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A column in a railway magazine, Keika Blue Train Short Story, posted on 2024/07/23

Rehabilitation Post

　The Blue Train is a train that is disappearing due to airplanes and late-night buses.

　In a sense, it was both a coincidence and a necessity that it was Duke Keikain Runa who reached out to this train.



"If the Blue Train is running, why do we have to take the late night bus?"



　This is a famous quote she uttered on a certain local TV program, but at this time the Keika Group was an emerging conglomerate that was rapidly expanding in size, and its top priority was to enter the railway business as a guarantee of credit and to promote the hotels in various locations that it had acquired through acquisitions, so it was somewhat inevitable that they would pick up the Blue Train, which the Imperial Railway companies were beginning to give up on.

　Keika's Blue Train business was launched with such an idea in mind, and following Shikoku as the trigger for its entry into the railway industry, examples include the "Blue Night Matsuyama" and "Blue Night Shikoku" which run from stations in Matsuyama and Kochi to Kyoto.

　This was made possible by taking over the schedule of the special express trains that were currently running, but its unique feature was that it did not run during late night hours due to the time required for track maintenance and repairs.

　As a result, these trains departing at 10pm will merge and rest at Okayama Station at 1am, before heading non-stop towards the Kansai region as the first trains to depart at 5am.

　The same applies to trains departing from Kansai, which depart from Kyoto, stop at Shin-Osaka, Osaka, and Sannomiya before splitting at Okayama Station, but the key feature of this train is that it allows passengers to rest here.

　Not only is it eligible for the Keika Group's points card "Keika," but you can also get a discount for Blue Train users when staying at the Keika Hotel at your destination, so when you look at the total cost of travel, accommodation, and breakfast, it is able to compete with late-night buses and has been a fairly successful strategy. The fact that all cars are private sleeping cars with showers and breakfast is included has made it very popular.

　The service also has a convenient arrival time at Shin-Osaka Station at 8am, and is seeing an increase in users, especially business travelers.



"Breakfast is prepared using a central kitchen and is delivered to Okayama Station.

　It will be available in frozen and retort pouches from 6am.

　It's very helpful because all you need is a microwave.

　We also offer specially selected drinks such as coffee.



The staff of "Blue Night Shikoku" are also proud.

　Personnel changes also take place at Okayama Station, which is operated by Teikoku Railway.

　This cooking service using the central kitchen is also provided by "Sunrise" operated by Imperial Railways, and is said to be very well received.



"First, the measure that Keihan Railway implemented to boost the Blue Train was to strengthen the food service.

　They built new 285 series trains that had been used for the Sunrise, and as a Class 2 railway operator, they bought up the Blue Train lines and put them into service.

　Specifically, they are "Ginga," "Nawa," "Akatsuki," "Comet," "Asakaze," "Hayabusa," "Fuji," and "Sakura."

　As expected, rather than using the names as they were, they decided to add destinations, such as "Blue Night XX" for Kyoto and "Silver Night XX" for Tokyo, but I had a hard time hearing the voice from heaven who told me to "depart later than the Hakata." Yes."



　The cost to Keika at this time was 10 x 2 (round trip) for one 7-car train + 2 spare trains, totaling 154 cars in 22 trains, which was an enormous amount of money to spend just to avoid riding a late-night bus, but according to the person in question, "It was cheaper than buying a 747," so it's on a different scale.

　Because of this, Keika Railway was able to secure a large number of staff, but it also took on the non-electrified sections of the Shikoku Teikoku Railway Dosan Line and ground improvement work, so their enthusiasm was on a whole different level.



"It's not exactly this, but I'll get my money's worth.

　Currently, environmental issues are attracting attention as we approach the Aichi Expo.

　Governor Iwasawa's exhaust gas regulations and the carbon dioxide emission reductions associated with the Kyoto Protocol will have a major impact on the trucking industry.

　The emissions trading market is already underway in Tokyo, and Keika Railway has signed memorandums of understanding with other imperial railway companies to issue carbon bonds, which it hopes will bring in significant revenue.

　The Keika Group owns a logistics company called Dog Express, so having a large number of staff working on rail will be an advantage when contributing to the integration of sea and air freight, including piggyback transport."



　Currently, the ruling party and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism are in discussions on a bill related to the mortal shift, and in line with this, the Keika Group is planning to build a freight terminal connecting the Ashigara SA and the Gotemba Line as part of its plan to double the Tokaido Main Line, and is also planning to use the Tenryu Hamanako Line and Kansai Main Line for freight as part of its plan for a second Tokaido freight line.It's interesting to see how the whims of a young lady who doesn't want to take a late-night bus are threatening to change Japan's logistics system itself.



　Despite all that money spent, the young lady ended up having to take late-night buses four more times, which led to viewers ridiculing the show, saying that it "helped Japan, but not the young lady." As a result, they had to go to the trouble of creating a sponsored episode in which she actually rides the Blue Train, which is a complete reversal of priorities.

Blue Night Shikoku

　"Moonlight Matsuyama" "Moonlight Kochi" Matsuyama, Kochi - Kyoto

Silver Night Osaka

　Galaxy Osaka-Tokyo

Blue Night Kumamoto

　"Naha" Kumamoto-Kyoto

Blue Night Nagasaki

　"Akatsuki" Nagasaki-Kyoto

Blue Night Miyazaki

　"Comet" Miyazaki-Kyoto

Silver Night Shimonoseki

　"Asakaze" Shimonoseki - Tokyo

Silver Night Kumamoto

　Hayabusa Kumamoto-Tokyo

Silver Night Oita

　"Fuji" Oita - Tokyo

Silver Night Nagasaki

　"Sakura" Nagasaki - Tokyo





Piggyback Transportation

　Trucks loaded with cargo or trailers carrying containers are loaded directly onto special freight cars and transported to their destination.This was English text translated from Japanese, rewrite this to be more coherent: