International Railroad Discussion > Seikan Tunnel, South Portal (Japan)

Until the construction of Switzerland's Gotthard Base Tunnel recently, Seikan Tunnel in Japan held the title for the world's longest tunnel at 53.85 km (33.46 miles).

Seikan Tunnel is an underwater railroad tunnel that connects between Honshu, the main island, and Hokkaido, the northern island. South Portal is located on the Honshu side. The tunnel started revenue service in 1988, and hosted some famous sleeper trains for almost 3 decades, including the Hokutosei, Cassiopeia, and Twilight Express. It also hosted other passenger rail services, including rapids, Limited Express Super Hakucho, and the slower and more "blue collar" sleeper express Hanamasu.

All of these trains used the 3' 6" (1067 mm) gauge tracks, but they stopped running once the 1435 mm standard gauge Shinkansen started service through the tunnel in March of 2016.

JR Freight trains (1067 mm gauge) continue to use the tunnel, and as I found out during a recent visit, they currently outnumber the Shinkansens by a considerable margin.

While it's possible to walk ~2.5 km (30 minutes) from Tsugaru Line's Tsugaru-Hamana Station to the Seikan Tunnel Portal, the Tsugaru Line DMUs make only 5 roundtrips per day, running every 2-4 hours which was too infrequent, so I rented a car at Shin-Aomori and mixed in some sightseeing along with foaming.

I showed up at the crack of dawn, and a southbound freight was already rumbling by. I caught the next southbound freight, first clip. Locomotive pulling the train is the EH800, which is used exclusively through the Seikan Tunnel to handle the voltage changes between 20,000 V AC and 25,000 V AC. Handful of green/teal 31' boxes belong to Yamato Transport Co., Japan's #1 logistics company by market share. They're equivalent to UPS in the U.S. Their trademark is the mom black cat carrying her kitten. For JR Freight foamers, that train should have been the Sapporo-Sumidagawa #3050.

I got lucky on the second clip, where I caught the Shinkansen E5s do an "unblocked meet" right at the tunnel portal. I chatted with a JR East signal maintainer later, and he confirmed I got a rare catch, since this wouldn't have occurred had both trains ran on time. Currently Shinkansens run at the reduced top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) inside the tunnel.

I wanted another southbound freight standing closer to the portal, and got it on the third clip.

The Tsugaru Line DMU is heading north in the distance in the fourth clip, just before a northbound JR Freight comes out of Hamana Tunnel #4 and into the Seikan Tunnel. More Yamato Transport 31' boxes on this train, which should have been Train #3051, counterpart to the #3050 I caught earlier.

In the fifth clip, I nab a southbound Shinkansen H5 out of the tunnel. H5 is essentially a JR Hokkaido version of the E5, with minor winter modifications. Same top speed at 320 km/h (199 mph). E5 has a reddish purple stripe., while H5 has the bluish violet stripes.

The sixth and final clip is a Luxury Surprise. More on that next.

- View of the Seikan Tunnel South Portal.
- View of the Hamana Tunnel #4 and the viewing area. Note the elevated "foamer stand" in the background.
- Video as described.

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Thanks for posting these great videos. I've got to say those passenger trains look surreal! I guess the Washington State Talgos are a step in that direction.

The last train in the video is the Train Suite Shikishima, JR East's "Cruise Train" which I caught about 5 months ago:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4305497

JR East had planned ahead and designed the Shikishima to be able to go through the Seikan Tunnel, by allowing the luxury EMU to run in ４ modes: 1500V DC, 20kV AC 50/60 Hz , 25kV AC 50 Hz for the Seikan Tunnel, and diesel-electric for areas not yet electrified.

FYI, due to Japan not standardizing transmission power, areas east and north of Tokyo (including Tokyo) are 50 Hz, while areas west and south are 60 Hz. Seikan Tunnel is under 50 Hz. The newest Shinkansen Line, the Hokuriku Shinkansen crosses the 50/60 Hz boundary several times. So while all Shinkansens operate under 25kV AC, those on the Hokuriku Line can operate under both 50 and 60 Hz.

I did some research and chose a specific day to visit the Seikan Tunnel, just so I can catch the Train Suite Shikishima coming out of the tunnel. JR East's signal maintainer I met also knew, but he kept his knowledge mum until he found out that I had calculated Shikishima's arrival within a 15 minute margin. He then shared with me his official knowledge, confident that I wasn't going to trespass and possibly get him in trouble.

