There used to be a limited express that went from Niigata to Kanazawa (Hokuetsu), but was discontinued with the introduction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, because Niigata operates under JR East, and Toyama under JR West. Under law, existing lines are allowed to be discontinued so the JR companies don’t have to operate local lines that are unprofitable.
After the Hokuriku Shinkansen was introduced, a limited express that connects to Joetsu Myoko, a Hokuriku Shinkansen station replaced Hokuetsu (Shirayuki).
I may be slightly off, but isn't the current law that the introduction of new shinkansen mandates the transfer of parallel main lines to the third-sector, ostensibly to secure JR's finances... but functionally now (at least for JRE) a way for JR to just be more profitable by offloading money-losing lines...
Honestly don't quite understand why the system remains as it is....
The so-called parallel lines are transferred to the third-sector companies that are funded by the individual prefectures. Consent by the prefectures are required in order to get the transfer done.
As with the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the lines that line from Niigata to Kanazawa (Hokuriku Honsen) weren’t literally parallel lines, but they were transferred to the third sectors.
The JR companies are listed companies (albeit the government is the major shareholder), so they need to make a profit (except for Shikoku and Hokkaido; they need government subsidies). One of the reasons JNR (the government owned railways) was privatized was because they didn’t want pork barrel politics by politicians drawing unprofitable lines here and there. They also didn’t want the prefectures getting the Shinkansen for nothing.
Under the current scheme, the government, JR (which leases the tracks) and the prefectures fund the Shinkansen tracks. There needs to be an agreement by the three parties to construct the tracks.
The westbound Kyushu Shinkansen was built in Nagasaki prefecture, but the route to Fukuoka via Saga is at a standstill because Saga hasn’t agreed with the transfer of the local lines, and they don’t want to foot the bill. Some technical solutions were considered, but failed to materialize. There needs to be some political haggling, but probably won’t happen for the foreseeable future.
Yeah.. mixed-gauge trains seem to be a nogo, though would have been a nice idea in theory.
I get wanting to remove politics from the process, but it feels like, if anything, unloading lines to the government only decreases the likelihood that unprofitable lines get shut down.
And when does unprofitable lines are vital/shouldn't be shut down it does feel somewhat odd that, i.e., JRE doesn't have the obligation to subsidize it through their Shinkansen profits (of course, as you say, for Hokkaido, etc., that isn't going to happen.... though I thought there was also an operations fund created for the money losing JRs... though of course that won't last forever)
There used to be a limited express that went from Niigata to Kanazawa (Hokuetsu), but was discontinued with the introduction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, because Niigata operates under JR East, and Toyama under JR West. Under law, existing lines are allowed to be discontinued so the JR companies don’t have to operate local lines that are unprofitable.
After the Hokuriku Shinkansen was introduced, a limited express that connects to Joetsu Myoko, a Hokuriku Shinkansen station replaced Hokuetsu (Shirayuki).
I may be slightly off, but isn't the current law that the introduction of new shinkansen mandates the transfer of parallel main lines to the third-sector, ostensibly to secure JR's finances... but functionally now (at least for JRE) a way for JR to just be more profitable by offloading money-losing lines...
Honestly don't quite understand why the system remains as it is....
The so-called parallel lines are transferred to the third-sector companies that are funded by the individual prefectures. Consent by the prefectures are required in order to get the transfer done.
As with the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the lines that line from Niigata to Kanazawa (Hokuriku Honsen) weren’t literally parallel lines, but they were transferred to the third sectors.
The JR companies are listed companies (albeit the government is the major shareholder), so they need to make a profit (except for Shikoku and Hokkaido; they need government subsidies). One of the reasons JNR (the government owned railways) was privatized was because they didn’t want pork barrel politics by politicians drawing unprofitable lines here and there. They also didn’t want the prefectures getting the Shinkansen for nothing.
Under the current scheme, the government, JR (which leases the tracks) and the prefectures fund the Shinkansen tracks. There needs to be an agreement by the three parties to construct the tracks.
The westbound Kyushu Shinkansen was built in Nagasaki prefecture, but the route to Fukuoka via Saga is at a standstill because Saga hasn’t agreed with the transfer of the local lines, and they don’t want to foot the bill. Some technical solutions were considered, but failed to materialize. There needs to be some political haggling, but probably won’t happen for the foreseeable future.
Yeah.. mixed-gauge trains seem to be a nogo, though would have been a nice idea in theory.
I get wanting to remove politics from the process, but it feels like, if anything, unloading lines to the government only decreases the likelihood that unprofitable lines get shut down.
And when does unprofitable lines are vital/shouldn't be shut down it does feel somewhat odd that, i.e., JRE doesn't have the obligation to subsidize it through their Shinkansen profits (of course, as you say, for Hokkaido, etc., that isn't going to happen.... though I thought there was also an operations fund created for the money losing JRs... though of course that won't last forever)
Thanks for the reply, btw.
There used to be. It's not needed anymore.
Most people (like 99%) own cars in these regions. The train network in Niigata is pretty laughable.