on June 3, 2025
Published on April 30, 2025 Updated on April 30, 2025

Guest Lecture : Fumio Kurosaki

Comparison of Railway Operation between Japan and EU countries

Dr. Kurosaki is a professor at Toyo University in Japan and a Fellow in Residence at CY AS. He has 31 years of experience in the railway sector and specializes in railway management. In 2008, he gained PhD from the University of Leeds with his thesis titled "An Analysis of Vertical Separation of Railways." In addition to his career in a Japanese railway company and academic work, he has also rich experience in consulting for overseas railways as a railway policy specialist.

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.


Date: June 6th, 2025 from 2pm to 3pm.

The hybrid guest lecture is organised in person at the H008 meeting room of MIR in Neuville-sur-Oise and remotely on Zoom.

To attend the remote guest lecture, please connect to Zoom:  https://cyu-fr.zoom.us/j/92960873078

The video will be online on the CY AS YouTube channel