International Railroad Discussion > A good news story out of Japan.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/schoolgirl-is-japan-trains-only-passenger/ar-CCmkEd?ocid=spartandhp

​Train station kept open for the last passenger of its town till after March 2016.

With a little research, I found the train schedule for Kami-Shirataki station (上白滝), which is on the Sekihoku Line (石北本線) in deep Hokkaido:

7:04 am (eastbound, toward Abashiri)
5:08 pm (westbound, toward Asahikawa)

The station more or less followed this schedule (1 stop each direction per day) since 1992. It has been an unmanned station since 1983, so there isn't much cost to cut, unless you are a full blown amateur accountant. Nearby Oku-Shirataki Station (奥白滝) which had a similar schedule (1 stop each direction per day) was abandoned in 2001. The abandoning of Kami-Shirtaki will create a 40 km stretch (25 miles) without a station stop.

It's a good human story, but Japanese mass media is very good at reporting this sort of story, although MSN obtained the story from the Philippine Star and CCTV (China) quoted as the source. It would be great if the high school girl end up working for the railroad, like JR Hokkaido.

While population decline in Japan is mentioned as the reason, it's only a contributing factor. The real reason is the massive migration of youth from rural to urban areas, many of them not coming back. Anyway, thanks for posting this story!

The Straits Times (Singapore) has a story that suggests maybe not Straits Times.but who do you believe a Singaporean Newspaper or a Chinese news site?