Local Train Is Back on Track After Split With Japan National Railway

After 40 years of working on the railroad, Tadashi Nakai faced both retirement and watching the demise of the little mountain railway that had been his lifeline since boyhood.

But today, following a locally led break with the national railroad, both Nakai and his train are back on track.

The success of the semi-private Sanriku Railway in its first year of operation has become a model for others as the Japan National Railways, buried under billions of dollars in debts, shuts down small, unprofitable lines.

Turned a Profit

In the fiscal year ended March 31, Sanriku, owned by the Iwate state government, local cities and businesses in this rural region of northern Japan, turned in a profit of 26 million yen--or about $104,000. Under National Railways, it had been years since the line came close to breaking even.

Nakai, who grew up in Miyako when steam locomotives billowed smoke across the mountains, retired from the national railroad to become a section chief for the new company.

He attributes its success to sound business practices, which he says are uncharacteristic of the government-run Japan National Railways.

“Before with JNR, we didn’t worry about losses as long as we received our paychecks,” he said. “Now we feel personally responsible every time there’s a drop in passengers.”

He said the line employs only 97 people, half former National Railways workers, on 66 miles of track--1 1/2 workers per mile, compared to nearly 6 1/2 a mile for the government railroad.

And unlike Japan National Railways, whose militant unions oppose any work force cutbacks, Sanriku is not organized.

“JNR has one man to take tickets, another to wave flags and a third to change switches. On our line, one man can easily do all three jobs,” Nakai said.

The railway also has boosted revenues by raising fares, increasing train runs and attracting tourists with bright red, white and blue cars equipped with vending machines and videos.

It plans to rent out trains for marriages or parties along the spectacular Rikuchu Coast National Park.

In Tanohata, a tiny seaweed-gathering and salmon-fishing village hemmed in by pine-clad mountains and stark seaside cliffs, the new line is a “dream come true,” said Katsumi Date, an innkeeper and community leader.

Sanriku completed a section of the line between Miyako, a city of 62,000 people, and Tanohata, 22 miles to the north, which the money-strapped national railroad had started but never completed.

“The psychological effect of not being so isolated has been tremendous,” Date said.

Publicity about the new railway helped double the number of tourists visiting the area to 1 million last year--a boon for local restaurants, inns and merchants.

The 5,000 people of Tanohata invested the equivalent of $20,000 in Sanriku, “and even if we spend that every year for its upkeep, it would still be a bargain,” Date said.

Local citizens help the line by selling tickets at the unmanned station, cleaning the station occasionally and holding various contests and festivals as part of a local “my rail” campaign.

Favor New Bus Routes

Sanriku Railway is one of eight former national railroad lines that so far have elected to change to a local, semi-private basis. An additional 18 have opted to discontinue rail service in favor of new bus routes.

The government has agreed to pay all debts for five years for bus lines and half of red ink incurred, plus nearly $200,000 a mile for new independent railways.

Japan National Railways has not operated in the black since 1963. In fiscal 1983, it lost $6.6 billion, bringing its accumulated debt to near $80 billion. Of its 231 lines, only seven were profitable.

Under reform plans announced in January--widely criticized as not going far enough--the national system said that by 1987 it will become a privately managed corporation operating only 7,440 miles of track, down from 13,020 at present. Its bloated work force, now at 337,000, ideally would be reduced to 188,000 by 1990.

Despite initial success of Sanriku and other new companies, Japan National Railways’ plans to get rid of 85 unprofitable local lines have met strong resistance. Talks with local governments are far behind schedule and some communities have adapted tactics such as packing trains to push passenger levels above the minimum set by the railroad for staying in business.

“The Japanese have a deep attachment to railroads, and the reaction against disbanding them has been very strong,” said Yasutaka Kikuchi of the system’s local line policy section.

“People also say JNR operates as a public service and there’s something wrong about abandoning a line just because it’s losing money,” he said.