40 Japan Railway & Transport Review / December 1995

JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 6

Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Shinichi KatoWhen the railways were nationalized

between 1906 and 1907, the skeleton ofthe nationwide trunk rail network wasnearly completed, as mandated in theRailway Construction Act of 1892. At theend of 1907, nationalized railway lines inoperation totalled 7,165 km. Constructioncontinued and 2,677 km of line wereadded by the end of 1919. In addition toactive line expansion, the first decade af-ter the nationalization up to the 1910swas characterized by vigorous efforts toimprove the quality of facilities.

The nationalization of railways was ac-complished by merging government-owned railways and 17 private railways.The facilities and equipment variedwidely in level of technology due to differ-ent histories of imports and managementpolicy. Some large private railways hadpoor facilities and equipment. In somecases, different interconnected railwaysdid not allow through operation of freightcars. Thus, technical unification was animportant goal to complete the national-ization, and served as the basis of furtherimprovement.

Unification of standards and gaugeswas accomplished by incorporating thelatest technologies. The process was con-current with the industrial revolution inJapan, which occurred between the 1890sand the 1900s, followed by the burgeoningof the heavy and chemical industries inthe 1910s. Rapid development of railwaytechnology formed an integral part of theindustrialization process and boostedtransport capacity significantly. Govern-ment railways, a gigantic industrial cus-tomer, also had an engineering arm cover-ing basic research and manufacturing,which led development of Japanese rail-way technology and modernization of therail industry.

Improvement of RailroadFacilities and Equipment

A major event, which undoubtedly con-tributed to the development of railwaytechnology in the 1910s, was the debateon the use of standard gauge (1435 mm).Although standard gauge was not for-mally adopted, it was

persistently advocated by many in therailway industry, and the debate spurredextensive research reconfirming the dis-advantages of narrow gauge. In otherwords, the railway authority tried to en-sure the upgrading of railroad facilities byadopting technical standards equivalentto those for standard gauge as far as pos-sible within the restraints of the narrowgauge.

Construction gauge, loading gauge, dis-tance between track centres, bridge speci-fications, and other standards were estab-lished on the basis of standard gauge. Forexample, standards for axles wereadopted to eliminate the need for replace-ment, at conversion to standard gauge,which incidentally brought side benefitsof better riding stability and comfort.

Another notable improvement waseliminating steep grades commonly asso-ciated with Japanese railways. On theTokaido Line, for example, there weremany sections (1 in 40) consisting of con-tinuous 25 per mill grades, and reroutingwas carried out to reduce them to 10 permill (1 in 100) levels, including excavation

Upgrading Narrow GaugeStandards

� 9600 Locomotive (Transportation Museum) � 8620 Locomotive (Transportation Museum)

Japan Railway & Transport Review / December 1995 41Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

of long tunnels. One of the most memo-rable works was construction of theTanna Tunnel connecting Atami andNumazu, designed to avoid the mountainroute via Hakone, which constituted thelargest bottleneck to the reduction oftravel time on the Tokaido Line. Excava-tion of the 7,804-m tunnel faced numer-ous obstacles as it advanced through vol-canic zones characterized by soft forma-tions and water seepage, as well as a ma-jor fault, until its completion in 1934. Inthe process, there were many sacrificesand tragedies, together with heroic epi-sodes, which form the subject of variousnovels and dramas. Clearly, constructionof the Tanna Tunnel stands as a mile-stone for major projects in pre-war Japan.

On the other hand, use of heavy railsprogressed at a much slower rate. 60-pound (30 kg) rails were selected as stan-dard rails in 1906, with 75 pounds (37 kg)being used in some sections. The use of100-pound (50 kg) rails had to wait until1922. Also, no systematic effort was madeto ease tight curves.

Thus, standardization of the Japanesenarrow gauge rail system progressed toachieve relatively high loading gauge,while remaining structurally vulner-able in many aspects compared to inter-national standards. Double trackingwork was delayed, while electrificationof trunk lines did not progress to the fullextent. Meanwhile, to develop a compre-hensive transportation system supple-menting the insufficient capacity of rail-ways by coastal shipping, regional portsand harbours as well as water-land in-terfaces were constructed.

