Environmental considerations, along with the accelerating "greying" of Japan, have led to a belated policy shift in Japan's Construction Ministry. It has now started to subsidize the revival of urban streetcar (light rail) lines, affectionately known as the "chin chin densha" (ding ding trolleys) a few generations ago when 82 of them operated around the country.
On the one hand, streetcars powered by overhead catenaries do not emit pollutants. On the other hand, they are accommodating to the elderly, especially the low floor versions that are preferred in the new construction projects.
Official projections report that by the year 2025, one out of four residents of Japan will be over 65. Planning for a society that will have one of the highest percentages of the elderly in the world is well advanced and remains a top public policy objective.
Moreover, financial considerations linked with the current recession also favor a streetcar revival. According to the Construction Ministry, the extension of subway lines costs 30 billion yen ($235 million) per kilometer, whereas streetcar lines run a mere billion yen ($8 million) for the same distance. Annual operating costs of streetcar lines, likewise, amount to only a fraction of those chalked up by a subway, roughly the equivalent of little more than $1 million per kilometer against about eight times as much per subway kilometer.
A year ago, Kumamoto City (pop. 564,000) introduced Japan's first "ultra low floor" streetcar, equipped with a wheelchair lift. Similar in curb height of 12 centimeters (5.2 inches) to the ultra low floor streetcar now operating in Vienna, Austria, the Kumamoto model is reported to be extremely popular and successful. Numerous Japanese cities have sent delegations to inspect, observe, and try out the new system.
The city of Toyohashi (pop. 332,000) in Aichi Prefecture is currently extending its streetcar line to connect with the main railway station used by commuters. Also, the cities of Hiroshima, Okayama, and Nagasaki have applied for subsidies to extend existing light rail lines or to build new ones.
A "Street Car Summit" held in Okayama last year called for public debate and new comprehensive transportation policies that would carve out the resumption of a greater role for the urban streetcar, which has practically disappeared from Japanese cities over the past 50 years.
Japan's first trolley line, using cars imported from the U.S., began operating in Kyoto in 1895, where to this day the first U.S. car is enshrined as a public monument. When streetcars reached their zenith just before the Second World War, 82 companies operated 1,479 line kilometers in 65 urbanized regions throughout the country. In 1943, the 42 streetcar lines of Tokyo alone carried almost two million passengers a day.
Now, only the 12.2-km Arakawa line remains in Tokyo, carrying about 60,000 passengers a day. Throughout the country, a mere 20 streetcar lines have survived with a total line length of just 238 kilometers.
In connection with the current streetcar revival, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is considering extending the Arakawa line to connect with major commuter rail stations.
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