高松都市圏における地方鉄道経営再建に関する事例研究^†

抄録

　　Railways, including local railways, serve as a form of public transport, and public transport is a constituent element of social infrastructure that helps support the lives of passengers.　While it can be said that railways exist for the sake of their passengers, the converse is not true.　Sound railway management cannot be readily sustained without a considerable number of passengers.　With Japan now facing a downturn in total population, ensuring a sufficient pool of potential passengers within station territories has become a significant business challenge for local railway lines in particular.　Ensuring sufficient populations within station territories is a nearly impossible task for a railway business, necessitating some form of outside assistance.　Following the abolition of supply-demand adjustment regulations in 2000, recent years have seen an increasing number of local railway companies undergo transfers of management, making case studies on management revitalization of local railway companies of substantial social importance.
　　This case study focuses on management revitalization of the Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad （Kotoden） in the Takamatsu urban area by employing the following analysis techniques:
　1）　Factor analysis of Kotoden’s successful management revitalization and comparisons with the findings of case studies on the Kishigawa Line
　2）　Detailed GIS （Geographic Information System） based analysis of changes in the populations of station territories along Kotoden lines
　3）　Analysis of the relationships between Kotoden’s successful management revitalization and urban planning
　4）　Comparative analysis with other urban areas
　　The authors are convinced that the findings of this case study offer valuable information on successful management revitalization of local railways, given that success in this instance can be attributed to the fact that Kotoden’s management revitalization was authorized in recognition of its value as a public transport provider in the context of urban planning for the Takamatsu urban area.
　　　This case study was also able to show the utility and importance of analyzing population changes in station territories using GIS （100 m mesh population data）.
　　This research further demonstrated that tripartite management by local governments along the Kotoden railway lines, residents living along these lines （passengers）, and the railway company itself are all major factors in the success of the management revitalization undertaken by this local railway company.
JEL Classifications:O18, R14, R42