train, which was prototyped at the subway underground in 1968, adopts a thyristor chopper system that stops resistance control and electronically controls the electric current flowing through the electric motor by the function of a semiconductor element, improving the operation cost and maintainability did. This thyristor chopper is roughly divided into an armature chopper control for switching the current flowing through the armature of the electric motor while using a direct-current motor for the main electric motor, and a field chopper for switching the current flowing in the shunt winding field of the compound- There are three types of control, four-quadrant chopper control which switches both the armature of the shunt-wound motor and the other excitation magnetic field at high frequency, the former two preceded. The field chopper is suitable for addition of a regenerative braking function to a high-speed train and has been adopted by major private railway companies such as Tokyu, Keio, Kintetsu, Hankyu etc. since the 1970’s, and the armature chopper has high acceleration / Repeatedly, Hanshin standard which was adopted as standard in the metro train of each city which is a major merit of suppression of the temperature rise in the tunnel and the energy saving by being able to expel the resistor from the main circuit, also used for high acceleration / deceleration operation Also introduced to each stop train called “Blue Body Car” by remodeling and new construction, each exerted great power for energy conservation. In addition, the 4-quadrant chopper which integrated them was adopted by the Subway Subway and some new transportation systems, and it became a bridge to the subsequent VVVF control.
Full-scale digitization of the train drive system was achieved by using the “cage type three-phase induction motor” for the electric motor and moving the electric motor by the “variable voltage variable frequency” (VVVF) system . The rotational speed of this motor is proportional to the frequency of the input alternating current and the output can be controlled by voltage. Further, there is no wear parts such as an armature, so maintenance is greatly reduced. “Variable voltage variable frequency control” system is a system that generates AC power with appropriate frequency and appropriate voltage by a large-capacity inverter and moves the motor, has little power loss and no physical electrical contacts Therefore maintenance is less need to be done.
Initially adopted this method in Japan is the tramway train which the electric capacity is small and the induction trouble hardly becomes a problem because there is no orbit circuit, it is Kumamoto Tax 8200 form in 1982. It was adopted as a full-fledged train in 1984, the Kintetsu 1250 series, which was adopted for the world’s first large train (the first car is a prototype car existence mass production started from 1987 In the 1990’s, trial production and mass production of commuter trains by VVVF inverter control began at JR East and JR West. On the Shinkansen, a prototype car was completed in 1990 and a 300 series train for “Nozomi” which started commercial operation in 1992 adopted VVVF inverter control, achieving weight saving and high speed. JR West ‘s 681 series train “Super Raiders” has started commercial operation since 1992. Later, most newly designed trains and electric locomotives have adopted VVVF inverter control.
Acceleration of railway
The National Railways Conventional Line and each private railway did not update the maximum speed 120 km / h decided by around 1970 for more than 20 years. However, in order to secure passengers against other transportation, each railroad company began to speed up again from the end of Showa era. First of all, in 1988 Kintetsu set up a diamond that connects Nagoya and Nanba in two hours in order to regain passengers from the Shinkansen, put in an “Urban Liner” 21000 series train (although it is limited to the section) at a maximum speed of 130 km / h I started running. The following year, JR East 651 series train “Super Hitachi” started operation at 130 km / h. This train was the first time in Japan ‘s conventional line the express speed exceeded 100 km / h. In 1992, JR Kyushu made a debut of the new express 787 series train which enriched the passenger service such as buffet as “Limited Express Tsubame”, and corresponded to the express bus and the air mail in Kyushu.
After that, JR companies produced the express train incorporating the above technical improvement, and the operation extended to 130 km / h. Besides limited express vehicles, JR West ‘s new rapid speed is running at 130 km / h on the 223 series 1000 series that was launched in 1995. As an exception, JR West’s 681 series train is driving at 160 km / h in the Hokuhoku line which is made in accordance with the Shinkansen standard.
On the Shinkansen, “Nozomi” using a 300 series train was operated from 1992, and the maximum speed up and shortening of arrival time were achieved. After that, the 500 series train that appeared became faster, but the importance was put too much on the speed, the occupancy declined, the passengers bought a bad reputation, the number of production did not increase, after that, the 700 series train that balanced speed and comfort .
