Konan Railway: Combating the Snow - Japan Railway Journal

foreign in the cold winter months Railway companies operating in snowy regions work hard day and night to clear away the snow to ensure on-time operation and passenger safety Jr East which boasts the most extensive Railway Network in Japan uses state-of-the-art vehicles and equipment to clear snow from the tracks in the coal tohuku region this is the latest snow removal car it features a 1 000 horsepower engine and it can blow snow 50 meters away from the trucks clearing the equivalent of 1510 tonne containers of snow in just one hour [Music] in addition at switching points in railroad crossing snow melting devices that use heating wires and hot water keep the snow from piling up [Music] however the challenges are the same for small Railway companies battling the snow [Music] today's episode is about one such small Railway company [Music] al-muri prefecture sees some of Japan's heaviest snowfall the tsugaro region on the west side of the prefecture experiences heavy snow due to the monsoon this winter the area was hit by multiple cold fronts causing nearly one meter of snow to accumulate in just one day which is higher than in normal years Conan Railway is a private Railway company that operates two lines the Conan line and the owani line covering a total distance of about 30 kilometers [Music] Conan Railways regular trains are also equipped with snow plows however if the snow becomes too much for the regular trains to handle the dedicated snow plows are dispatched [Music] foreign Railway has two combination snow plows to clear the snow however their snowplows are only 200 horsepower one-fifth the power of Jr easts there are also lighter in weight so their capacity to remove the snow is low [Music] this combination snow plow which was manufactured about 40 years ago was first used by Japanese national Railways it was then passed on to a third sector Railway before coming to Konan Railway in 2019. one combination snowplow is deployed on each line in addition Conan Railway has two old snowplows manufactured almost 90 years ago Conan Railway uses all four snow plows to remove snow from the two lines in the case of heavy snowfall the old Russell snowplows are dispatched [Music] foreign for removing the snow starts the day before Mr Nakata is in charge of operations he checks the weather information and consists whether the snow removal Vehicles should be dispatched um on this day 10 centimeters or more of snow has been forecast to Fall by noon the next day Mr Nakata reports to his supervisor and instructs the other staff members to dispatch the combination snow plows on both lines is [Music] unfortunately the the snowplows can't be dispatched immediately Mr Nakata has to schedule the snowplows to run within the regular train schedule [Music] this is the 01e Line schedule only five of the 14 stations are bypass stations the snow plows run in between regular train services [Music] in a day the combination snowplows could make one to three round trips depending on the amount of snowfall this winter from mid-December to February the snow plows were dispatched 42 times [Music] clearing the snow begins Before Dawn this is station one of 20 unstaffed stations at Conan Railway snow removal at unstaffed stations is outsourced to Residents who live nearby foreign took on the job seven years ago because her children used the station to go to school [Music] kit [Music] miss odagiri and miss kuwate clear the snow before the first train arrives at 602 A.M [Music] this is the vehicle Depot at hiraka station six full-time employees and a few part-time workers are responsible for clearing the snow [Music] however that's not enough people to clear all the snow the station staff drivers and mechanics also shovel around the stations and the platforms foreign [Music] the snow removal staff operate a combination snowplow to clear the snow at kudoshi station on the Conan line [Music] the front and rear of the vehicle have different functions [Music] on this end is a Russell snowplow the wet shaped head pushes the snow off the tracks on the other end is a rotary snow plow and blower it gathers the snow from the tracks and blows it away [Music] three people board the vehicle the driver the snowplow operator and an assistant who keeps an eye on the surroundings snow removal by the stations is conducted carefully taking care of the signaling equipment and other devices snow on the tracks by the platform is collected by the rotary plow and pumped out the other side from the blower at the top the staff continually change and adjust the blower as they go snow that cannot be removed using the combination snowplow such as snow stuck in the gaps between switching points is cleared by hand [Music] it's also essential to clear the snow from the train crossings at Conan Railway there are 82 Crossings on the two lines unfortunately Conan Railway is unable to handle the workload alone the job of clear in the cross ends is outsourced to two construction companies that also take care of Conan Railways maintenance work [Music] once the area around kuroishi station has been plowed the staff Drive the combination snow plow to clear the tracks Conan Railway operates on a single track there is no way to change the direction of the trains so the combination snow plow always faces the same way the function of the combination snowplow depends on the direction it is facing when the combination snowplow departs kuroishi station heading to hirosaki station the Russell snowplow pushes the snow to the sides of the track at around 25 kilometers per hour at the last stop hirosaki station the combination snowplow Returns on its way back to kuroshi station the rotary snowplow collects the snow and blows it away the round trip which takes about two hours completes the morning's work after clearing the snow with the combination snow plow staff clear the snow around station buildings before the second round of snow removal it's also important to remove the snow that's accumulated on the eaves and roofs of the station buildings too much snow may lead to accidents with safety ropes attached staff climb up on the roof to clear the snow the team see to 27 stations in the time it takes to clear the tracks [Music] after the combination snowplow makes its second run clearing the snow it's time for the evening Rush Hour [Music] foreign north of Japan can get a lot of snow so during the winter time it's always a fierce battle between the railway companies and the snow yes that's right as you said in this part of Japan snow is the regular future during the winter and snow removal is also part of the operator's jobs but you can't beat the mother nature so