What is the "Freight Shinkansen" plan that changes the future of freight transportation?

ByGane

It is scheduled to open in 2015Hokkaido ShinkansenGo through the Seikan tunnel, but since the Seikan tunnel is a key to transport for both passengers and cargoes, we will install a freight train on the bullet train "Freight bullet train"Is scheduled for operation. In the days when the railroad network was built all over the country, the center of transportation was a railroad, but the truck replaced by the road improvement afterwards. After that, from 1991 again return from the truck to the railroadModal shiftIs being promoted. Although circumstances have changed with the corocoro, why is attention also gaining attention on railway transportation?

◆ Benefits of getting consumers by becoming railway transport
Benefits Part 1:Schedule sure
Benefits Part 2:Cost falls above middle distance

One of the merits of railway is that scheduled operation is possible and the schedule can be read. Since it runs on a fixed rail, there is no fear of traffic congestion due to concentration of traffic, you can run on the diamond as long as there are no accidents or natural disasters. In case of cargo Shinkansen, it is scheduled to operate at a speed of over 200 km / h, so you can deliver your shipment quickly and stably with high-speed scheduled operation. Amazon has "Fast deliveryThere is a service that will deliver the order you ordered quickly, but if the freight bullet train becomes a reality, it is said that "If you place an order on this freight bullet train in time to make it in time, deliver it today today" super speed Delivery is also possible. Since one truck is obliged to install a speed limiter from September 2003, the maximum speed is limited to 90 km / h. Moreover, it is impossible to keep running at that speed because it is caught in traffic jams and caught in traffic lights.

There is also a reduction in the cost of transportation at medium and long distances (roughly 800 km or more). As transportation costs rise, it will bounce back to the shipping fee by that much, but by compressing even this even a little, now you can lower the shipping cost to the remote place where the shipping fee to the Kanto and the difference are attached .

◆ What is the "Freight Shinkansen" plan?
Hokkaido ShinkansenIs scheduled to connect Shin Aomori and Shin Hakodate, and between Honshu and Hokkaido is scheduled to operate jointly using the Seikan Tunnel currently running conventional lines. However, as you can see from the map below, the overland link between Honshu and Hokkaido is only Seikan Tunnel. As nature, people and cargo will concentrate here, we need to judge it.

On this map the part written as "Tsugaru Kaikyo Line" is Seikan Tunnel.

View Larger Map

However, since cargo trains connect many container cars, most of them run at speeds of less than 100 km / h (average is lower than naturally). There is a large speed difference from the Shinkansen which is the maximum speed and over 200 km / h, and when traveling at the same time, a slow freight train will pull the leg of the diaphragm of the bullet train.

In order to solve this, JR Hokkaido and JR cargo think about "Train on Train"In this way, the cargo train is loaded as it is on the Shinkansen standard vehicle and runs as a freight bullet train at a speed of 200 km / h. There is an image image of loading at the following link destination.

The Seikan Tunnel cargo Shinkansen "Train on Train" - Hokkaido Shimbun [Video News feature]

First, an ordinary cargo train arrives, and the locomotive pulled at the head is cut off.


A locomotive for work began to pull its freight train.


I'm going into a place like a white gate.


The inside looks like this. This is itself a "train-on-train" freight car, at this time the normal freight car is being loaded into a bullet train size freight car.


When you put the freight car in this big wagon, the locomotive for work will be cut off.


Next, the boarding terminal where the locomotive is on board moves, this time the locomotive for running the bullet train section is connected to the head and the post of the freight train.


Completion of "Freight Shinkansen" completed. This loading operation takes about 10 minutes, no labor or time is required to transfer containers from conventional lines to Shinkansen bullet trains.


Then I only cross the Seikan tunnel with this cargo bullet train.


The cargo shinkansen crossing the tunnel came to the station.


Now the work is done in the reverse order of the previous steps. First, I separated the Shinkansen locomotive which had been connected to the head and the part of the buttocks.


A regular locomotive will come there ... ...


It runs as a freight train of a conventional line. The change work from this bullet train to the conventional line is also completed in about 10 minutes.


◆ evil at the track center
Currently, the center of land transportation is a truck. The Japanese road network is tightly roped all over Japan and it is natural that it will be the main if you put the baggage on the truck and leave it to your destination.

However, the burden on this truck transportation has become very large these days. Long-distance truck drivers are by no means not only "to deliver packages from the terminal to the terminal". Of course you can carry your luggage by truck, but it is one of work, loading loads at the shipping source, unloading the luggage at the destination. In addition there are instructions such as "Please be sure to deliver by time" and "Instructions such as going on an ordinary road because of high price when using expressway" will be added by the company and goods.

Frequently a truck stops near a service area on a highway, etc. However, in order to receive ETC discount application, I adjust the time doing ah and keep taking work while taking a nap in the car It is very hard,The number of accidents on sales trucks increased with each yearThere is a trend. As I listened to the driver in detail,30.6% of overtime workers over a period of one month are over 80 hours, half of them overtime working over 100 hoursThere is also a report.


