Private Railway Research Articles

Relationships analysis between the number of non-commuter passes passengers for commuting in major private railways and labor statistics

Relationships analysis between the number of non-commuter passes passengers for commuting in major private railways and labor statistics

Twenty-Five Years of Engineering and Scientific Activity of Nikolai A. Belelyubsky (report by A. N. Gorchakov in the Imperial Russian Technical Society in 1892)

Archival publicationsA reproduced report in the Imperial Russian Technical Society was first published in the Railway Business [Zheleznodorozhnoe delo] journal in 1892. It is dedicated to the activities of Nikolai. A. Belelyubsky, a well-known bridge engineer who made a significant contribution to the development of transport engineering in Russia, and whose biography can excellently help to trace the evolution of Russian railway bridge construction in the 19th century.The author of the report was Andrei N. Gorchakov (1836–1914), who held the positions of head of the military road department of the field administration of military logistics of the acting army, engineer of the Ministry of Railways, was a member of the board of state railways, managed private railways, and was director of the ministerial railway department.The author’s punctuation and vocabulary are preserved as much as possible in the text.

Association between mental health, fear of COVID-19, and job insecurity among bus service workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between mental health, fear of COVID-19, and job insecurity among bus service workers during the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan. In September 2020, 1,889 employees of three private railway bus companies in the Tokai region were administered an anonymous self-questionnaire to be filled out at their workplace. The survey items were depression, anxiety, fear of COVID-19, job insecurity, demographics, and work characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval. Overall, 1,316 valid responses, excluding those from workers with a history of mental illness and others, were included in the analysis (valid response rate: 69.7%). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the prevalence of depression and anxiety were significantly higher in groups with medium and high levels of fear of COVID-19 or job insecurity than in the group with a low level of fear of COVID-19 or job insecurity. Fear of COVID-19 and job insecurity were found to be risk factors for depression and anxiety among bus service workers during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latter being the stronger risk factor. Hence, comprehensive COVID-19 prevention measures as well as mental health-related measures to reduce job insecurity should be implemented in the bus service industry.

Historical institutionalism in action: Incremental prevalence of Transit-Oriented Development in Tokyo 1945-1982

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) increasingly refers to global practices integrating land-use planning, urban development, and transit today, but their historical experiences have received little attention from the discussion, not to mention any theoretical elaboration with institutional thinking. The literature identifies Tokyo as a global exemplar of TOD as a new term for enduring practice. However, why and how Tokyo’s practice uniquely relies on private railway conglomerates remains underexplored. This article elaborates on a historical institutionalist approach using an inductive process tracing technique to understand Tokyo’s postwar history from 1945 to 1982, emphasizing incremental changes induced by endogenous forces. The exploration takes precedent insights into the private railway conglomerate-led TOD practice as an informal institution of “standard operating practice” and refines them with postwar history and supplementary prewar episodes. It finds that contingent policy choices allowed conglomerates to dismantle their geographical and financial constraints from prewar regulations. The actions reinforced their institutional privilege in public affairs as a foundation for subversive railway privatization reforms from 1982 onward. The finding thus identifies a socio-political dimension of TOD shaped by agents across sectors, developing the current methodology in planning studies and contributing to the debates on defining TOD.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the management of private railway companies in Japan: Profitability and business model analyses

The prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and resultant sporadic lockdowns have led to a decline in demand for travel, causing the number of railway passengers to decline. In Japan, the railways are run by private operators, whose businesses and earnings have been severely affected. In this study, based on Japanese listed railway companies’ investor relations information, we analyze how the Covid-19 pandemic influenced a decline in their revenues and changes in their profit structures. In addition, we conducted a text analysis of the differences in management strategies between loss-making and profitable companies and explored the management strategies that characterize profitable companies. The results suggest that to achieve a profit structure that remains sustainable post-pandemic, private railway companies need to strengthen the non-transportation business segment because it generates enough revenues to compensate for the loss-making segments. Further, they should review their management strategy from the perspective of the corporate brand, organization, finance, and business segments beyond existing ideas. The theoretical contribution of this study proposes that managers of railway operators or public sector policymakers can assess the impact of a severe impact on the demand for railway services, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. And it enables quantitative analysis, such as examining business portfolios to avoid risk and estimating future railway passenger forecasts. The results of this study provide suggestions for management strategies for corporate groups centered on railways to sustain and develop stable railway operations in the event of a significant decline in demand for railways such as a pandemic, disaster, dispute, and so on. And it can be used for subsidies and other support from the public sector to railway operators as well as private railway companies, and for policy making.

