International Railroad Discussion > Musashino Line and JR Freight (Japan)

In 1973, government-run JNR (Japan National Railways) completed the construction of Musashino Line, which travels along the suburbs of Tokyo in a semi-circular fashion. The primary purpose of the new line was to allow freight trains using the Yamanote Freight Line to bypass Tokyo, but the planners smartly allowed passenger service to coexist along the line, and built stations designed to make connections to other existing lines, instead of catering to population centers.

I found a pretty good map of the Musashino Line drawn relatively close to scale, but unfortunately, I couldn't find an English version. The map can be found at Japanese wikipedia article of the Musashino Line, and I attached a copy for this thread. I drew in some circles and arrows on the map.

The red circle at the center of the map represents the Yamanote Line Loop. The small red arrow on the upper right of the Yamanote Line is the location of Sumidagawa Freight Terminal. The red arrow below the Yamanote Line is the main Tokyo Freight Terminal, conveniently located near Port of Tokyo.

Yamanote Freight Line runs along the left side of the Yamanote Line loop.

Thick orange line that circles the Tokyo outskirts is the Musashino Line. The purple line that connects to it on the bottom right side is the Keiyo Line, and majority of Musashino Line trains terminate along the Keiyo Line (including Tokyo Station, underground) for a one seat ride (recurring theme in Japan). The brown line on the bottom left is the non-passenger section of the Musashino Line, where it's mostly tunnels, and no regularly scheduled passenger service. I managed to ride a seasonal special through that section recently, and I'll post a separate report on that later.

Musashino Line has 3 smaller freight terminals along the line, and clockwise from left to right (in blue circles), they are Kajigaya (Kanagawa Prefecture), Niiza (Saitama), and Koshigaya (Saitama). The blue arrow near the top of the circle is where there's a short freight-only line and a double track wye to connect the Tohoku Line to the Musashino Line. The line connects Yono to the north, Nishi-Urawa to the west, and Musashi-Urawa to the east.

The straight green line going west (and left) is the JR East Chuo Line, and it intersects the Musashino Line at Nishi-Kokubunji, a location I've used frequently. Next station going clockwise is Shin-Kodaira (cell phone zombie location in a previous report), and one after that is Shin-Akitsu, which I'll report on in this thread.

Here are more video clips of JR Freight trains, and this time, all the trains are traveling along the Musashino Line.

First clip: At Nishi-Kokubinji Station, possibly Train #4057, bound for Kuragano in Gunma. View is blocked, but it meets a deadheading Musashio Line Type 205 EMU.

Second clip: Same location, Train #3085, counterpart to #3086, Sapporo-bound. It also meets a 205 EMU, which does make a stop for passengers.

Third clip: Same location, Tokyo Freight Terminal bound #4072, one of the very few freights in Japan carrying marine containers, which I've caught several times. Once again it's led by EH500 "Kintaro" locomotive, and maybe even the same engineer as before, as I get "highball the foamer" again. It sounds like he has a second horn (similar to what passenger EMUs have) to warn distracted walkers of danger, as it can be heard clearly in this clip.

Fourth clip: Koshigaya Lake Town Station, which is next one clockwise from Koshigaya Freight Terminal. I rode here to scout locations near the freight terminal, and knew this ore train was coming, so I detrained for a timely intercept. As it happens often on the Musashino Line, I get blocked (by 205 EMU) before I get the entire train. This is the same ore train I caught few years ago at Takasaki in a previous report, and its destination is Annaka in Gunma.

Fifth clip: I'm at Nishi-Urawa, at the west end of the wye. This train is probably #74, Sumidagawa to Tokyo Freight Terminal shuttle, which has a scheduled pick up at Niiza, which is only two stations away, counter-clockwise. The hint is that this train didn't take the wye (on the inside tracks), and in fact went along the Joban Line to Shin-Matsudo and made a large counter-clockwise circle outside Tokyo, since there's no easy way for a freight train to go from Sumidagawa to Tokyo Freight Terminal directly. Many Japanese railfans like to catch this train, and there was a young railfan beside me who was waiting impatiently for this train.

Sixth clip: Same location. I was surprised the young railfan ignored this crude oil tank train (empties), while this was a higher value target for me. It came right after Train #74, and it's coming down the outside tracks, so it took the wye. It's Train #1074, Koriyama to Kawasaki. I get a meet with a 205 EMU going away.

More video clips to come...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/17 16:12 by cchan006.

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I was on my way to Minami-Koshigaya (one station before the freight terminal, traveling clockwise) from Nishi-Kokubunji last March, to ride the seasonal "Holiday Rapid Kamakura" which runs through the freight-only portion of the Musashino Line between Fuchu-Honmachi and Tsurumi. I'll post a separate report for that ride.