New line construction and tunnel
New construction of Shinkansen was temporarily frozen at the time of JR transition, but extension and new construction are planned and implemented according to demand afterwards. However, in the JR which was privatized (unlike the JNR era), the profitability after opening was severely questioned. For example, in the Yamagata bullet train, we stopped construction of a high cost new line, improved the conventional line (although it would be late as Shinkansen) it was made possible to use it with the conventional line. The Nagano Shinkansen (commonly known) has transferred the management of the Shinetsu main line of the parallel conventional line, whose profitability deteriorates due to the opening of the Shinkansen, to the third sector railway. Regarding the construction of new stations for both the conventional line and the bullet train line, in many cases, a petition station where part or all of the construction cost becomes a local burden.
As a characteristic feature of the construction of these bullet trains and the construction of urban lines such as Joban Shinkansen, “a lot of tunnels” can be mentioned. This is due to the latest tunnel drilling technique “New Austrian Tunnel Construction Method”, it is better to dig a tunnel rather than build a railway on the ground by buying a land with a high land price due to a sharp decline in time and expenses for tunnel construction The tunnel section has become longer (Source “tunnel story”) because it became possible to do.
accident prevention
Railroad is a transportation agency with a lower accident rate than cars and others, but as accidents happen once the accidents happen, damage will be greater as many passengers are on board. There were also accidents involving a large number of accidents, such as a collision accident at the Shigaraki Takara railway train collision accident in 1991 and an accident at the JR Fukuchiyama line in 2005, and the mistake of those driving and operating the accident, in the case of the 2004 Niigataken Chuetsu Earthquake The Joetsu Shinkansen derailment accident that happened to the Tsukuba Shinkansen, and the 2005 JR Uchihonbashi Line derailment accident that is supposed to be caused by a tornado. The railway company has been improving to eliminate the accident.
Prevent railway crossing accident
In order to prevent a railroad crossing accident, there are a method of eliminating the railroad crossing itself and a method of three-dimensionally crossing and a method of stopping the train when a person or a car enters the railroad crossing when approaching the train. The former is a drastic measure, but a large amount of funds are necessary to execute. Since there is also an effect to alleviate the mixture of roads crossing the railroads, there are few cases where railroad companies singly do construction work, and in many cases they are implementing in cooperation with local governments. Construction is still underway at Odakyu Odawara Line and Tobu Railway Isesaki Line. In the latter, infrared sensors are installed in the railroad crossing, facilities for sending a stop signal to the approaching train are installed if there is anything that entered the railroad crossing after the circuit breaker goes down.
As a driver ‘s protection measures at the time of a collision, a high operation cabinet and reinforcement of the front head of the train (thickening the iron plate) are being carried out.
Prevention of human errors
In order to prevent damage caused by human error, it is necessary to train not to make a mistake and a method to invalidate it on the machine side when a person drives wrongly (such as leads to an accident) “Fool Proof There is.
Training of driving has been carried out by the actual car in the past, but a major private railway or JR has developed a simulator that can train the driving operation with a feeling close to the actual vehicle, and is using it to train the driver. In the simulator, conditions that can not be easily experienced with actual cars can also be set, which is very effective for education and training.
There are automatic train stop devices (ATS) and more advanced automatic train control device (ATC) as railway foolproof. ATC is one of the fundamental technologies of the Shinkansen, but it controls the speed of the train according to the conditions of the railroad and the external conditions, which is expensive to install and maintain. In Japan, it is adopted in JR lines in urban areas with large transport volume, most subways, major private railways etc. in addition to Shinkansen bullet train. ATS has various types ranging from a simple type that only applies a brake with a red light signal to a type having a function close to ATC, and it is installed according to importance of each line. In the 2005 JR Fukuchiyama Line derailment accident, an ATS grade mismatch was pointed out, and improvement of ATS was carried out at the time of resuming operation.
Measures against disasters
With regard to major weather disasters like typhoons, it is almost none that leads to accidents due to the development of weather information, but accidents caused by gusts and tornadoes in a very narrow range have occurred about once in several years. Railroad companies are taking measures such as installing windbreak walls at places where strong winds are expected and installing weather observation devices beside the tracks to anticipate gusts.
Regarding large-scale earthquakes, a system has been developed that stops the train before the main vibration (S wave) comes to the ground, in view of the initial tremor (P wave). Since 1992 (Yureidasu) started running on the Tokaido Shinkansen the installation scope has been spreading sequentially. Since Yureidas issues an alarm three seconds after P wave detection, the effect of the derailment accident in the Joetsu Shinkansen which the P wave and the S wave reached almost simultaneously at the direct type earthquake was ineffective. As a countermeasure, Compact Ureedus which issues an alarm after 1 second of P wave detection has been developed and operation started.
