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Organizing The Development Of The High-Speed Railway Network And Measures Taken On Parallel Conventional Railways In Japan Since The 1990s, Daisuke Fujii

Japanese Society and Culture

Japan’s nationwide railway network is narrow gauge (1067 mm). By contrast, the high-speed railway, which started service in 1964, is standard gauge (1435 mm). Narrow-gauge railway lines, or “conventional lines,” and standard-gauge high-speed railway lines, or “Shinkansen,” are independent of each other and do not connect directly or mix. However, as railway technology has advanced and the Japanese government has expanded the high-speed railway network throughout Japan, limited sections of the Shinkansen and conventional lines now operate interconnectedly. Deteriorating market share and labor-management relations led to the Japanese National Railways (J.N.R.), which had operated Japan’s high-speed railway system, being declared …