In case you haven't been able to tell, I like trains, alot.
More than trains though, what fascinates me more is the transportation web and logistical capabilities that trains often bring. The busiest train station in the world, Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, serves approximately 3.5 million commuters a day. In our digital age, it can be difficult to put that number into perspective, but thats nearly the population of Berlin Germany! Just imagine the logistics of it all. In this page, im gonna provide a very brief overview of railways present around where I used to live in Japan, the Keihanshin metropolitan area.
In case you're not familiar with Japan's railway system, the railway system is heavily regulated, but privatized. In 1987, the government of Japan dissolved the state-owned Japanese National Railways into several regional companies, collectively known as Japan Railroads or JR. There are 6 major passenger JR companies.
For our purposes, we will be looking at JR West, as this is the railroad that served my area. In addition to the large JR company, there are 4 other smaller minor companies: Hankyu, Keihan, Nankai and Kintetsu. JR-West's market share in the Keihanshin region is roughly equal to the 4 smaller companies put together. In addition to these companies, there are also relatively small underground metros that run through the cities. Note that in this case "relatively small" is approximately 400,000 commuters/day.
Though they are competing companies, it is difficult to understate how intertwined and codependent these companies are to each other. They often position their train stations right across the street from each other to make it easier for commuters to change lines! A prime example can be seen near JR Osaka station, with 6 seperate train stations operated by 4 seperate companies (technically Hankyu and Hanshin are the same company but they aren't completely consolidated) all within 5 minutes of each other.
It feels paradoxical, confusing and unintuitive, because it is. And yet, it works.
Im putting this video of the irl station this website is based off here because I dont have anywhere else right now
also u should sign my guestbook
