Japanese Railway History 11

Improvement of Urban Railways
Yasuo Wakuda
Development ofThree Major Conurbations
The Japanese population grew steadily
from 99 million in 1965 to 112 million
in 1975 and to 121 million in 1985. In
the process, there was heavy concentration of the population in the Tokyo,
Nagoya, and Osaka regions. The population of metropolitan Tokyo, the political and economic hub, increased sharply
from 21 million (21% of the national
population) in 1965 to 27 million (24%)
in 1975, and 30 million (25%) in 1985.
Nearly half the entire population now
lives in the Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka
regions.
The government adopted a policy of suppressing industrial concentration in theseregions and promoting balanced development in all areas of the nation. This
policy was successful to some extent inthat large plants were built in scattered
coastal industrial zones. However, government, management and information
functions became even more centralized
in the metropolitan Tokyo area, creating

serious transportation problems.
Motor transport grew rapidly from the1960s; the number of vehicles rose from
8 million in 1965 to 23 million in 1975,
and to 48 million in 1985. In the 1990s,
one in two persons owns an automobile.
However, there is a limit to road expansion in large cities. Even with the current popularity of passenger cars, people
still have to rely on railways for commuting and other transportation needs, explaining why continued efforts have been
made to build new railways and improveexisting ones.

Suburban JNR Improvements
Before World War II, the government railways served mainly for inter-city transport with a national network. However,in metropolitan Tokyo, regional transport
by JNR electric trains had also been consolidated. Residential areas in Tokyo
sprawled along the national lines that ran
radially leaving areas between them relatively undeveloped, resulting in a starfish-like development. Only national railways ran directly from the suburbs to thecentral business district.
After the post-war recovery, Tokyo started
growing rapidly, resulting in extreme congestion on the pre-war network. Somepeople argued that JNR's mission was toprovide more national inter-city services
rather than make large investments inlocal urban transport. Nevertheless, because the terrible congestion during therush hours could not be left unsolved, aproject was promoted to increase capacity on the five major lines radiating fromthe heart of Tokyo. A new outer-loop line
was also opened after the 1970s.
Initially, commuting was generally limited to a 40-km radius around Tokyo,
served by trains consisting of up to ten
20-meter EMU cars with four doors andlongitudinal seating. But the commuting zone gradually expanded to morethan 50 km, necessitating medium-distance EMUs consisting of up to fifteen 3door cars with bench and booth seating,running under a fairly tight schedule.
Japanese regulations set the capacity of

Building new double track in Central Tokyo in 1950s to separate JNR’s suburban Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku services

46Japan Railway & Transport Review • June 1997

(Transportation Museum)

Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

(Tokyu Corporation)

Through operation of TRTA underground and Tobu private railways at Kitasenju Station

a 20-meter commuter car at about 140
passengers. Assuming a 10-car commuter train leaving a station every 2 minutes, a total of 42,000 people can ride
each hour in one direction. However, as
many as 100,000 passengers ride perhour on certain sections of the Chuo Line,the most heavily-used line in Tokyo. This
represents approximately 240% of thelegal capacity, a condition under which
passengers cannot even move theirhands. To reduce the congestion to lessthan 200% (bodies touching but possible
to read magazine), JNR made large yearon-year investments, but the population
grew faster and the situation remained
far from improved.
JNR had a relatively low profile in theNagoya and Osaka regions where private
railways played a more important role,
but EMU trains were also introduced on
JNR lines as urbanization developed.

(S. Ogihara)

played the major role in intra-city transport with approximately 200 km of lines
in Tokyo, and 100 km each in Osaka andNagoya. In Tokyo, where the private railways had no direct connections to thecentral business district, most passengers
had to transfer to either JNR trains ortrams to reach their destinations. Thissituation presented a need to expand the■ Keita Goto (1882–1959)
Keita Goto, the founder of the Tokyu Group, wasa prominent figure in Japan's private railways
during the 1940s and 1950s. After graduatingfrom Tokyo Imperial University, he worked for
the Ministry of Railways until 1920. Goto thenjoined a private railway owned by a company
developing urban residential areas under theinfluence of the garden city idea in the UK. Gotosoon obtained control of various private railways
in SW Tokyo. He merged them in 1942 byfounding Tokyu Corporation and became its firstpresident. During WWII, he served for a shortperiod in the Tojo Cabinet as Minister of Transport and Communications. Three private railways unified during the war were hived off in
1948, after that he returned as chairman toTokyu Corporation, and started a nationwide
network of tourist businesses. His main rival
during the 1950s was Yasujiro Tsutsumi, headof the Seibu Group, another powerful railway
conglomerate based in NW Tokyo.

