Quick calculation reveals the running at 300 km/h instead of 160 km/h in this section would only make around 10 minutes difference. And can we even run trains at such high speeds through a long tunnel safely? With 210 km/h, the difference would only be 4-5 minutes. In my opinion, all of this isn't worth the downsides of reducing freight traffic. On the contrary, Japan could use more freight traffic, I believe, as this is currently very limited.

I think this is a matter of speeding up the tohoku shinkansen up as much as possible between Utsunomiya and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to allow slow speeds in the seikan-tunnel. This can be achieved by everything Takeshi-san had discussed on previous videos. This being: >Sound dulling barriers >Track and safety system upgrades >General speed upgrades >New rolling stock I'm merely speculating but maybe if speeds elsewhere are optimized the the Seikan-tunnel bottleneck might become an acceptable obstacle.

Hi Takeshi-san! I remember JR Freight & JR Hokkaidō were looking at building theトレイン・オン・トレイン (Train on Train) concept.... It is a similar idea to the Le Shuttle car/bus/truck carrier trains used in the Channel Tunnel, but I think it would be much faster! With high-speed standard gauge locos at each end, they could load an entire JR Freight train, run it through the Seikan Tunnel at Shinkansen speed, then unload at the other end! It could be a significant speed gain to both Shinkansen and JR Freight services.

Seems Takeshi-san is going to deeper topic that other has requested, and your topic has not even mentioned in Japanese Mei Train series, so keep it up!

so glad i found your channel, thank u

This may sound like a really stupid question/idea. Could a (not very thick but strong) wall be built in between the tracks in the Seikan Tunnel so each track is physically separated? If the tracks have a wall built in between them, a higher speed limit could be implemented since there would be less of a worry about wind pressure on passing freight trains. Maybe the 2 closed stations in the tunnel could be adapted to provide better ventilation to handle the wind pressure changes to allow higher speeds as well. Construction would take a very long time I imagine, but the Skinkansen line to Sapporo is still nearly a decade from being completed.

Just discovered this channel! Keep uploading more videos Takeshi-san! 🙏

Hi Takeshi, As well as the pressure issue, a fast running Shinkansen train will catch-up with a slower running freight train running in front. I don't think it would be possible to make the freight trains faster, so it seems as though a separate freight tunnel may be the only answer. However... the benefit and cost of this would need to be carefully considered, and other areas of Japan (e.g. Shikoku) may ask why they are not receiving Shinkansen investments...

英語だったけど、世界中のどの動画よりもわかりやすく丁寧な解説だったと思います。 投稿主様は日本の生活が長いから鉄道運輸機構(JRTT)とか三セク(semi-public)とJR貨物の線路使用料と貨物調整金のこともご存じだとお見受けします。 本件動画を翻訳しつつ拝見して思ったことは、これが日本語だったら日本人にも青函トンネルにおける貨物列車と新幹線の問題について理解できたと思います。 おそらく、日本人でもここまで理解している人は少ないでしょうね。先に述べた貨物調整金のことはそこまで一般に知られていないと思います。 最後に、11:55　引退した特急の動画がうれしかったです。今は苫小牧(だったと思います)に廃車放置されていてかなり劣化しているそうですが、在りし日の特急を紹介していただいたのは、日本の鉄道に相当な理解があるのでしょうね。 長文失礼しました。

They may have to revive the "train on train" idea that will allow JR Freight containers to travel through the Seikan Tunnel at 210 km/h. It would require marshalling yards at Kikonai on the Hokkaido side and just south of the Doai Tunnel on the Honshu side, though.

8:21 both lines are parts of the Tohoku Main Line but managed by a different company. JR East has thru services to the Iwate Ginga Railway.

Can you explain how freight trains are organized in Japan? Is it all container based traffic and containers are just loaded and unloaded at the train stops along the route of the freight train? Or is shunting of cars done at the various stations?

This is a very big issue, indeed - but if JR Hokkaido is in the position that they do not receive a lot of benefit for allowing freight operations on their lines, then it makes sense they would want to focus on the Shinkansen. We know there is too much freight traffic now to effectively schedule enough 'off time' to offer exclusive slots to Shinkansen trains. It seems that further research into things like the 'train on train' concept has not resulted in a workable solution yet, either. If there is no resourcing for the proposed road/rail combined tunnel from your previous video, the situation will look more and more dire as the Shinkansen extension to Sapporo gets closer to completion. It will be hard for companies like the South Hokkaido Railway to survive, and hard to justify continued operation of main lines that will be paralleled by the Shinkansen if no freight can run on them, which as you say, will likely further contribute to the decline of conventional railways in Hokkaido. Maybe shorter distance sea ferrying is an option, say between the southern Hokkaido ports and Hachinohe, or a physical partition between the inbound and outbound tracks in the tunnel... but if these solutions were simpler, no doubt they would already have been proposed.

We need 360 kph all way to Sapporo

I guess the only reasonable solution for now, is to use a detection system for shinkansen trains to slow down to 160km/h when a freight train is expected to pass on the opposite direction.

It is fine as is in my opinion, Even with the fastest speed Shinkansen it will still be 4 hours to sapporo and 3.5 hours to Hakodate from Tokyo which is alot slower than an airplane. The plane will be 2-3 hours so the only Japanese who will ride the Haybusa to Hokkaido will be from the Tohoku region, and maybe Tochigi Prefecture which is quite small. Most of the Shinkansen riders to Hokkaido are JR pass holders, and they are less time sensitive than business travelers who will just fly to Sapporo or Hakodate. The importance of the Freight Trains is huge, as it is much faster than the Ship, when moving goods and raw materials between Honshu and Hokkaido.

I am waiting for the train on train solution for Freight trains! :D

The trackage between the two points where the freight trains join the Shinkansen line is mostly straight, right? What if the speed of the freight trains was increased on this section, could there be a way?

...the "idea" to abandon freight trains for the "convenience" to be a few minutes earlier in Sapporo ...is just laughable, i mean sure...no jobs, empty stores, no goods, no heat, no food, no defence...but at least you are there 30 minutes faster...oh boy, sometimes people are just insanely stupid. Everybody should admire and rejoice in the success of freight trains, they are keeping the economy moving (and don't ever switch entirely to trucks, as some "genius" people decided to be done decades ago here in Germany and Europe, the same people now complaining about broken roads and bridges, pollution and endless traffic jams). Every freight train is a reason to be happy, because it is the most efficient and fastest way to carry things from one place to another on land🚂🚇💨😄

How bout build a second Shin-Seikan tunnel. It takes a lot of time but so does Sapporo shinkansen. Also you could do a video on why Chuo shinkansen and Sapporo shinkansen take so long to build.

I wonder what drivers get payed, when there is such a shortage of drivers there.

Why are there no shinaknsen freight trains?

How many Freight trains are operating in the Saikan Tunnel? Why not use the tunnel daytimes for high speed operation only und at night for freight trains? In Germany for example the older ICE Routs (Hannover - Würzburg & Mannheim Stuttgart) operate in this mode. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mM-Zfs6k2N6yYYk.html