International Railroad Discussion > Super Rail Cargo & Toyota Long Pass Express (Japan)

Here's a glimpse into Japan's logistics business.

With combination of luck and thorough research, I was able to catch JR Freight's "Super Rail Cargo" less than one hour after I landed at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The train is powered by the M250 Series EMU, where four powered units at the ends also carry one 31' container each.

The Super Rail Cargo departs nightly (except Sundays) from both Tokyo Freight Terminal and Ajikawaguchi (near Osaka) in the 11 pm hour, and arrives at the opposing terminal next morning in the 5 am hour, covering 560 km (348 miles) in just over 6 hours. Top revenue speed is 130 km/h (81 mph).

All the 31' containers belong to Sagawa Kyubin (Express), a logistics company with HQ in Kyoto. They are #2 in market share in Japan, and JR Freight is essentially leasing the M250 EMUs exclusively to Sagawa Express.

First clip is at Hatcho-nawate Station near Kawasaki. Because my Japan Airlines flight landed about 30 minutes early, I was able to hop on a taxi and get here about 10 minutes ahead of the Super Rail Cargo. Those who have travelled to Japan can vouch for the excellence of taxi service there.

I hopped on a Nanbu-shisen (Nanbu Branch Line) EMU to the next station, Kawasaki Shinmachi, and waited for the next train, Fukuyama Rail Express, another unit container train, second clip. The 31' boxes belong to Fukuyama Tsu-un (Fukuyama Transportation), a logistics company based in Hiroshima Prefecture, #4 in market share.

Fukuyama Rail Express runs between Tokyo Freight Terminal and Suita (another freight terminal near Osaka), and like the Super Rail Cargo, departs everyday in the 11 pm hour, except on Sundays. Unlike the Super Rail Cargo, the train is hauled by a standard JR Freight locomotive, and not an EMU. Top revenue speed is 110 km/h (68 mph).

I got the third clip 6 days later at Noda Station in Osaka, catching the Super Rail Cargo as it neared Ajikawaguchi. I made a reservation at a nearby hotel (visible in the clip) just so I can catch this early in the morning. I exchanged greetings with a railfan who showed up with an expensive lens, and you can briefly see him and hear the "machine gun shutter" in the background.

- Nanbu Branch Line EMU, my morning railfan shuttle. The train is a shorty, only 2 cars, and covers only 4 stations, but freight trains can be seen at all of them.

- Video capture of the Super Rail Cargo at Noda, in case I don't get a nice thumbnail for the video clip.

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When I visited Japan last October, Super Rail Cargo and Toyota Long Pass Express were on my list of trains to catch, but unfortunately, a typhoon showed up, caused a mudslide, blocked the Tokaido Line tracks in the Shizuoka Prefecture, and cancelled the trains during my stay. During this visit in May (last week), I was determined to catch the Toyota Long Pass Express in a revenge railfanning sort of way.

Toyota Long Pass Express carries automotive parts from Nagoya (near the Toyota HQ) to Iwate Prefecture (near Morioka, northern Japan) where Toyota has a factory to assemble compact cars. Currently, there are two roundtrips per day, but during past economic slowdowns, the trips have been reduced to one a day. No departures on Saturdays and Sundays.

I caught the repo train from Morioka to Nagoya just a couple of hours after I caught the Super Rail Cargo and the Fukuyama Rail Express. The train departed Morioka on Friday night, so if I hadn't caught this one, I would have had to wait two more days for the next one.

First clip is at Hiratsuka Station, located west of Yokohama on the Tokaido Line. Unplanned catches of the Super Rail Cargo and Fukuyama Rail Express delayed my trip to pick up my JR Rail Pass by a few minutes, enough to make it too risky to catch it further east near Kawasaki, which was my original plan. The train is pulled by a EF210 "Momotaro" locomotive, ~4500 hp. You can hear the departure music at the beginning, which foreshadows the E231 Series EMU departing the station at the end of the clip.

I took a Tokaido Line train to Odawara, then hopped on a Shinkansen and easily raced ahead of the Toyota Long Pass Express to Shizuoka. While waiting, I caught a freight train travelling the other direction, probably Train #5052, from Fukuoka to Tokyo. It's my first time seeing the powerful ~8000 hp EF200 locomotive in action.

In the third clip, Toyota Long Pass Express shows up at Shizuoka to end my chase for the day, and this was just before 10:30 am. After that, I hopped on a Shinkansen for a quick 110 mile trip back to Tokyo to visit a bookstore to obtain railfan reference materials, and just in time to beat the crowd for lunch.