Increasing the efficiency of using backline and private railway infrastructure in the conditions of the transportation market

Purpose. Improving the efficiency of interaction between enterprises that operate public and private railway infrastructure when performing cargo transportation and cargo operations. Methodology. The studies were carried out using the methods of the theory of railway operation and economic and mathematical modeling. Findings. The study found that the transition from a planned economy to a market economy along with increasing customer requirements for the composition and quality of transport services is an objective reason for an increase in carriage downtime at private sidings and junction stations, a shortage of track capacity and shunting locomotives. It is shown that the existing approaches to assessing the effectiveness of the interaction between train tracks of enterprises and mainline railways are aimed at improving the performance of the rolling stock and do not create incentives to solve the problem of the shortage of transfer and processing capacity of the railway infrastructure. Originality. The paper proposes an improved method for assessing the effectiveness of the interaction of participants in the transportation process when performing transportation and cargo operations on the private sidings of industrial enterprises, based on the time the infrastructure is occupied. This approach, unlike the existing one, encourages railways and industrial enterprises to jointly search for the best technological solutions for the use of public and private railway infrastructure. Practical value. The method proposed in the paper for assessing the interaction of participants in the transportation process makes it possible to separate station services in the tariff for the use of the railway infrastructure into separate services of service facilities and track access to them. This will create a competitive environment and encourage participants in the transportation process to use the existing railway infrastructure and develop a new one to obtain a synergistic effect more efficiently.

Institutionalization of Transit-Oriented Development in Tokyo 1868–1945

ABSTRACT Many advocates of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) consider Tokyo an exemplary transit metropolis that uniquely relies on private railways. To better understand this enduring practice, this study traces its institutionalization before 1945. It concludes that following the Meiji Restoration, former feudal elites founded a private railway industry consisting of joint-stock companies when the state lacked funds. As a semi-public effort, the industry served the industrial and political pursuits of Meiji Japan. To defend the industry, these elites frustrated the attempt to nationalize railways in 1892 and weakened the extent of the nationalization in 1907. The latter directed private railway capital to the suburbs. By 1929, the elites had incrementally legitimized private railway conglomerates that developed railways and landed properties, including housing estates and commercial facilities, along railway corridors in Osaka and, later, Tokyo. Inspired by railway suburbs and garden cities in the Anglosphere, Japanese TOD was developed as a localized institution in a developmental state: a ‘standard operating practice’ framed by the iron triangle of industrialists, politicians, and bureaucrats. Because its defenders preserved the institution from wartime regulation and automobilization, this semi-public institution, balancing private and state pursuits, contrasted with its global counterparts, and continued to influence post-war Tokyo.

Analisis Sejarah dan Perkembangan Perkeretaapian di Jepang

This research discusses the history of Japanese railways and the factors causing the progress of railways in Japan. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The data collection technique used in this research is a literature study or literature review. The data in this research were taken from journals, books, documentation, internet and literature that discussed the topic being researched. The results of this study are the history of Japanese railways starting in 1872 at the beginning of Japan's new era, namely the Meiji era. Japan learned the rail system from England. Initially, the railroads in Japan were under the auspices of one company, namely JNR, due to go into liquidation, Japan was forced to make JNR a private company, JNR changed its name to JR and is divided into 9 companies to this day. While the factor for the advancement of Japanese railways is Japan's long experience in the world of railways, which is more than 150 years, Japan dares to take risks in the development of railways, Japan is able to overcome competition with private railroad companies, and finally, the Japanese people are disciplined and punctual.

Impact of human mobility and networking on spread of COVID-19 at the time of the 1st and 2nd epidemic waves in Japan: An effective distance approach.