Transportation is also subject to environmental problems. Due to JR freightEstimate energy consumption and CO2 emissions, CO2 emissions from truck transportation are seven times that of rail transportation. And, the major trunk lines are rationally electrified, the electricity used is the same as the passengers, but the truck consumes gasoline for each truck. From April 1, 2006, we requested consigners to save energyRevised Law Concerning the Rational Use of Energy"Is enforced, so railway transportation will become more advantageous if it is considered to choose even a little energy-saving one.

◆ Price Comparison
Next we will compare the transportation fee for trucks and railways.

In the case of a truck, the fee is calculated in terms of how many trucks to use and how far the transport distance is. We are carrying out transportation operations across Japan except for OkinawaYamato ExpressLooking at the concrete figures of the number, if you say "carry your baggage 50 km ahead with a 1 ton car," the charge is 14,700 yen. It is 58,000 yen when saying "Carrying baggage from Tokyo to Osaka (Sakai) with a 4 ton car," and 78,000 yen if it is 10 tons car from Tokyo from Osaka as well. This fee is for one loading / unloading of baggage only when departing from Tokyo or Kanagawa, and if the place of unloading increases or the departure place changes, the charge will change.


In the case of railway, "truck transportation fee from package sender to departing freight terminal station" "train fare between cargo terminals" "truck transportation fee from arriving cargo terminal station to destination" "container at cargo terminal station The fee is calculated from four of the cargo handling fee.Logistics Consultation .comAccording to the sample example of 5, when transporting 5 ton containers from Saitama prefecture Tokorozawa City to Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, the truck transportation fee from Tokorozawa to the cargo terminal of Niiza is 11, 1400 yen, the train from the new cargo terminal to the Umeda cargo terminal The fare is 35,000 yen, the truck transportation fee from Umeda to Nishinomiya is 13,100 yen, the container handling charge is 1,000 yen, the total is 60,500 yen.


When this is between Tokyo and Fukuoka, the transportation fee for 4 ton trucks is 115,000 yen, while the railway (5 ton containers) is 83,500 yen.

"Hiroshi Ishihara of Keio University wrote"(PDF file) Possibility of cargo Shinkansen from the viewpoint of economic environmentEven in the paper that carries luggage, the truck is overwhelmingly cheaper if the distance is shorter, but as the distance gets longer the difference between the railway and the railway ceases to exist, and if the distance exceeds a certain distance the railway transportation It has been pointed out that it will be cheaper. This "distance to a certain extent" depends on the distance from the cargo station that loads and unloads the package to the pickup / delivery destination, but if it is within 20 km from the station to the destination, the transport distance exceeds 400 km And the railway is cheaper and if the distance from the station to the destination is within 100 km, the railway will feel cheaper if the transport distance exceeds 800 km.

◆ Human cost, safety aspect

ByFrans Persoon

The situation where a truck driver is forced to do a harsh job is NHK Special "Track archipelago · 30,000 kmIt is also taken up as a problem, and it has become a problem. On the other hand, train operators are never picked up as harsh jobs.

In the case of long distance transportation, if a truck, a single driver is responsible for the whole process, but the railway has a section to run by the driver as well as a high-speed bus, and while driving at the middle station change going. Therefore, looking only at the content of work does not mean there is a big difference from a driver of a commuter train.

The threads that self-stated driver of a JR cargo appeared on 2channels and answered the question are summarized below.

I am a driver of a freight train but have questions? : Social life VIP

◆ Operations that took advantage of each other's benefits
The era has changed as cargo transport by railway has been abruptly abandoned, and improvements in vehicles are progressing and introduced since 2003JR freight M250 series trainIt is possible to operate at a maximum speed of 130 km / h (design is 140 km / h), and we are connecting Tokyo Osaka with the fastest 6 hours. This is a tough number in tracks where the maximum speed is limited to 90 km / h.


Since this Tokyo Osaka is a Japanese aorta, as a national projectTokaido Logistics ShinkansenThe idea of ​​being advanced is also advanced. Once completedAbout 200,000 tons of goods can be switched from truck to rail transportation per day, and CO2 emissions can be reduced by 3 million tons per year (corresponding to 0.2% of the 2008 emissions)It is said that.

However, even if the freight bullet train is realized and the Tokaido Logistics Shinkansen is completed, it is indispensable to transport on a truck connecting the cargo terminal and the luggage departure place. Considering not only the cost but also the environmental consideration when considering the times of the future, not focusing on either the railroad or the truck, but by taking advantage of the merits of both well and using it well , Shippers will be able to keep costs down while complying with the Energy Conservation Law, and consumers should also benefit from that.

By the way About Hokkaido ShinkansenShinkansen · Transportation Planning Bureau Shinkansen Countermeasure RoomI heard that the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen is scheduled for the end of 2015, but as JR is currently considering about how to operate the freight Shinkansen and how to operate the speed inside the tunnel, I do not know if it will be operated at the same time. Also, since the section as a cargo bullet train is "Seikan tunnel section", if it is realized, a station or booth with a boarding terminal is installed before and after the tunnel, and it is likely that the locomotive will be replaced.