TOKYO’S railways carry more than 50% of travellers in the metropolitan area, with over 60 million journeys made every day. The competing operators ’are all making profit while keeping sound management’. KISS-Rail examines how this is achieved, and how the railways have tackled the problems encountered when operating and maintaining urban lines.
The book has been compiled by the Study Team on Environmentally-Friendly Urban Railways, following a three-year survey of experiences of railway operators in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. Prof Shigeru Morichi, President of the Institute for Transport Policy Studies, and Prof Hitoshi Ieda from the University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering led the team of authors. They hope that details of Japanese experience will prove of use in cities across Asia and beyond, helping to build up knowledge in areas with little local experience of urban rail.
The 290-page English-language book begins with the requirements for a successful urban railway, looking at city structures and scale. The second chapter considers planning and design, ranging from identifying target markets to the selection of gauge and management structure. The third chapter considers procurement and financial planning, and the fourth covers project evaluation and demand forecasting. Co-ordination of development and road planning is highlighted in chapter five, and integration with other modes is the subject of chapter six. A section on construction is followed by a round-up of safety, security, punctuality and reliability issues. The final chapter looks at measures to increase earnings.
´2250 from Japan Railway Technical Service,
Taiyokan Building, 2-27-8 Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-0033
Fax: +81 3 5684 3170