The influence of human mobility to the domestic spread of COVID-19 in Japan using the approach of effective distance has not yet been assessed. We calculated the effective distance between prefectures using the data on laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from January 16 to August 23, 2020, that were times in the 1st and the 2nd epidemic waves in Japan. We also used the aggregated data on passenger volume by transportation mode for the 47 prefectures, as well as those in the private railway, bus, ship, and aviation categories. The starting location (prefecture) was defined as Kanagawa and as Tokyo for the 1st and the 2nd waves, respectively. The accuracy of the spread models was evaluated using the correlation between time of arrival and effective distance, calculated according to the different starting locations. The number of cases in the analysis was 16,226 and 50,539 in the 1st and 2nd epidemic waves, respectively. The relationship between arrival time and geographical distance shows that the coefficient of determination was R2 = 0.0523 if geographical distance Dgeo and time of arrival Ta set to zero at Kanagawa and was R2 = 0.0109 if Dgeo and Ta set to zero at Tokyo. The relationship between arrival time and effective distance shows that the coefficient of determination was R2 = 0.3227 if effective distance Deff and Ta set to zero at Kanagawa and was R2 = 0.415 if Deff and time of arrival Ta set to zero at Tokyo. In other words, the effective distance taking into account the mobility network shows the spatiotemporal characteristics of the spread of infection better than geographical distance. The correlation of arrival time to effective distance showed the possibility of spreading from multiple areas in the 1st epidemic wave. On the other hand, the correlation of arrival time to effective distance showed the possibility of spreading from a specific area in the 2nd epidemic wave. The spread of COVID-19 in Japan was affected by the mobility network and the 2nd epidemic wave is more affected than those of the 1st epidemic. The effective distance approach has the impact to estimate the domestic spreading COVID-19.

Integrating Station-Area Development with Rail Transit Networks: Lessons from Japan Railway in Tokyo

Rail transit is a primary transport mode in Tokyo and has become the backbone of its urban development. Tokyo rail transit networks consist of the subway in the central area, private railways in the suburban area, and Japan Railway (JR) in both central and suburban areas. Prior research revealed that JR has better coordination of transit node functions and station-area development than subway and private railway stations, but how Tokyo's JR station-area development integrates with its network growth is less explored. This work investigates how JR station-area development grows in tandem with network expansion, by revisiting different historical phases. The results show that, in the beginning of the twentieth century, JR connected major urban nodes in both central and suburban Tokyo, and therefore became the skeleton of Tokyo's transit systems. During the post-earthquake and post-war period, central subway and suburban private railways gradually met JR on the Yamanote line, enabling the major interchange stations to develop into urban centers. In the 1960s, JR increased its services to alleviate passenger congestion and undertook grade separation projects to reduce conflicts with road networks. The 1987 JR privatization marked a turning point of massive station-area redevelopment. JR station areas have been transformed from underutilized industrial land into high-density commercial use, and major JR stations were comprehensively replanned for identity and place-making. After a centennial development, JR stations have become important interchange and express-service nodes on Tokyo transit networks with intensive land use and different urban functions. The Tokyo JR case can provide insights for metropolitan cities on how to integrate rail transit infrastructure with station-area development, including matching critical nodes in transit networks with urban functions and high-density land use and connecting these urban functions through express line services.

A Study of Wagon Turnaround in the Current Context

Wagon turnaround remains the key performance indicator of railway transport operations characterizing the efficiency both of a wagon fleet owner and of “Russian Railways” Company (RZD). Freight logistics efficiency in the railway sector can also be assessed using this indicator. For determining the wagon turnaround time, the duration of operations at technical stations, freight handling time and the time in motion are taken into account. “Russian Railways” company and operator companies control the three components of the wagon turnaround time. The synergies of railways, intermodal types of transport, and private railways belonging to major freight owners are of particular interest. Their interaction efficiency can be calculated using the wagon turnaround formula that considers the freight idle time and the local operations factor. The local operations at the station for serving private tracks and port sidings are regulated by a number of documents that determine the procedure for supply and departure of wagons, the number of wagons in supply, the regularity of these operations, the number and series of shunting locomotives, etc. The optimal number of wagons in supply will be determined by the minimum cost of wagon movement and wagon idle time on the station tracks. The calculation of the cost function sensitivity will make it possible to determine the limits in the optimal wagon movement changes.