Some of the freight trains I was expecting didn't show up, and he confirmed that those were cancelled, mainly due to damages caused by a recent typhoon that suspended operations in a few areas. He was "impressed" that I knew those cancelled trains by their numbers (3090, 3058) by nicely calling me a foamer. :-) (literally translated, a maniac)

- 3 rails per track, to accommodate both 1067 mm and 1435 mm gauge trains.

- Tourist map of the area, Seikan Tunnel Park. I chatted with the signal maintainer and the store keeper lady near "You are Here" on the map.

- EH800 and the freight train exiting the tunnel behind the Tunnel Shrine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/17 23:17 by cchan006.

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Three more video clips. I experimented with different angles at the Seikan Tunnel Portal. First clip is of a wider angle. Second clip is from the "foamer stand" where I try to pan a northbound from Hamana Tunnel #4 going into the Seikan Tunnel.

While driving back to Shin-Aomori to return my rental car, I stumbled onto a southbound freight waiting for a signal near Naka-Oguni, where the train had already diverged away from the Shinkansen tracks onto the 1067 mm gauge only Tsugaru Line tracks. I found a random rice field nearby, and recorded the sounds of the EH800 accelerating, third clip.

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video of the year!

Great stuff Charles! Passenger trains didn't seem to be going that fast in that area, is there a speed restriction?

Regards, Jim Evans

he says they only go 87 mph thru the tunnel maybe they go easy on approach since you can't see till you pop out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/17 08:45 by dan.

THANK YOU Charles!!!! great videos and photos.

FiveChime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great stuff Charles! Passenger trains didn't seem
> to be going that fast in that area, is there a
> speed restriction?
>
> Regards, Jim Evans

Here's a relevant discussion on that topic about 3 years ago:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3470862

The air pressure/turbulence caused by Shinkansen going faster than 140 km/h may cause the containers on a meeting freight train to dislodge inside the tunnel, hence the speed restriction. I believe testing is ongoing for the "Train on Train" concept mentioned in the link above, but none of the freights I saw that day had that apparatus.

Current proposal outside the "Train on Train" is to schedule a handful of Shinkansens to run without a meet with freights at speeds not exceeding 260 km/h (~160 mph). Rest of the Shinkansens will still run at 140 km/h (87 mph).

The Seikan Tunnel is a very important economic artery for the JR Freight trains, so speculation amongst railfans is that if a viable solution isn't implemented, JR Freight will take precedence over the Shinkansen, which is unusual in Japan where passenger trains are usually deemed more important.

Thank you.

I have been noticing when looking at these videos that Japanese freight trains never have more than twenty freight cars on their trains. Are their restrictions on the number of cars that freight trains are allowed to carry?

Jim
Hatboro, PA

Chooch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been noticing when looking at these videos
> that Japanese freight trains never have more than
> twenty freight cars on their trains. Are their
> restrictions on the number of cars that freight
> trains are allowed to carry?
>
> Jim
> Hatboro, PA

There was a similar question asked few years ago when I posted some JR Freight videos. Back then, my research wasn't thorough, so the train length (maximum of 26 cars) was more of a guess than an answer.

The answer is that excluding the locomotive, total weight of the cars can't exceed 1300 tons (metric). Maximum allowable weight of each container car (with loads) is 50 tons, so 50 x 26 = 1300 tons. While maximum allowable length varies depending on region, each container car is 20 meters long, so 520 m without the locomotive (550 m total) seems to be a good rule of thumb. My guess is that since only a handful of freights run at the maximum length, 20 cars (less than 440 m including the locomotive) seems to be the rule across entire Japan.

In recent years, there have been rare "repo" or deadhead moves of empty cars that have exceeded the 550 m length through less congested areas, so the weight limit (1300 tons) is the primary rule that is enforced for freight trains in Japan.

Very interesting video, I noticed the park bench in one shot that looks like it's for watching trains.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eib8xE5WPZY chasing trains

Your comment that an unexpected meet occurred because one of the trains was running late reminded me of a note friend sent me about Japan Railways issuing a grovelling apology when one of its bullet trains departed 20 seconds early.