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Content
1
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
PROGRAM
RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS
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2 Objectives
The objectives of the visit were not limited to a visit of the track systems themselves, as they
can not be properly understood if the whole railway system is not considered and this against
the background of the Japanese society.
Understanding a railway system should consider all aspects, starting from the design
principles applied for both rolling stock and track. Apart from design rules it is obvious that
practical aspects, such as maintenance practice, operational limitations and social, political
and financial policies, have a big influence on the design and should therefore be taken into
account if one wants to understand the options that are taken by the designers.
This knowledge is essential to compare these track systems with the European ones.
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3 Program
The objectives being quiet large, this could not be obtained by assessing articles or with
discussions with the design institute only. For this reason the experts established a complete
program, which permitted them to experience the different aspects of the railway system. The
program included visits on site by which the experts could experience the state of the different
track systems. During these visits discussions took place with the system designers.
Discussions with the researchers at the RTRI permitted to better understand the basic design
rules as well as the development policies of the Japanese Railways.
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4 Results
Undoubtedly, the Japanese railway system is of a very high standard. Its reliability is with a
mean delay of 20 seconds (sic) without any competition one of the best in the world. The
trains are running frequently, have a high degree of quality and are very clean and
comfortable. The total comfort level is very high which is not only due to the high quality
trains but also to the client oriented personnel and the track quality. Design rules are such that
they offer low lateral accelerations and the track quality on both ballast and ballastless track is
very high. Japanese Rail can therefore be seen as one of the best, if not the best railway
system on the world.
From the different visits and discussions although is obvious that social politics in Japan are
very different from the rest of the western world. Low qualified jobs are not so systematically
automated as in Europe and manpower is not seen as to be eliminated. Maintenance poor
design are not only inspired by the aim to reduce costs but mainly because the lack of train
interruptions and the limited availability of workers in Japan.
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Japanese railways have an intensive test program and large test facilities at which they seem
to verify every new evolution in the track world; standardisation although does not seems to
be an issue.
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5 Conclusions
Japan disposes of a very performing railway system which seems to cope perfectly with
competition and which is of a very high standard. Nevertheless care should be taken to select
separate solutions from this railway system and transfer it without thorough reflection into
Europe. The whole social and political system seems very different to Europe. This
influences clearly the economic situation of the different companies as well as their
maintenance policy, and the different subsystems are to be seen in relation to this situation.
The basic design principals, such as the track loads, are completely different from the criteria
used in Europe. Finally one can see that the quality approach is totally different from the one
practised on European networks.
Consequently the authors of this article are convinced that transferring the track system to
Europe without proper redesign and without taking into account the different situation in
Europe might be dangerous.
They also feel that a comparable redesigned solution might result in a non economical system
taken into account the different economical, social and organisational situation in the
European railway system. In this respect, the adjustable fastenings and the multiplication of
transitions between ballast zones and slabs (p.ex. near ballasted turnouts and bridges), can be
seen as typical examples.
Finally one can see that the use of slab track systems on earthworks have been experienced on
a rather short portion so that one can conclude that the main experience on this matter is
gained in Germany.
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