This summer, Japan sweltered in unusually severe heat waves. What was worse, many parts of the country were battered by natural disasters, such as typhoons, heavy rains and earthquakes that paralyzed railways, roads, airports and power supply lines. People have thus become increasingly aware of the necessity to improve the resilience of such core infrastructure systems.
From that perspective, the Chuo Shinkansen project based on the SCMAGLEV (SuperConducting MAGnetic LEVitation) high-speed transportation system is an example of improving and better managing infrastructure by utilizing private-sector funding. This superfast maglev train project was not only initiated by a private-sector company but is also designed to contribute to the government's plans to enhance the resilience of the country's mainstay infrastructure systems.
What can be compared to the "brain and trunk" of Japan is the corridor linking the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Accounting for only about 10 percent of Japan's total land area, the areas are home to about 60 percent of the Japanese population and contribute about 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product. The long and narrow city belt from Tokyo to Osaka via Nagoya is functionally integrated by the Tomei and Meishin expressways and the Tokaido Shinkansen.
Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central) is the company that emerged following the break-up and privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR) to be primarily responsible for operating Japan's main passenger transportation artery as an autonomous and agile private-sector corporation.
Four decades have passed since the Act on Special Measures for Large-Scale Earthquakes was enacted in 1978 in the wake of seismologists' warnings that a catastrophic earthquake could hit the Tokai region sometime in the future. Over the period, countermeasures for earthquakes have always been a serious concern for JR Central, in order to ensure the safety of Tokaido Shinkansen operations.
As the possible Tokai earthquake was predicted to occur as an ocean-trench or plate-boundary earthquake, JR Central made every effort, as its basic proposition, to detect a preliminary tremor as instantaneously as possible so as to stop all trains safely on the Tokaido Shinkansen. However, what we encountered during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 was a local earthquake occurring directly underneath the Kansai region. It badly damaged viaducts of the Tokaido Shinkansen section between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka. To prevent any recurrence of similar damage, viaducts along the entire line from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka were then reinforced with steel plate jacketing around their columns.
In 2004, the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake, another local quake, took place, causing a Joetsu Shinkansen train to derail while in service. The mechanism of quake-caused derailment was so thoroughly investigated that a "derailment prevention system" was subsequently developed. It is an integrated measure to strengthen the infrastructure and the tracks, for example by installing damper braces on concrete viaduct columns to control seismic vibration, adopting countermeasures against ballast flowing out from the tracks during a temblor, and implementing derailment prevention guards within the tracks.
When an earthquake occurred in northern Osaka Prefecture in mid-June this year, its epicenter was close to the Tokaido Shinkansen, bringing stronger seismic intensities to the Shinkansen infrastructure than the 1995 earthquake. Nevertheless, there was no damage to the line's concrete viaducts and rail tracks thanks to the past seismic reinforcement efforts. Therefore, Shinkansen train operations were resumed immediately after the completion of safety checks. The June quake proved that the Tokaido Shinkansen's ability to withstand earthquakes has been definitely strengthened.
Dual infrastructure system
In recent years, seismologists have predicted that earthquakes, which could be much more devastating than the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, could occur in the Tokai and Tonankai regions. Tonankai stretches from the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama Prefecture to the Enshu-nada coast in Shizuoka Prefecture. An important measure to be fully prepared for such a catastrophe is the development of dual infrastructure.
Along the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka corridor, we now have dual expressway links with one of them comprising the Tomei (Tokyo to Nagoya) and Meishin (Nagoya to Kobe) expressways and the other comprising the Chuo (Tokyo to Komaki, Aichi Prefecture) and Meihan (Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, to Tenri, Nara Prefecture) expressways. The Shin-Tomei Expressway, a so-called high-standard specification expressway running parallel to the Tomei Expressway, is planned to be fully completed in the near future.
As for high-speed train services, when completed, the Chuo Shinkansen will serve as a bypass of the Tokaido Shinkansen, following a different route based on robust underground structures. The presence of the dual Shinkansen routes will guarantee the ultimate functionality of the main transportation arteries along the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka corridor.
When JR Central was established in 1987, the company was tasked with stable management of the Tokaido Shinkansen while redeeming JNR's outstanding debts. At the time, JR Central was obliged to repay a total of 5.2 trillion yen, plus interest. The outstanding principal seemed to be beyond the company's earning capacity as it was equivalent to about six years of annual operating revenue.
