34 Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994

JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 2

Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Expansion of RailwayNetwork

Eiichi Aoki

Opening of Tokaido Lineand First Railway Mania

The Meiji government was affecteddirectly by the financial crisis duringthe second half of 1870s and the projectto construct the railway between Tokyoand Osaka/Kobe progressed at a snail'space. The original route was plannedalong a main road called Nakasendorunning through the central highlandsof Honshu, the main island. This routewas chosen in an attempt to stimulateeconomic development in the region.As the government financial reformprogram, which started in 1880, tookeffect, the government adopted apolicy of promoting railway construc-tion. Part of the budget was collectedby selling railway bonds to waysideresidents, and the preliminary surveyand construction work began in No-vember 1883.

However, the work revealed that theproposed route would run throughmountain areas, requiring high costsand long construction times, so theroute was changed in 1886 to a new onealong the Tokaido, another main roadalong the Pacific coast. Construction ofthe new route started in November1886 and proceeded without serious dif-ficulty. The entire railway betweenShimbashi and Kobe was inauguratedon 1 July 1899.

By linking the two largest cities ofTokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, the Tokaidorailway was the first major step in thedevelopment of railways in Japan.

In the meantime, construction of thesection of the Nakasendo railway that

had been under way at the time of theroute change continued, and two sec-tions between Naoetsu and Karuizawa,and Takasaki and Yokogawa startedoperation in 1885-88. However, con-struction of the remaining section be-tween Yokogawa and Karuizawa(11.2 km) was hampered by the ruggedgeography. This section was finallycompleted in 1893 using an Abt rack-and-pinion system capable of runningon the 1/15 gradient.

The robust Japanese economy createdby the success of Masayoshi Matsukata'sfinancial reforms, and the success ofNippon Railways, the first private rail-way, led to the establishment of a numberof private railways after 1885 until the1890 economic recession. The new mainlines included the Sanyo, Kyushu, andKansai railways. In Hokkaido, the gov-ernment-operated Horonai Railway was

privatised and renamed the HokkaidoTanko (Coal Mine) Railway. The abovementioned railways were called the "BigFive" in private railways. In addition,many private railways serving shorterroutes were built in the suburbs of Tokyoand Osaka, and in regional cities. Railwaymania had arrived!

In May 1887, the government estab-lished the Private Railways Ordi-nance to ensure uniform standardsfor railway construction nationwide.In July 1889, Japan's railway net-works totalled 880 km for governmentrailways and 840 km for private rail-ways. A ceremony attended by repre-sentatives of government and privaterailways to celebrate the completionof 1,000 miles (1,610 km) of trackswas held in Nagoya.

� Yotsuya Station on the Kobu Railway in the 1890s,along the outer moat of the Imperial Palace, Tokyo.

Reprinted from RAILWAYS AND ROLLING STOCK IN JAPAN

Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994 35Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Railway Construction ActIn July 1891, Masaru Inoue, Director

of the Railway Board announced twoimportant proposals of railway policy.First, he pointed out the need for lawsto ensure the establishment of long-term plans for constructing mainlinenetworks, and the issuance of publicbonds to obtain funds for constructingrailways. Second, he proposed nation-alization of private railways formingpart of the mainline network. Mr. Inouewas a strong advocate of railway na-tionalization and reiterated his argu-ment at every occasion. His proposalspointed to the future of railways in Ja-pan and had an important effect onJapan's railway history.

Based on Inoue's proposals, the gov-ernment sent two bills, the RailwayBond Act and the Railway Nationaliza-tion Act to the Imperial Diet. After ma-jor amendments, the diet passed theRailway Construction Act in June 1892.Compared to Inoue's original proposal,the Act deleted the provisions for na-tionalization of private railways, butenvisaged much larger railway net-works than already planned. It also re-quired Diet approval for major modifi-cation of railway construction plansand commencement of new railway con-struction. Proposing construction oflarger railway networks than thegovernment's original plan reflectedpublic demand for early railway con-struction in local communities, whichrecognized the value of railways.

The act required the government tosubmit railway construction plans tothe Railway Council for consultationbefore the submission to the Diet. TheRailway Council was composed of offi-cials of the Railway Agency, related au-thorities, the army, the navy, and Dietmembers. It was authorized to amendthe Railway Construction Act, and todetermine railway construction bud-gets, the licensing and nationalizationof private railways, train operationplans, and railway fares.