Current and future challenges
Following the inauguration of JR, JR companies gradually began to show their own management policies, with the bubble economy initially improving services, and the results of privatization were evaluated. However, the service has been gradually simplified with the massive restructuring due to the collapse of the bubble, and until now, the service level such as reduction of food service such as abolition of Shinkansen eating cars, reduction of sleeping trains, abolition of local routes, There is also a voice that it is decreasing.
While there is a huge demand for passenger transportation in Japan, cargo transportation is carried by most of the trucks and a modal shift is called out, while the shift of cargo in the truck industry to the railroad has not progressed quite a bit.
In addition, as a result of excessive pursuit of operational aspects and efficiency as it was clouded up by the Fukuchiyama Line derailment accident, it seems that safety consciousness and human resource development were remarkably settled by personnel rearrangement accompanying rationalization , There is also pointed out. In fact, there were also aspects that were too overwhelming to improve management, such as there was no recruitment of new graduates (1980’s when surplus personnel became a problem). This is a rationalization ahead of JR, each private railway company has a similar problem kind, there should be no sacrifice of safety in exchange for profits. Although Japan’s railway is still the world’s top level in terms of safety and diamonds, we can not ignore the situation that its reliability is unstable.
However, in many cases, the cost-effectiveness of the capital investment for safety is not large in most cases, and in urban areas only JR and major private railroads are involved in such as home doors and new ATS While promoting the introduction of safety equipment, there are local lines (Choshi Electric Railroad, etc.) that are not remembered because of the problem of profitability even with the inspection of aged facilities, not to mention facility investment.
Also, apart from the problem of the third sector type regional route separated from the national railway and JR, in the transition period of the bubble, many planning and opening up in big cities, the third sector type that was established not to be related to the JNR / JR The deficit problem of new urban transport is also serious. Although it was constructed due to optimistic demand prospects, transportation demand did not grow as much as expected, and many routes that are not even prospects of profit yet are many, and a new transportation system that was constructed as a commuter route but was abolished (Momoharadai New Transportation Peach Blossom There is also a line).
On the other hand, there are also new lines of the third sector that are successfully profitable, such as Yurikamome and the Tsukuba Express line, but if the plan and demand can be ascertained, the railway transportation itself has never become obsolete. However, due to the flow of depreciation projects and the fundamental deterioration of the public, many of the plan lines of various places are under consideration withdrawal or change of plans nationwide. In view of the investment which is too enormous and the circumstances along the saturated big cities, it will be inevitable.
Regarding the Shinkansen, there are circumstances where the JR side is promoting due to political circumstances such as petitions in rural areas that expect economic effects despite the fact that part of the JR side is showing difficulties (so called ” ), Somewhat different from the problems of railroad in general. Please refer to Shinkansen, maintenance bullet train.
In any case, it is true that Japan in the 20th century has developed along with railroads unprecedented in the world. Regional transportation is a railway company in Japan and real estate business and housing development has been carried out (there are areas where we succeeded in supplying high quality housing, but there are few cases where development beyond the intention of the railroad company was carried out and led to disorderly sprawl There are many examples of how society is closely linked to railway, such as creating a consumer culture by handling the retail and distribution industry, allowing publication of wide-area media like national newspapers.
Further intensifying competition with other transportation
As a result of the development of domestic aviation, most passengers from Hokkaido and south Kyushu from Tokyo / Osaka began to use airplanes. Discount rates of civil aviation companies have diversified, and fees that are partially antagonized by the Shinkansen and aircraft can be seen between Tokyo and Osaka and Osaka and Fukuoka. As a result of highway coverage throughout Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu, passengers are now able to compare the arrival time and rates for both railways and express buses for selection. JR companies speeded up express trains during the day to compete with high-speed buses in terms of arrival time, but the night train which the number of customers drastically decreased due to losing competitiveness to other transportation facilities was significantly reduced on the other hand. Only then trains for travelers with lots of money and time, such as Cassiopeia and Twilight Express, became popular in the night train, and since the 2010s, cruises targeting the wealthy targets such as “Nanase Stars in Kyushu” Train type is the main.