Despite such a massive financial burden, JR Central decided to invest about 200 billion yen to pursue technological development of the SCMAGLEV technology by constructing about 20 kilometers of test track in Yamanashi Prefecture as the initial step of the Chuo Shinkansen project.
If JNR had remained a state-run corporation, it would have been impossible to venture on such a decision to challenge the unknown -- the creation of a completely novel superfast transportation technology.
During the JNR era, the railway operator's capital investment plans were determined as part of the government's annual budget, requiring them to be endorsed by the Diet. The break-up and privatization of JNR enabled the management team of JR Central to not only make decisions on their own to concentrate investment on strategic priorities, but also to be accountable for the outcomes of their decisions.
While more than 20 years were spent for the technological development of the SCMAGLEV system, JR Central's operating revenues grew significantly, owing to increased operating speeds and passenger transportation capacities of the Tokaido Shinkansen. With the JNR debt reduced to about a third of the original amount because of years of debt servicing, and the related interest payments also lowered to a sixth, it became viable for the company to embark on the construction of the Chuo Shinkansen, under the condition that JR Central would bear the construction cost.
In essence, the Chuo Shinkansen can be said to be the fruit of then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's determination to proceed with administrative reforms in the 1980s, centering around the privatization of JNR and the public's support of his political agenda.
The SCMAGLEV train can be characterized by three advantages -- it can travel at a super-high speed of 500 kph, be free from the risk of derailment during earthquakes and run on steep slopes. Compared with the current Shinkansen train, the SCMAGLEV's capability of running up and down steeper slopes makes it possible to build the Chuo Shinkansen route far below the surface in the metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka, where it is difficult to purchase land for railway lines. Likewise, the SCMAGLEV makes it possible for the Chuo Shinkansen route to go through the Southern Alps mountain range with very long mountain tunnels.
Underground structures are theoretically earthquake-proof as they are far less vulnerable to earthquake shaking than surface ones. In fact, there are several cases proving such phenomena. Furthermore, the Chuo Shinkansen is a system that is much more invulnerable to natural disasters, such as typhoons, heavy downpours, river flooding and snowfalls, that have sometimes suspended Shinkansen operations so far.
Running underground through the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka corridor with an ability to withstand earthquake shaking, the Chuo Shinkansen will connect the brain and trunk of Japan as mentioned earlier. This means that the SCMAGLEV system is expected not only to provide its intended function of realizing super-high-speed, safe and stable passenger transportation, but also to meet multiple emergency needs to carry VIPs and rescue personnel being deployed to affected areas, and to transport medical and other emergency supplies.
Private-sector expertise, funding
The strength of Japan lies in the efficiency afforded by the functional connectivity of its territory centering around the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka megalopolis corridor. However, should a Tokai or Tonankai earthquake devastate the main transportation artery linking Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, the whole of the country would be affected. It is highly valuable to construct a bypass to eliminate such a vulnerability.
JR Central has already begun constructing the new underground Chuo Shinkansen stations in Shinagawa and Nagoya as well as a Southern Alps tunnel for the Chuo Shinkansen, as all of them require longer periods of time for completion. Construction is in progress on various sections of the planned super-high-speed line. The company has so far signed civil engineering contracts covering about 50 percent of the project (including the completed Yamanashi Maglev Line). Early completion of the Chuo Shinkansen project will be imperative to fully guarantee the corridor's function as the main transportation artery and realize the foundation of safety regarding disasters.
It can be said that Japan's endeavors to improve fundamental infrastructure systems -- that date back to the high-growth era as well as the 1990s when the country intensified such efforts for certain key infrastructure systems -- have almost reached the stage of completion. As of March this year, Japan had a Shinkansen network of 2,765 kilometers, which was 50 percent greater than what existed in the economic bubble era of the late 1980s, while its expressway network with high-standard specifications increased by 160 percent to 11,604 kilometers and the number of airports with runways more than 2,000 meters long doubled to 66.
Considering the chronic fiscal restraints of the central and local governments, there will be no choice but to reduce new public works spending in the years to come. As an alternative approach, private-sector expertise and funding of various scales are likely to be utilized for improving and managing infrastructure systems from now on.
It is presumed to be difficult to repeat the Chuo Shinkansen model in the future to carry out a massive national project financed by a private-sector company on its own and run it as a profitable operation. Yet, a lot can be learned from the Chuo Shinkansen project as a successful case that has been made possible thanks to the introduction of private-sector autonomy and agility.
Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
Kasai is chairman emeritus of Central Japan Railway Co.
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