in the severest conditions the train delays or train cancellations will be inevitable but even under that kind of circumstances Railway operators will do every effort to minimize them ah do the railway staff so the neighbors the highest can get two to and from school with a peace of mind I find that passion and also that Spirit of community really admirable Yes actually this is a common future to most other rural rallies here in Japan where the high school students and the elderly people are the main customers of their services and in the case of Conan rarely snow removal every day is actually a very critical mission for the railway company to maintain their services for these kind people in addition to the snow removal vehicle which we've seen in the video I heard that Conan Railway has two old and legendary snow plow vehicles that they still use when the snow is very heavy right yes that's right these key 100 snow plow vehicles are so old that many rail fans call them the living fossils on the rails the living fossils on the rail yes that's right all right let's go and check out those legendary old but powerful snowplow vehicles this key 100 number 104 which runs on the Kona line was manufactured in 1929. it came to Conan Railway in 1968 by way of the Japanese national railways the number 1l5 which was manufactured in 1937 and acquired in 1975 operates on the owami line [Music] foreign around 190 of these old snowplows were manufactured in Japan many used by the Japanese national Railways however most of them were scrapped as combination snowplows became popular the only one still in operation are the two here at Conan Railway and one at tsugaru Railway which also runs in almori prefecture the most distinctive feature of the key 100 snow plow is the large wet shaped head that pushes the snow to the sides of the track on the snow plows head is a flanger [Music] the flanger is lower to clear the snow that's accumulated between the tracks its race at Crossings and points the wings are located on both sides of the vehicle they push the snow cleared by the snowplow even further to the side [Music] air tanks on the roof store compressed air which Powers this snow clearing mechanisms [Music] the exterior of the snowplow is made of steel however the inside is made of wood in the car two piston cylinders on the floor move the left and right wings [Music] there is also a generator to power the headlights and the lights inside [Music] Conan Railway would rather not use the 90 year old key 100 or the 100 year old electric locomotive which are considered precious Railway heritage however they must to ensure on-time operation and passenger safety motivation today the key 100 snow plow has been called into service it seems the combination snowplow couldn't clear the snow in time the old snowplow on the all wani line is ready to go there is a cold stove for warmth two people board the vehicle the operator and his assistant the driver is one of six full-time staff the other staff are busy clearing the snow elsewhere so his assistant has come from another department to help out foreign because there is no need to drive the snowplow the cap only has controls to remove snow [Music] the old snowplow leaves to clear the snow it follows the combination snowplow that left earlier the large blade of the old Russell snowplow is able to clear more snow than the blade on the smaller combination snowplow despite its age the old snowplow is a Powerful Beast of a machine [Music] the crew up front communicate with the driver as they proceed to clear the snow the old snowplow waits for regular trains to pass at bypass stations following the combination snowplow it takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to plow the 14 kilometer line the old snowplow arrives at the station with an island platform there are tracks on both sides holding a signal flag the assistant gets off and checks that it's safe a worker by the tracks confirms the point switching [Music] first the inbound line on the left side of the platform is cleared foreign [Music] it stops at the platform's end point [Music] the assistant checks and makes sure it's safe then the snowplow backs up [Music] next the outbound line on the right side of the platform is cleared [Music] oh the snow on both sides of the platform has now been cleared [Music] continuing to clear the snow on the main line it heads to the next station [Music] foreign [Music] station [Music] these old snowplows are still a reliable part of the Conan Railways fight against the snow with four snow plows in action Conan Railway was able to keep their operation running this winter with few interruptions [Music] the snowplow vehicles are almost 100 years old and yet we can still rely on them to help us out during the cold winter yes that's right the video of key 100 artwork was really really impressive isn't it yes but in addition to this I would like to draw your attention to the locomotive that was used to push the snowplow vehicle the locomotive was manufactured in the United States in the 1920s by a company called Westinghouse and imported to Japan together with the snow plow vehicle the entire train state is actually a railway Heritage and I would like to see these vehicles working before they are taken out of service but it may be difficult because I have to you know travel right into the snow during the coldest winter to see them at work yes you might have to bring an extra warm coat before you head out but let's hope they will run for 100 years and more yeah definitely Railway topics [Music] on January 13th a press event was held for slugen trains renewed Passenger cars operated by J.R Hokkaido [Music] is the only steam locomotive tourist train in Hokkaido in Winter it operates on the Jr senma main line the renewed Passenger cars now have counter-style window seats [Music] from the train passengers can enjoy views of this stunning kushiro wetland is foreign is scheduled to operate until March 22nd [Music] on February 8th an experiment using biodiesel made from vegetable oil was conducted at Jr Central's Rolling Stock Depot in Nagoya City the vehicle used for the experiment was a new hybrid diesel car to be introduced in July this year which normally uses light oil to run its engine [Music] Jr Central hopes to reduce CO2 emissions by using vegetable oil [Music] [Music] on this day the vehicle ran 500 meters around the site Jr Central will analyze any issues found with the engine's performance and the vehicle's condition [Music] [Music]

Channel: NHK WORLD-JAPAN

Views: 74,544

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Id: qRa6pkCKQPI

Length: 28min 5sec (1685 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 08 2023