Construction of Undergroundand Withdrawal of Trams
At the end of WWII, underground railways stretched only 14.3 km in Tokyoand 8.8 km in Osaka. Electric trams

Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Linear-motor underground train on Tsurumi Ryokuchi Line in Osaka(Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau)

Japan Railway & Transport Review • June 199747

Japanese Railway History 11Tokyo Monorail (opened in 1964) running along Tokyo Bay coastline to Haneda Airport

Housing development surrounding Aobadai Station, Tama Garden City48

Japan Railway & Transport Review • June 1997

(Tokyo Monorail Co., Ltd.)(Tokyu Corporation)

underground railways. Construction ofnew lines was started in the 1950s in bothTokyo and Osaka. The immediate goal
was the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964
and the Osaka International Expositionin 1970. In Nagoya, the first undergroundline was opened in 1957 and was extended step-by-step.
In Tokyo, the expansion involved two
new methods. First, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) was given permission to build underground railways inaddition to the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (TRTA), which was running the existing systems, so the network could becompleted faster. Second, unified specifications permitted the new undergroundtrains to be operated through to the existing suburban private railways and theJNR lines, thereby increasing utility andeasing congestion. Through running withprivate railways has also been introducedon some lines in Osaka and Nagoya.
Construction of underground railways
requires huge funding that cannot be met
by fares alone. Government subsidy wasintroduced for this purpose and was improved gradually. As a result, the total
combined length of the undergroundlines operated by the TRTA and TMG
reached 100 km by 1968 and 200 km by
1986. Osaka marked 100 km in 1990.
Some of the latest lines feature smallercross-section tunnels aimed at reducing
construction costs. This is made possible
by using linear induction motors to lower
car floors.
Trams had been planned to be replacedby underground lines but they lost theirpassengers due to the road congestion in
the 1960s, creating big deficits. As a result, their withdrawal was hastened andthey disappeared from Osaka in 1969,
and Nagoya in 1974. Most tram lines inTokyo disappeared between 1967 and1972 but there is still one 12.2-km linethat continues to operate on a reserved
right of way.
Buses were substituted for trams in areas

Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

without rapid transit systems. Trolleybuses had only a very short life from 1952
to 1968 in Tokyo and from 1953 to 1970
in Osaka. Monorails and other new typesof guided transport have been introduced
as medium-capacity transit systems. Tokyo Monorail opened in 1964 over the13.0-km section between central Tokyoand Haneda Airport. It is one of the few
monorails in the world with a genuine
mass-transport function carrying airline
passengers and commuters rather thanjust sightseers.

Role of Private Railways
A unique feature of urban railways in Japan is that many are entirely privately financed and maintain sound businessresults. They are successful for two reasons. First, because they are more efficient than the former JNR and municipal
railways. Second, because they diversified their businesses, including development of residential areas and retailing,which helped them to gain profits fromdevelopments along their lines. Thereare seven major private railway companies in Tokyo, one in Nagoya, and fivein Osaka. They all play an important rolein urban transport in their respective regions. Some are engaged in tourism andother businesses on a national scale. The
head office of the ‘railway’ company alsofunctions as the core of a group of closely
affiliated companies engaged in the diversified businesses.
During the early post-war years, their efforts were directed towards increasing
capacity rather than building new lines.
They were discouraged from making
large investments in their railway operations by the government’s policy of suppressing fare increases, and because thegovernment refused to give subsidies on
the grounds that their rail operations were
well cross-subsidized from their non-railway profits. Improvement efforts mainly

Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

took the form of remodelling stations andother facilities to accommodate longer
trains rather than the earlier 2- to 3-car
trains. Finally, their capacities reached
the JNR level with some 10-car trains.
A remarkable case of success was thenew Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line completed
between 1966 and 1984 serving TamaGarden City southwest of Tokyo, a ruralarea developed by Tokyu Corporation
into a high-quality residential area (seepage 4, JRTR 10).
Development of large-scale residential
areas was also promoted by public bodies. However, in such cases, the private
railway companies could see no incentives for constructing new lines because
they could not expect profits from landdevelopment. For this reason, a newpolicy was introduced from the 1970s involving subsidy measures provided
through the Japan Railway Construction
Public Corporation (JRCPC). The policy
encouraged the private railway companies to build new lines to new towns built
by public bodies. Examples are the lines
to Tama New Town west of Tokyo, andChiba New Town east of Tokyo.
Similar public support through the JRCPC
was also granted to add tracks to existing lines, and to construct new direct connections to underground lines. Moreover,many sections of both the JNR and private railways running at ground level
were elevated to eliminate level crossings. Most of the upgrading costs wereborne by the road authorities, because
grade separation contributed to smoothsafe road traffic.
■(Tokyu Corporation)■ Noboru Goto (1916–1988)
Noboru Goto, the son of Keita Goto, graduatedfrom Tokyo Imperial University in 1940. He
joined Tokyu Corporation shortly after the war
and became its president in 1954. Izukyu Corporation, an affiliate of Tokyu Corporation, won
the heated competition with the Seibu Group tobuild the 45.7-km Izukyu Line along the east
coast of the Izu Peninsula, a popular tourist spot
about 100 km west of Tokyo. When completed
in 1961, it was the longest private railway built
in post-war Japan.
Suburban Tama Garden City, developed byTokyu Corporation, attracted many people commuting to Tokyo using the Tokyu Den-en-toshiLine, The area along the old Tokyu lines had
been fully built up, but Tokyu’s rather stagnant
business was revitalized by the new town, which
is now a highly-ranked residential area. Goto
led the Tokyu Group into a series of new businesses including distribution, hotels and aviation. He served as head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was a top
figure in the Japanese business world.

Yasuo Wakuda
Mr Wakuda graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, in 1957 and worked for theMinistry of Transport until 1984; he served as a board member of the Japan Non-Government
Railways Association, and the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, and as presidentof the Japan Transport Economics Research Centre. He is currently the Executive Vice-chairmanof Japan Air Charter Co. As a specialist in the history of railways, he is author of 100 Years ofJapanese Private Railways through Men and Events, Private Railways of Japan—Their Networksand Fleets, and other works.

Japan Railway & Transport Review • June 199749