The Railway Construction Act es-tablished detailed rules for railwayconstruction in Japan, and allowed lo-cal communities to request construc-tion of railways through their electedDiet members. However, the RailwayConstruction Act did not apply to

Hokkaido, which came under theHokkaido Railway Construction Actenacted in May 1896.

Second Railway Mania andGrowth of Mainline RailwayNetworks

Construction of private railwaysfaced a major setback during the reces-sion around 1890, but became briskagain in 1893. The second railway ma-nia continued until 1897. Constructionof government railways was also pro-gressing rapidly under the auspices ofthe Railway Construction Act.

At the end of March 1893, the totallength of railways in Japan reached3,010 km, divided into 885 km of gov-ernment railways and 2,125 km ofprivate railways.

By the end of March 1906, immedi-ately before railway nationalization,government railways covered 2,413 kmwith private railways reaching 5,213km. Although construction of govern-ment railways progressed smoothly,private railways were always built at afaster pace, with the result that, despitefrequent mergers, the number of pri-vate railway companies increased from13 in March 1893 to 37 by the end ofMarch 1906.

Private railway companies in Japanat that time were relatively large stockcompanies generating large profits.This favorable business environmentled to the emergence of groups showingstrong investment interest in railways.They were divided into two maingroups: the zaibatsu or big businessgroup, and commercial capitalists.Typical zaibatsu were Mitsui andMitsubishi (Iwasaki). They were majorshareholders in early mainline rail-ways such as Hokkaido Tanko Rail-ways, Kansai Railways, Sanyo Rail-ways, Kyushu Railways, and ChikuhoRailway, earning large profits fromrailway management. They promotedproduction and distribution in a varietyof industrial fields using railways.

The commercial capitalists werefound in the Tokyo-Yokohama andKyoto-Osaka-Kobe regions and soughtprofits from management of railwaybusinesses. In addition to mainlinerailways, they showed great interest inrailways in and around large cities. In

the early 1900s, they invested activelyin electric streetcar systems (trams) inmajor urban areas.

During this period, capitalists in therural regions still played a major finan-cial role, but their financial power waslimited, so that capitalists in large cit-ies acted as a major force in financingrailway construction projects. Even formany railways associated with local in-dustries or railways in regional cities,capitalists in large cities were indis-

Masaru Inoue was brought up as the son of asamurai belonging to the Choshu fief. At 15, heentered the Nagasaki Naval Academy establishedby the Tokugawa government under the directionof a Dutch naval officer. In the early Meiji era, theacademy produced many prominent persons whoworked as leaders in the military and the govern-ment, as well as engineers. In 1863, Inoue andfour friends stowed away on a vessel to the UnitedKingdom. He studied civil engineering and miningat University College in London and returned toJapan in 1868. After working for the governmentas a technical officer supervising the mining in-dustry, he was appointed Director of the RailwayBoard in 1871. After temporary retirement, Inoueserved as a leader in the government guiding thenascent railway industry until 1893.During his career, Inoue played a leading role inmany decisions related to railway planning andconstruction, including construction of theNakasendo Railway, selection of the alternativeroute (Tokaido), and the proposals for futuremainline railway networks. Also, as one of a hand-ful of Japanese railway engineers, he often visitedconstruction sites and directed workers.After retirement from the government, Inouefounded Kisha Seizo Kaisha, the first locomo-tive manufacturer in Japan, becoming its firstpresident in 1896. In 1909, he was appointedPresident of the Imperial Railways Association.He became ill and died in London in 1910 dur-ing a visit to Europe as an advisor to the Minis-try of Railways.

Masaru Inoue (1843-1910)

Courtesy: Transportation Museum, Tokyo

36 Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994

JAPANESE RAILWAY HISTORY 2

Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

pensable as major shareholders for fi-nancing construction projects.

Debut of Electric RailwaysIn May 1890, Tokyo Electric Light

Co. (the first electric company in Japan,incorporated in 1884) laid a 500-mtrack at the Third Internal IndustrialExposition held in Ueno Park, Tokyo,and operated two Spragne electrictramcars imported from Brill & Co. ofthe USA. This was the first time electrictrams operated in Japan.