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if you go upstairs to the Shosen book tower in Akihabara

you can purchase the freight timetable for all of Japan  

it is issued every march

here is a good webpage to look at

they have hundreds of railway magazines and books on japanese railways both  past and present

http://akihabaralist.com/shosen-book-tower



they seem to run the freights within a few minutes of booked time if not on time

i will be back there next may for my seventh visit to japan in 14 years



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/15 01:28 by bakersfielddave.

bakersfielddave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> if you go upstairs to the Shosen book tower in
> Akihabara
>
> you can purchase the freight timetable for all of
> Japan  
>
> it is issued every march
>
> here is a good webpage to look at
>
> they have hundreds of railway magazines and books
> on japanese railways both  past and present
>
> http://akihabaralist.com/shosen-book-tower
>
>
>
> they seem to run the freights within a few minutes
> of booked time if not on time
>
> i will be back there next may for my seventh visit
> to japan in 14 years

Thanks for the info. I bought last year's Freight Timetable in Sapporo (before riding the Cassiopeia) at Kinokuniya, Japan's largest bookstore chain. After chasing the Toyota Long Pass Express, I went to Shinjuku's Kinokuniya (there are two stores there) to buy this year's timetable.

FYI, there's no English version available, so a railfan must be able to know enough Japanese to read the locations in kanji.

Interesting container haul concept.  I think the Germans tried something like this a while back, but it didn't last.

Ray

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bakersfielddave Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Thanks for the info. I bought last year's Freight
> Timetable in Sapporo (before riding the
> Cassiopeia) at Kinokuniya, Japan's largest
> bookstore chain. After chasing the Toyota Long
> Pass Express, I went to Shinjuku's Kinokuniya
> (there are two stores there) to buy this year's
> timetable.
>
> FYI, there's no English version available, so a
> railfan must be able to know enough Japanese to
> read the locations in kanji.


yes i used the passenger english  timetable booklet available at the airport bookiing office when i validated my railpass, and a map, and wrote in english in the freight timetable the station names for ease of reference,  the best  place i found was ogaki and also kiyosu near nagoya for freight action

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting container haul concept.  I think the
> Germans tried something like this a while back,
> but it didn't last.
>
> Ray

Found a wikipedia article on the German version, the CargoSprinter DMU:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CargoSprinter

cchan006 Wrote:

> FYI, there's no English version available, so a
> railfan must be able to know enough Japanese to
> read the locations in kanji.

Before I picked up the book last time I was in Japan, I found some of the schedules here:
http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/transport/area/index.html
This is JR Freight's website.  It is Japanese only.

The 6 JR Freight operating regions are shown.  Click on a region, or simply scroll down.  Under each region is a table of the freight stations.  Below that is a PDF file of some freight schedules.  There is also an accompanying PDF file explaining the headings in the timetable. 

If readers are curious about what the freight timetable book looks like:
http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/shopping/tohoku01.html
It's the first item: "2015年貨物時刻表" (Year 2015 Cargo Timetable)
The photography in the book is excellent and has been helpful in finding good spots.
Scroll down.  The bath towels are pretty cool too.  They change yearly. 
The book is also available from Railway Freight Association:
http://www.rfa.or.jp/timetable/sell_timetable.html

Unfortunately, neither will ship outside Japan.  The book is available from Amazon Japan for the ripoff price of ¥4207 (about $35 plus $20 DHL Express shipped to North America) if you really want it bad and shipped outside Japan.

daniel



 

251F Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If readers are curious about what the freight
> timetable book looks like:
> http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/shopping/tohoku01.html
> It's the first item: "2015年貨物時刻表"
> (Year 2015 Cargo Timetable)
> The photography in the book is excellent and has
> been helpful in finding good spots.
> Scroll down.  The bath towels are pretty cool
> too.  They change yearly. 
> The book is also available from Railway Freight
> Association:
> http://www.rfa.or.jp/timetable/sell_timetable.html
>
>
> Unfortunately, neither will ship outside Japan. 
> The book is available from Amazon Japan for the
> ripoff price of ¥4207 (about $35 plus $20 DHL
> Express shipped to North America) if you really
> want it bad and shipped outside Japan.
>
> daniel
>

The Tohoku Division of JR Freight stands out from other divisions with their railfan-like enthusiasm of the trains. :-) The "highball the foamer" whistle I got at Koriyama from last year's chase likely came from a Tohoku Division engineer, who started his shift at Kuroiso.

I second your comment regarding the wonderful photos in the Freight Timetable. The 2014 edition had 11 pages worth of color photos, with each page having 6-8. The Timetable is worth it for those alone. Most of the locations are time consuming to access, unless you have a car, but some of the scenic bridge shots are on my "to do" list for future visits.