Guest Lecture: Fumio Kurosaki

In Japan, the state-owned railways (JNR) were separated, and 6 regional passenger railways (JRs) were established in 1987. Besides JRs, many private passenger railways operate trains since Japan has a very advantageous transport market with a high population density. Accordingly, they have unique characteristics such as; 1) major urban railways operate railways in profit and do not receive subsidy; 2) while many companies operate on their network, through-train services are common among them. Certainly, major railways' management has recovered from the pandemic. However, the passenger railway sector faces challenges as the population is decreasing and it is expected this trend will continue in the future.
On the other hand, European passenger railways are operated in a market with less population density. Thus, railway policies to operate trains in an unprofitable transport market have been developed. In particular, in recent years, railway operations have been changing following EU regulations. Thus, characteristics of railway operation in EU countries show stark contrast with the one in Japan.
The seminar shows the contrast between the railway operation in Japan and the one in EU Countries. He concludes that, although recent EU rail regulations are not appropriate for the Japanese rail market, Japan should study lessons from the EU transport policy, in which the public sector is supporting public transport actively.