Study of development of regional railway system in Bukovyna

The article is devoted to the study, generalization and systematization of scientific knowledge about the history of the establishment, development and operation of the regional railway system in Bukovyna in the second half of XIX – early XX centuries. The authors attempted to analyze the process of creation and operation of railways in Bukovyna during the reign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire based on a wide range of previously unpublished archival documents, periodicals, statistical literature and memoirs. The article studies the development of organizational bases for the construction of railways, the activity of the communication network management, lists a whole range of requirements and tasks set for railway transport in Bukovyna, the progress of their implementation, considers successes and difficulties in this work. It is determined that private railways, as important transport arteries of Bukovyna, were of national importance and played a significant role in the transport system of Austria-Hungarian Empire. They served the leading economic districts of Bukovyna, acting as an integral part of production in each of them. In other words, they were used for development of local, intersectoral and interregional relations. Regional railways, first of all, played an important role in the social and economic life of Bukovyna region. In most cases, they did not carry the strategic cargo, but made it possible to connect the most remote corners of separate areas of the region into a single whole. In practice, local railways were a significant addition to the main central line, providing the latter with a greater intensity of cargo and passenger turnover and thus increasing their profitability. At the same time, the trade volume between the outskirts and the center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was increased. It contributed to the intensification of economic development of certain districts of Bukovyna region.

Railways as patient capital

Abstract Why are railways mostly in the public sector? Interest rates define a time limit for markets. Projects with longer break-evens cannot be funded by business alone. Corporate ‘franchise’ arrangements overcome the limit by means of revenue guarantees which transfer risks to government. Innovations originate bottom-up in private enterprise. Positive externalities create demand for universal provision but scaling up cannot be financed commercially. In the British railway manias of the 1830s, 1840s, and 1860s speculative fever overwhelmed prudence. Overinvestment left an excessive infrastructure legacy and wiped out windfall profits. In other countries railways required external support. Expanding access gave rise to stand-offs with investors which ended up in government regulation or takeover. The tramway boom of 1870–1914 followed this pattern, initially with horse power and then electricity. In the UK railway privatization of the 1990s, the free market delusion was confounded by the infrastructure requirement for long-term commitment.

Applying probabilistic mathematical modeling approach and AI technique to investigate serious train accidents in Japan

We investigated data for serious train accidents (STAs) in Japan to elucidate their causes and consequences and to improve countermeasures for reducing the number of STAs. We used statistical data on the STAs occurring in Japan from 1987 to 2018, which included the frequency, types, causes, and consequences of the STAs, along with additional derailment, collision, and casualty data. We investigated the historical trend of the STAs using various probabilistic mathematical modeling approaches, such as Markov models, logit regression models, Bayesian approaches, and artificial-intelligence techniques. We showed that the number of casualties in STAs involving collisions was significantly larger than that for accidents not involving collisions. Thus, the statistical analysis indicated that preventing train collisions is the most important and necessary measure for reducing damage to passengers. Additionally, we proposed several countermeasures for ensuring the safety of passengers in Japan, e.g., install automatic train stops for all railway companies of Private Railway and terminate the use of ground-level crossings without gates. We evaluated the effectiveness of these countermeasures from various viewpoints.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE CREATING AND FUNCTIONING OF REGIONAL RAILWAYS IN BUKOVYNA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th – EARLY 20th CENTURIES

The purpose of this paper is to study the objective economic aspects and prerequisites for the creating and functioning of regional railways in Bukovyna in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The deployment of railway construction on the lands of Bukovyna in the second half of the 19th century was associated with the processes of the capitalist structure formation in the economies of the countries that included these lands – Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. The successful activities of the large railway companies in Bukovyna were facilitated by their strong ties with banks and close mutually beneficial cooperation with various parts of the state apparatus of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. There was certain dependence between railway companies and States that, on the one hand, companies could not do without financial assistance from the State. On the other hand, the State did not possess sufficient funds at the end of the 19th century to independently expand the railway network and it was forced to entrust the construction of railway lines to private companies. Banks willingly acted as founders of new private railway companies in Austria-Hungary, which intensively stimulated the development of railway construction in Bukovyna. The high degree of the capital concentration in comparison with the other branches of private capitalist production was one of the characteristic features of the railway companies of Bukovyna.