Evolution of Rolling StockTechnology

At nationalization, there were approxi-mately 2,000 locomotives of 190 models inJapan. The majority were made in theUSA and UK, each of which held roughlyequal shares, followed by Germany (20%),and the remaining number were built do-mestically. Their performance variedwidely making it difficult to deploy themaccording to actual needs or to develop anationwide transportation system. Al-though local works were manufacturinglocomotives by the end of the 1890s, therewas still strong demand for foreign loco-motives, partly because the industrycould not reduce manufacturing costs bymass production because orders camefrom a wide range of customers with dif-ferent specification.

After nationalization, Government rail-ways purchased a few large tender 2C1type locomotives from the UK, the USA,and Germany. They developed domesticstandard locomotives based on these im-ports. After establishing standards andmanufacturing methods a 1C type loco-motive for express passenger trains(Class 8620) and a 1D type locomotive forfreight trains (Class 9600) were com-pleted. The 8620 was relatively small andlightweight and represented a realisticdesign for actual grades and curves. Itsmaximum speed was limited to 85 km/hbased on track standards. The 9600 had afire box above the driving wheels provid-ing more tractive force from a biggerboiler. Up until 1926, 620 units of the8620, and 770 units of the 9600 were pro-

� Yasujiro Shima (1870-1946)(Transportation Museum)

Yasujiro Shima graduated in Me-

chanical Engineering from the Impe-

rial University in 1894. Initially, he

worked at Kansai Railway, a major

private railway company, before na-

tionalization, and then joined the gov-

ernment railways as head of the Roll-

ing Stock Division until the 1910s. Mr

Shima was a leading figure in stan-

dardization of domestic locomotives,

and the 8620 and 9600 locomotives

incorporated his ideas. As a vigorous

advocate of standard gauge, Mr

Shima successfully conducted tests

on technical converting to a standard

gauge system in the suburbs of To-

kyo. He devoted himself to upgrading

national railways by implementing

new standards under the restraints of

narrow gauge. In 1918, he was ap-

pointed Chief Engineer, the highest-

ranking railway engineer. In 1939, he

spearheaded a shinkansen project

led by the government and developed

a plan for a standard-gauge high-

speed rail system connecting Tokyo

and Osaka in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

The project, held in abeyance during

WWII, was resumed on the basis of

his master plan and became reality as

the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964. The

technical manager of that project was

his son, Hideo Shima.

� Class 9900 (D50) at Yamakita Depot on Old Tokaido Route (Transportation Museum)

42 Japan Railway & Transport Review / December 1995

JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 6

Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

� Newly-completed elevated section of inner city line near Shinbashi (Transportation Museum)

duced and deployed nationwide.After World War I, two new models

were developed to meet rapidly-growingtraffic volumes on trunk lines, the 18900(later renamed C51) for passenger trainsand the 9900 (D50) for freight traffic. Theformer was designed to achieve perfor-mance equivalent to that available onstandard gauge. It adopted the 2C1 axlelayout, then standard for express passen-ger locomotives in Europe and the USA,and its driving wheels had a diameter of1750 mm, the largest of the narrow-gaugelocomotives in the world. A total of 289units were manufactured after 1919 andmainly introduced to trunk lines includ-ing the Tokaido and Sanyo. In 1930 C51started hauling “Tsubame” limited ex-press train on the Tokaido Line connect-ing Tokyo and Osaka in 8 hours and 20minutes. The train long served as the starof Japanese railways and relied on theC51’s outstanding performance. In 1934,completion of the Tanna Tunnel reducedthe travel time to 8 hours. On the otherhand, the 9900 with the 1D1 axle layoutwas built from 1923, totaling 380 units.The locomotive brought a breakthroughin freight transport by increasing haulingcapacity on 10 per mill (1 in 100) grades to950 tons, compared to 600 tons offered bythe 9600.

The first standard passenger carriagewas designed in 1910. The American-style, walk-through, center-aisle, wooden(steel body used after 1928), bogie cardominated the industry for many years.

Freight cars before nationalizationmostly had a loading capacity of 7 to 8tons. After 1913, 10-ton cars were adopted

as the standard and existing cars weremodified to help boost transport capacity.The shift to 15-ton cars was initiated in1914.

The government railways set a policy toestablish technical standards for rollingstock by joint development with manufac-turers who were responsible for produc-tion, while the railway operated repairshops. As a result, large manufacturersaccumulated technical and productionability.