Blueprints of electric railwaysboomed in various cities, but manywere just speculative projects lackingsound technical resources and backup.The first commercial operation wasstarted by Kyoto Electric Railways on 1February 1895 running on a 6.9-kmroute connecting Kyoto station andFushimi along the Yodo River. The linewas later extended to the inner city.

Many railways quickly followed suit:Nagoya Electric Railways (1898),Daishi Electric Railways (Kawasaki,1899), Odawara Electric Railways(Kozu-Odawara-Hakone Yumoto,1990), and Hoshu Electric Railways(Oita-Beppu, 1900).

In Tokyo, the Tokyo Horse Railway,which operated a horse railway servicefrom 1882, switched to electric rail carsand became Tokyo Electric Tram Rail-way. Tokyo Street Railway was inau-gurated in the same year, and TokyoElectric Railway in 1904. The threecompanies operated electric trams inTokyo and merged into Tokyo Railwayin 1906 and become the electric railwaycompany with the largest network inthe country.

In Osaka, the municipal governmententered the electric railway businessand inaugurated the first route in 1903.It was extended side-by-side with ur-ban development projects, including

construction of new roads, widening ofexisting roads, and construction ofbridges. The railway served as a majorsource of finances for the city to carryout its plans, and marked the first elec-tric railway operated by a municipality.

With expansion of tram networks,electric railways became an essentialmeans of transport for urbanites. Infact, electric rail services became so im-portant that their management policyaffected citizens' daily lives directly andelicited their quick responses. Fare in-creases often met with passenger pro-tests, escalating into riots in somecases. More-and-more people opposedprofiteering by private rail companiesin cities, and the need for municipalmanagement was often discussed. Inthe 1910s, electric railways in large cit-ies that had started as private busi-nesses were gradually taken over bythe municipalities. In Tokyo, TokyoRailway was handed over to the Elec-

Railway Network Proposed by Railway Construction Act (1892 and 1896 in Hokkaido)

Japan Railway & Transport Review / June 1994 37Copyright © 1994 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

tricity Department of Tokyo MunicipalGovernment in 1911.

Meanwhile, electric railways were ex-tended beyond city administrative lim-its and started being used for inter-citytransport. The first example wasHanshin Electric Railways whichstarted commercial operation betweenOsaka and Kobe in 1905. In the sub-urbs, railways were constructed ontheir own land, instead of public roads,allowing high-speed operation. As a re-sult, electric railways began competingwith steam railways. Soon, electric ser-vices took many passengers from steamwhich couldn't provide frequent ser-vices. Steam railway companies suf-fered large losses and were soon forcedto change their operations to provideelectric railway services in and betweencities.

River Transport and RailRiver transport, which had been the

most important distribution route for

Eiichl Aoki

After graduating from the Faculty of Science at Chiba University in 1957, Mr. Aoki received a doctorate

in science from the Tokyo University of Education (now called Tsukuba University). After serving at

Tsuru City University and Tokyo Gakugei University as an assistant professor, he became a professor at

Tokyo Gakugei University in 1978. He specialises in transportation geography and is also a leading

Japanese scholar of the history of railways and marine transportation.

Mr. Aoki is now president of the Japan Railway History Society. His publications include World

History of Sea Power and Japanese Railway – Its Rise and Development.

� The Usui Viaduct under construction at a 1:15 grade between Yokokawa and Karuizawa. The track useda rack-and-pinion system. The viaduct is now preserved as a historic monument and has been replacedby an alternative route.

commodities in inland areas, was hithard by railway development. Riverlevels in Japan vary greatly with sea-son; many rivers could only carrybarge loads of just a few tons. Thelack of mass transport on many riversmade barge transport vulnerable tocompetition from railways.

However, large river systems (theTone River in Kanto and the YodoRiver flowing from Kyoto to Osaka)offered advantages of stable flows, aswell as large demand for freighttransport. With modernization by in-troduction of steamers and canals,river transport continued thriving un-til 1910. Some railways even became

financially viable by connection toriver transport services. �

Reprinted from RAILWAYS AND ROLLING STOCK IN JAPAN