Savva I. Mamontov on the Railway Industry in Russia

The article reprinted from the Zheleznodorozhnoe delo (Rail Business) journal published 110 years ago reviews in detail the content of the brochure «On Railway Industry in Russia» edited by Savva Mamontov, one of the richest, well-known businessmen and benefactors of his time, who had got direct experience of managing construction and operation of railways. The brochure exposed the opinion of Savva Mamontov regarding numerous advantages of private railway construction contracting and further operation based on, speaking modern language, private-public partnership. The described advantages comprised speed of construction, rational cost policy, etc. The reviewer while agreeing with S. Mamontov on some issues insisted on more profound study of possible changes in traditional model of private and public railways that existed in Russia.

The repair and maintenance of locomotives as sources of innovation and technology transfer. New insights from the Ryazan–Uralsk private railway (Russia, 1890–1914)

This paper provides an overview of the practices of the repair, maintenance, and appropriation of locomotives on Russian railways at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, exemplified by a case study of the Ryazan–Uralsk railway. Particular attention has been paid to the function of repair and maintenance in the railway context. Repair and maintenance have therefore been considered complex phenomena bringing together infrastructure, things to be repaired or maintained, and people involved in these actions on the one hand, and field research, innovation and business on the other. Based on a broad range of sources regarding the legal prescriptions, statistics, reports of railway employees to their superiors, financial documentation, and drafts of repaired locomotives, the diversity of the repair and maintenance of locomotives in late imperial Russia is analysed.

Privatization of Indian Railways

Indian Railways is a 167 years old service that has been provided by the Government to its citizens. With the changing economics, the government of India has been considering privatize it. The purpose of this paper is to understand the history of railways and the reaction of masses to the privatization of railways; if the decision of privatizing the Indian Railways that has been taken by the government is supported and appreciated by the general-working-class-public or not and what are their views about it. It is also to understand if railways will remain as the preferred mode of transport.

Private Capital in the Railway Construction Process in Turkestan (70s of the 19th -Early 20th Centuries)

The state and private capital, mainly foreign, were the main actors of Russian railway network creating process in the post-reform period. At the same time, in Turkestan, the Russian Government consciously discouraged private initiatives in the field of railway construction for a long time, preventing private capital from acquiring the quality of an actor along with the state. Although the government maintained a policy of building railways in the region at the Treasury expense, since the 1870s it has regularly received applications for the right to build Railways on the terms of private concessions. The article examines the content of private railway projects and the nature of concession rights that entrepreneurs requested from the government. The author comes to the conclusion that most of them preceded the state's decisions on the railway line construction in Turkestan, as in the case of the Trans-Caspian railway line extension from Samarkand to Tashkent and Andijan. In this regard, private initiative played a role as a factor in the state's decision - making process on the further development of the region's railway network.

The Solution to Safety Crisis in Railways after Privatisation

Privatisation of infrastructure is expected to improve the effectiveness of operation, whereas it is possible to cause excessive rationalization. Especially in the field of railways, excessive rationalization causes fewer investments in the maintenance of assets and undermines safety. Railways play a critical role to develop the economy in a sustainable way and have a significant impact in the region, but their safety must be prioritised. In fact, the UK government privatised British Rail and founded Railtrack, which was specialised in the railway track maintenance, but the Hatfield accident raised awareness for safety and led to the renationalising Railtrack into Network Rail. Likewise, in Japan, National Railways was privatised and divided into separate companies (JR), but among them JR Hokkaido has been causing a large number of accidents and troubles. Based on the review of the process and outcomes of the privatisation of railways in the UK and Japan, this paper discusses the way to improve their safety sustainably. In conclusion, it validates the intervention of governments in railway companies suffering from poor financial health.
 Keywords: Privatisation, Railways, Safety, British Rail, Railtrack, Network Rail, Governmental intervention