JapaneseRailwayHistory-铁路现代化和新干线.docVIP

Japanese Railway History 10Railway Modernization and Shinkansen?Yasuo Wakuda Progress of Electrification and Diesel ConversionIn the late-1950s—some 10 years after World War II—Japans economy had recovered to the pre-war level and started remarkable growth. The share of railways in the domestic transport market was still so large that the economic growth called for increased passenger and freight capacities. Heavy investment was made in the 1960s to hasten modernization of trunk lines.Up to the wars end, the Japanese government railways (JNR after 1949) had relied on steam power, whereas private urban railways had already been electrified, and small and medium-sized local private railways were using rail-cars more-and-more. Electrification of government lines was limited to the Tokyo and Osaka areas and sections containing long tunnels. Many of the private railways nationalized during the war had been electrified lines and in 1950, JNRs electrified lines accounted for 1659 km (8%) of the total route length of 19,786 km. Most were 1500-volt DC systems.After the war, electrification was promoted chiefly on the major trunk lines. The Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Osaka was completely electrified in 1956, followed by the Sanyo Line running to the western tip of Honshu (the main island) in 1964, the Tohoku Line running to the northern tip of Honshu in 1968, and the Kagoshima 鹿儿岛Line running to the southern tip of Kyushu九州 in 1970. The total length of JNRs electrified sections increased from 2699 km (13%) in 1960 to 6021 km (29%) in 1970, and to 8414 km (39%) in 1980.In addition to the 1500-volt DC system used on the Tokaido and Sanyo lines, etc., the AC system, which became common in post-war Europe, started being adopted in Japan in the late 1950s. Japan has two power frequency zones: the Tohoku Line in the east, mostly uses 50 Hz, 20 kV, while the Kagoshima Line in the west, operates on 60 Hz, 20 kV. Trunk routes running along the Sea-of-Japan coast, had to