A Hokuriku Shinkansen train departs Fukui Station on September 13.
6:00 JST, October 14, 2024
FUKUI / TSURUGA, Fukui — The Hokuriku Shinkansen, which will be extended to Tsuruga Station on March 16, is an emerging alternative to the Tokaido Shinkansen, which connects Osaka and Tokyo.
Due to typhoons in August and September this year, the Tokaido Shinkansen was sometimes forced to cancel services, prompting many passengers to take the Hokuriku Shinkansen instead. Some experts are now calling for the planned extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Osaka to be accelerated in case a disaster puts the Tokaido Shinkansen out of service for an extended period of time.
According to West Japan Railway Co. When the Tokaido Shinkansen schedule was disrupted this year by the approach of Typhoons Ampil and Shanshan, fourteen additional bullet trains operated along the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line on four days – August 16, 30, 31 and September 31. 1. It takes about twice as long to travel between Shin-Osaka and Tokyo on the Thunderbird limited express and Hokuriku Shinkansen trains, but passengers jumped at the opportunity.
On August 31, the platform at Tsuruga Station – the transfer station from the Thunderbird to the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train – was packed with passengers.
“I was stuck in Kyoto because the Tokaido Shinkansen was suspended,” said a 24-year-old man heading to Yokohama from a business trip to Kyoto. “I can’t wait any longer because it affects my work.”
A 39-year-old man from Shijonawate, Osaka Prefecture, was on his way to a concert in Tokyo that day. With the Tokaido Shinkansen as an option, he decided to take the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
“I am happy that the Hokuriku Shinkansen exists. I hope it will be expanded to Osaka soon. That would make it even more convenient,” he says.
Construction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line between Tsuruga and Shin-Osaka has not yet started. Three stops will eventually be built along the route in Higashi-Obama, Kyoto and Matsuiyamate. If all goes well, the construction plan should be approved around March 2026 at the earliest.
There is a good chance that the Tokaido Shinkansen will be hit by a natural disaster.
On August 8, emergency information about a possible megaquake in the Nankai Trough was first issued after a very strong earthquake in the Hyuganada Sea near Miyazaki Prefecture.
In response, Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) the speed of the Tokaido Shinkansen between Mishima and Mikawa-Anjo stations from August 8 to 15, which caused a delay of about 10 minutes. The company said it will suspend services altogether if the threat of an earthquake increases again in the future.
The planned linear Chuo Shinkansen magnet line, which has yet to be completed, is another alternative. However, Seiji Abe, professor emeritus at Kansai University, said the line’s transportation capacity will be limited compared to the Tokaido Shinkansen.
“If disasters or other events breach the Tokaido Shinkansen line, transportation will be severely restricted, which will have a major impact on reconstruction and the economy,” Abe said. “The Hokuriku Shinkansen Line should be developed all the way to Osaka as a national infrastructure, not only from the perspective of profitability but also for emergency relief.”
Fukui City blooms with dinosaur, help after 6 months
The area in front of Fukui Station has the highest land prices of all commercial areas in Fukui Prefecture. Land prices have risen since the Shinkansen stopped there.
Six months have passed since the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line was extended from Kanazawa to Tsuruga stations, and the extension has had a positive impact on tourism and business in Fukui Prefecture.
“We had promoted our prefecture solely on the backs of the dinosaurs, but our brand awareness has increased enormously thanks to the expansion,” Fukui Governor Tatsuji Sugimoto said at a press conference on September 6. The governor indicated that the prefecture’s promotional activities, which had been carried out mainly in the Kanto region, proved effective.
Four new Shinkansen stations have been built in Fukui: Awaraonsen, Fukui, Echizen-Takefu and Tsuruga. The prefectural government went all out on its identity as a “dinosaur kingdom” with many unearthed dinosaur fossils.
Since its reopening in July last year, a record 1.18 million people have visited the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum every year. After the line’s extension, visitors to the museum from the Kanto-Koshin region, including Tokyo, accounted for 25.5% of the total, an increase of 5.5 percentage points from before the extension.
The number of large-scale academic and economic conferences held in the prefecture also increased, with the number of conferences with 50 participants or more rising from 80 in the 2023 financial year to almost 130 – including those yet to be held – this financial year, after the extension had been announced. completed.
On the other hand, the number of tourists staying overnight in the prefecture dropped by about 10% after the extension from the pre-pandemic year of 2019, with many likely visiting the prefecture and leaving the same day.
“It is a challenge to maintain the current growth,” said specially appointed Prof. Masaru Nambo of Jin-ai University, a Hokuriku Shinkansen expert. “It will be necessary to come up with ways to convey the appeal of the different areas along the line other than with dinosaurs.”