I gave myself extra time in case of last minute foaming opportunities, and decided to detrain briefly at Shin-Akitsu, when I realized I might be able to catch Train #4072 there.

Train #3085 shows up first, first clip. I pan for the rear view of the train anticipating a meet with #4072. Note when the position light signal turns red. Seibu Ikebukuro Line train is seen above just after #3085 leaves the scene.

The timing for the meet was off, as Train #4072 takes the middle track in order to get passed by a Musashino Line train behind it. Instead of editing it out, I continue the first clip as #4072 slows for a stop signal. You can hear the crossing "bells" (digitized) which means another Seibu Ikebukuro Line train is coming.

I record the signal upgrading from yellow to green in the second clip.

Seibu Line train is departing in the third clip.

Mushashino Line Type 205 EMU is arriving in the fourth clip, with audible flat spots. There's no grade crossings on the Musashino Line, so it's possible the flat spots were a result of distracted pedestrian on the platform forcing the engineer to plug the train...?

I decided to hop onboard the flat-spotted 205 EMU, as time was running short and I didn't want to miss the Holiday Rapid Kamakura train. I get the rest of Train #4072 from the cab view of the 205 EMU and meet the opposing Musashino Line train (also 205 EMU), fifth clip.

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Am I right, most lines in Japan are narrow gauge, except the high speed lines?

Great videos, I enjoy seeing these a lot even though I have never been to the Far East. Man, that flat spotted train was load. Surprised they ran it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/17 09:48 by CPRR.

How fast are these trains running?

Uncle Joe

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Am I right, most lines in Japan are narrow gauge,
> except the high speed lines?

That might be oversimplifying a bit, but for the privatized JNR (JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Kyushu, JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku), non-HSR tracks are "narrow" gauge or 1067 mm. To the Japanese, 1067 mm is "standard" gauge. Shinkansen Lines are 1435 mm or 4' 8.5" gauge, but there are non-HSR Shinkansen Lines, for example, Akita and Yamagata Shinkansen Lines. Most freight trains travel on 1067 mm gauge as far as I know.

There are other profitable railroads that were not part of the government-run JNR, and gauges vary, but most of them are either 1067 mm (Tokyo area) or 1435 mm (Osaka area) as well as a handful of 1372 mm.

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How fast are these trains running?
>
> Uncle Joe

On the Musashino Line, none of the trains should be running faster than 100 km/h (62 mph), because that's the track/scheduled speed of the passenger EMUs, and the freights have to weave in between. Quick lookup of the top speed of most JR Freight trains says 95 km/h (59 mph). Typical headway on the Musashino Line is 10 minutes, but 4 minutes during the commute... not the crazy 2 minutes on busier lines like the Chuo Line, and I don't know of any freights that normally mingle in 2 minute headway territory.

In other territories, freights can stretch its legs a bit more and run 110 km/h (68 mph) with one exception, the Super Rail Cargo, which is allowed to run 130 km/h or 81 mph. On my recent trip, I ventured out in that territory, and hopefully I can post a report of that later.

It is a real pleasure to see your videos of trains of reasonable length with freight cars of reasonable size pulled by box cab electric locomotives. Also the fact that there is an amazing amount of both passenger and freight trains and the fact that passenger cars are not double deck. What with the Pennsy-style signal in the last clip, it is all just so very right! Marvelous stuff. Thanks very much for your posts.

Tom

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CPRR Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Am I right, most lines in Japan are narrow
> gauge,
> > except the high speed lines?
>
> That might be oversimplifying a bit, but for the
> privatized JNR (JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR
> Kyushu, JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku), non-HSR tracks
> are "narrow" gauge or 1067 mm. To the Japanese,
> 1067 mm is "standard" gauge. Shinkansen Lines are
> 1435 mm or 4' 8.5" gauge, but there are non-HSR
> Shinkansen Lines, for example, Akita and Yamagata
> Shinkansen Lines. Most freight trains travel on
> 1067 mm gauge as far as I know.
>
> There are other profitable railroads that were not
> part of the government-run JNR, and gauges vary,
> but most of them are either 1067 mm (Tokyo area)
> or 1435 mm (Osaka area) as well as a handful of
> 1372 mm.

Thanks very much

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for all your work on map graphics and train movements.

"...Sixth clip: Same location. I was surprised the young railfan ignored this crude oil tank train (empties), while this was a higher value target for me...."

Miss Wiki says Japan is importing vast quantities of fossil fuels, oil/gas/coal, post-Fukushima.