The most notable innovations improv-ing transportation efficiency were airbrakes and automatic couplers. In 1919,the government railways decided to useair brakes in place of traditional vacuumbrakes and started to develop a local

model on the basis of technology fromWesting-house. All freight cars wereequipped with pneumatic brakes by 1930,followed by passenger cars in 1931. Simi-larly, the use of American-type automaticcouplers was decided in 1919. Freight carspresented a problem for replacement be-cause they travelled all over the countryand were coupled freely. It was decided toreplace couplers in the field and at othersites nationwide on the same day, 17 July1926 (20 July for Kyushu). To facilitate re-placement, automatic couplers were tem-porarily fixed to 41,661 freight cars in ad-vance and successfully took over on thepreset dates. From the huge amount ofwork involved, it was a notable event inworld rail history.

Enhancement of RailwayFacilities in Tokyo Area

Master plans for rail networks in ur-banized areas of Tokyo were establishedunder city plans in the 1880s. However,the networks were incomplete at nation-alization, and the completion and estab-lishment of operation systems were left tothe government railways. In fact, man-agement policy was focussed on establish-ment and operation of nationwide railnetworks, and did not feel responsibilityfor developing the public transportationnetwork in the Tokyo metropolitan area.Nevertheless, the government railwayswith large capital and technical capabilityinevitably played a decisive role in devel-

� Class 18900 (C51) hauling Tsubame Test Train (Transportation Museum)

Japan Railway & Transport Review / December 1995 43Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Shinagawa

Electrified double-track lineNon-electrified double-track lineNon-electrified single-track line

Main line terminal

Oosaki

Shiodome

Shinbashi

TokyoCentral

Manse-bashi

Tabata

Nippori

Ryogoku

Akihabara

Ueno

Sumidagawa

Kaizuka

Akabane

Ikebukuro

Shinjyuku

Nakano

Shinichi Kato

Mr Kato graduated in economics from Tokyo University in 1973 and joined the Ministry of

Finance where his responsibilities include research into fiscal policy and railway history. He is

the author of Fiscal and Monetary Policies during the Reconstruction and High-Growth Period

and Bibliography of Japanese Private Railways and Bus History. He is currently a board

member of the Railway History Society.

oping urban transportation in Tokyo.In 1906, immediately after promulga-

tion of the Railway Nationalization Act, anew master plan was established. Theplan, which essentially followed the previ-ous policy, intended to make urban rail-ways fully functional by increasing thenumber of tracks to 4 or 6 to allow separa-tion of trunk lines from urban lines, andpassenger traffic from freight traffic, dur-ing construction.

New lines were primarily designed tointerconnect previously-isolated termi-nals of trunk lines by constructing a cir-cular Yamanote Line, and inner-citylines connected to it. The plan focusedon interconnection of terminals viafeeder lines in the inner city, ratherthan integration of terminal functions.Since most new lines had elevatedstructure to pass through business orcommercial centres, considerable costand time were required. The circularYamanote Line was completed in 1925,except for connection to a terminal sta-tion extending to Chiba Prefecturewhich was delayed until 1932. Thismarked the completion of the skeletonof the rail system in Tokyo. Tokyo Cen-tral Station, inaugurated in 1914, as-sumed the transportation hub in placeof Shinbashi Station, serving as the ter-minal both for the Tokaido and Sanyodistricts and city lines. Furthermore,

Tokyo Central became a major symbolfor railways in Japan.

Government railways started operat-ing of electric multiple-unit trains when itacquired a private railway in Tokyo (KobuTetsudo-now Chuo Line). It immediately

noticed their advantages in urban trans-port and decided to expand operation. In1909, electrification of the Yamanote Linewas completed and commercial operationstarted. In 1915, electric multiple-unittrains were introduced between Tokyoand Yokohama. With urban sprawl afterWWI, rail lines served by electric multipleunits were extended to the suburbs of To-kyo and started to serve as the mass tran-sit system growing out of ‘inner city lines’.The multiple units evolved with expan-sion of the network from two-axle carsused by Kobu Tetsudo, which wereequipped with centralized controllers, tobogie cars used for the Yamanote Line,and train sets including Second and Firstclass cars for the Tokyo-to-Yokohama sec-tion. This development of electric multipleunits formed the basis of high-speed EMUtrains in later years. Geographical expan-sion of sections served by EMU trains andimprovement of service through higherfrequency allowed government railwaysto become the major provider of publictransportation in the Tokyo area. For ex-ample, EMU trains between Tokyo andKurihama started operation in 1928 andcovered the long distance (62 km) at highspeeds. �

� Changing to Automatic Couplers on 17 July 1926 (Transportation Museum)

Governmental Railway

Network in Tokyo in 1926