Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-10
JAPAN'S RAILWAYS
ARE RUN ATPROF|T
Government Lines Garry
Freight and Passengers
at Low Rates. ..
BY JUNIUs b. WOOD.

BY JUNlCS b. "OODs
Correspondence Of The Star.
TOXIC, Japan, July 15.-Two fea-
lures of the government railways in
Japan surprise the American visitor
trains are on time and the roads OPP
crate at a profit. In one respect the
railroads are unique in Japan, for
punctuality Is not the rule here. 1t
frequently takes week for a letter
to go from Yokohama to Toxic, eight
cen miles away.
One reason why trains can be on
| time in Japan is that they are not run
on schedule Of terrific speed with
out minute to spare. Against this.
however. is balanced the difficulty of
operation over a system which is
largely single track. Safety regulates
the speed. Records covering ten years
show for every 100.000,000 passenger
senged killed and $50 injured. An
other factor limiting speed of trains
! is the 3-foot-6-inch gauge. contrast
| ing with the 4-foot-S1 Y Inch gauge in
the United States. Besides, there are
many steep grades, tunnels. bridges
and sharp curves in the mountainous
country.
One train, the limited express daily
! in each direction between Toxic and
lShlmonoseki on the southern tip of
the main island. averages thirty miles
an hour. The distance is 1857 miles.
which is made in twenty-five hours
and eight minutes. with twenty three
stops. The longest run without
stop is fifty-fve miles and over one
stretch the train speeds up to forty
| miles an hour.
Why the Roads Pay.
Running railroad without a deficit
under government operation is more
n no nd hov
trains On time. Some japanese say
| that the profit is due largely to the
single ownership and the consequent
absence of competition with duplica-
ton of mileage and expense. Proba-
bly, other reasons could be given.
| The last annual report published on
the Japanese roads covers the year
ended March 81. 1919. AS conditions
iold not change much in the following
year some figures from that report
may be interesting. The figures COW
er only the four main islands, exclud-
ing Chosen (Korea). Taiwan (Formo-
sal and Karafuto (Sakhalin).
There are 6,073 miles of roadbed
with 1,73S stations, about one for
each three miles; $3.50 miles of. main
miles. With an area of 129. PAT square
miles and population of 57,07O,936,
this gives a mile of main line for
tevery 1876 square miles and for every
1887 persons. During the year the
number of passengers carried was
the average journey 22.S miles.
the freight hauled averaged 093
ton per capita and the average haul
of each ton was 1852 miles. or $780,
6S7 tons for each mile of main line
The respective train averages were
lS5 passengers and 1854 tons of freight.
Method Of Computing Rates.
The Belgian system of passenger
and freight rates is used, the mile
creases. The average passenger fare
tcollected per mile was 1874 sen (.67
of cent?, while the freight rate per
ton on the same basis was 1.94 sen
Gs7 Of a cent?: The earnings per mile
ls7,511.5o: freight. s7,s5o.5o.
japanese railroads have three
classes of passenger accommodation
and as many rates of fare for the
same ride. And here, as in every
other country of the world. the lower
bundles, lunch, babies. children and
dogs he brings along for the trip.
All the lines have third class accom-
Imodations, most of them have second
fclass. while first class coaches and
express trains. So far as cleanliness
lis concerned, the cars are the same,
lat least when the train starts, but
there is a difference as to comfort
and crowding. The third class cars
are usually overcrowded, while the
lsecond class are comfortably filed.
The third class rates are taken as
the basis in computing passenger
fares. Second class fares are twice
and first class three times the third
class fares. The ordinary three class
tariffs exclusive of the interurban
fhnr