New Hokkaido Shinkansen High Speed Train Service Unveiled In Japan

Japan, September 21, 2015 -

The Hokkaido Shinkansen is ready to fly this coming March. With an agreement between Japan Railways JR East and JR Hokkaido subsidiaries, four new H5 model Shinkansen trainsets for the new line to Japan’s northern-most island.

The daily service pattern breaks down as follows:

·         Ten Hayabusa service trains from Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido island;

·         One round trip from Sendai with two Hayate services, one of them from Morioka and the other from Shin-Aomori;

·         Sixteen 3-car emus will operate between Shin-Hakodate Hokuto and Hakodate city center, and;

·         The existing conventional line between Sapporo and Shin-Hakodate Hokuto will be increased to 12 trains from 9 per day.

In recent years, the trackage through the 53km Seikan tunnel and on Hokkaido have been dual-gauged in anticipation of the new service.

With the start of standard gauge Shinkansen, all of the 1067mm-gauge trains operating between Honshu and Hokkaido, including Cassiopeia, Super Hakucho, Hakucho, and Hamanasu trains will be terminated.

The long term goal is to provide Hokkaido Shinkansen second phase service to Sapporo by 2030 on a 211 kilometer route.

PHOTO CAPTION:  JR East's E5 Shinkansenin Tokyo station.

Tama, The Stationmaster Cat, Immortalized And Successor Named

WAKAYAMA, Japan, Aug. 11, 2015 (Kyodo) -

When a calico cat named Tama was named ‘stationmaster’ in a marketing move by the Wakayama Electric Railway Co in Japan during January 2007, the commuter railroad that was financially in trouble was saved by a flood of visitors that made the bottom line go from red to black a few years ago. I know firsthand of Tama and Nitama as I was in Japan last year and made a 'pilgrimage' to the Kishi Station on the Kishigawa Line in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan.

 

Cats are used as a good luck charm (Maneki-neko or beckoning cat) for shop owners and the rail line. The Wakayama Electric Railway was in danger of closure due to a lack of ridership when Tama was named stationmaster in a desperate publicity move.

Now with the recent passing of the 16-year old Tama, a Shinto shrine that contains the deceased cat, was unveiled to the public and is located on the station’s platform.

The railroad is hoping to keep lightning in the bottle by ‘appointing’ a 5-year old female calico feline named Nitama (Tama the 2nd), to be the ‘next master’ of Kishi Station.

The railroad’s President, Mitsunobu Kojima, said Tama’s popularity saved not only his railroad but other struggling local Japanese railways as well. Nitama, the successor, has been ‘in training’ since January 2012 and has been appointed acting station master of the station.

My report of Tama's passing has created a bit of a stir by visitors to the Trains website looking for a photo of the feline instead of an emu in kitty motif. So here is a link to the Trains website:

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2015/08/japans-stationmaster-cat-memorialized-successor-named#comments

 

and a photo of Nitama:

 

Enjoy!

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Tokyo’s Haneda Monorail Improvements Planned

Tokyo, Japan, August 21, 2014 – While most travelers enter Japan from Narita International Airport, Haneda Airport which is closer to Tokyo’s downtown and sees 60 million passengers annually, is being upgraded with improved rail links. The airport has resurfaced as an international destination since a fourth runway was added as part of the Japanese government’s program to increase tourism in the country.

The monorail that’s operated by Japan Railways East (JR East) and its subsidiary Tokyo Monorail are looking to expand the 'train to the plane' system to Shinjuku (a major tourist destination), central Tokyo and Shin-Kiba with a 3 km (about 2 miles). The project is budgeted at $1.1 billion dollars.

Currently, passengers can connect from the monorail to JR East and the Tokyo subway at the at Hamamatsucho monorail terminal. The line extension would reduce the average trip time from 24 to 18 minutes and a train transfer eliminated.

Japan Invades Grand Central Terminal

March 6-8, 2014 – Grand Central Terminal hosts various events in Vanderbilt Hall and these three days were no exception. The annual Japan Week exhibit made its way into the grand hall with food (you need to pay for) airline and railroad exhibits.

JR East with their high-speed train models had a booth to show off their latest wares. The Series E-7 high speed train model was on display in advance of its Spring 2014 debut. A video detailing the design – inside and out – made for interesting viewing.

An N-scale model railroad club that specializes in Japan scenery came prepared with a running layout that featured Godzilla at its core. The Japan Rail Modelers of Washington DC certainly made a good accounting of themselves with this varied layout showing hillside and urban areas completely in scale. As an experienced HO-scale scratch-building modeler, it was cause for me to take a long look at this one.

It was interesting not only to see trains this small whizzing around, but these models of Japanese equipment was certainly unique for something on display within the U.S.

Other vendors were also there including Delta Airlines that offered a prize if your entry was chosen out of the many entries. In case you’re interested, I didn’t win and would have to pay for my own flight there should I choose to go there.

All things considered, it was an interestingly-spent lunch hour in one of the grandest railroad structures in the world – Grand Central Terminal.