Railway services on 1,366 kilometers of track among 68 sections, or 5 percent of Japan's total network, have been discontinued over the past three decades, a Kyodo News analysis showedy, highlighting the shrinking of public transportation options in rural areas.
Most of the sections closed between fiscal 1996 and fiscal 2025 were in depopulating regions, with roughly one-third of the total track length in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
According to an analysis of data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the pace of closures has accelerated, with 387 km scrapped in the 10 years through fiscal 2005, 445 km in the following decade, and 534 km in the decade through fiscal 2025.
Of the total, 680 km were operated by railway companies created through the breakup of the state-owned Japanese National Railways, while 686 km were run by other rail companies.
In Hokkaido, one local railway company shut a 140 km route, while another discontinued 116 km of services.
Meanwhile, 1,913 km of tracks have been newly laid out during the 30 years, of which 1,156 were for shinkansen (bullet trains).
"We should not leave it to the operators but instead think of railways as a system for public transportation," said Ikuhiro Nasuno, professor at Ryutsu Keizai University.
Municipalities should consider what role trains can play in communities and become actively involved in railway service management when necessary, he added.
© KYODO
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Rail lines about to get a lot worse, meaning less and more expensive service as the post WWII baby boomers age out, some 35M in next 16+ years, while births also set to fall sharply very soon due to rising median age
Today's high inflation and very weak Yen, also a serious blow to railway companies facing demographic collapse
The Professor is right, rail transport should be viewed as a system for public transportation, profit should not be the driving consideration but societal need. The same as roads.
Ken Livingston implemented a policy based on the Professor’s ideas on London public transport when he was Mayor - and was branded a communist for doing so.
I think there would be more closures if it were based on ridership alone, but some of them keep running thanks to inertia or by claiming the line is a tourist attraction for trainspotters, sometimes by running special services (old running stock etc) on the line.
Pretty much every line goes between destinations served by roads. If only a few hundred people are using the line, it makes more sense for them to get a bus on such roads, which also carry goods and freight. Much of Japan is mountainous, so keeping a train line running there means maintaining tunnels and bridges, possibly just for 10 services a day.
Is this sad? Yes it is, but inaka schools closing is also sad, inaka shopping arcades and hospitals closing is sad, akiya empty houses falling into disrepair are sad, paddy fields being uncultivated and tree plantations being abandoned .... there is no end to this.
Well, the solution to the depopulation described in this article is to encourage Japanese families to have more babies. Wait, that doesn't work. OK, how about inviting more foreign immigrants to boost the population? Oh, wait, hang on a minute... hmmm looks like we're in for trouble.
People from abroad just see the vibrant cities of Tokyo, Osaka and the beauty of Kyoto and think wow Japan is so wonderful ! They don’t see the reality of how Japanese rural side has become or are becoming ghost towns and how hard life is there for the few that still live there! Japan has become so overrated because of the vibrancy of cities!
I agree. Every other country is building its tourist appeal from its depopulated, struggling rural areas. It's truly strange that Japan hasn't leaned into that strategy.
Hokkaido is a basket case.
How about investing more money in the outer regions instead of building follies in Tokyo?
50 years later all of Japan will be like this.
Spot on!
The railways are one of Japan's great treasures. It's a shame when they close. And, it's the smaller lines, the ones that are disappearing, that have the most charm.
It's a sad state of affairs.