「ふるさと銀河線」活用による都市間鉄道輸送の改善

抄録

The purpose of this study is to consider the possibility to apply a third-sector railway “Furusato-gingasen”, for improvement the service level of transportation between central and eastern Hokkaido. Most of the lines which were separated from JNR (Japan National Railways-the forerunner of Japan Railways) were reborn as thirdsector railways. But the plans of management to maintain the minimal level of transportation infrastructure had not been discussed enough. The environment of transportation in rural areas is expected to become more difficult after the relaxation of restrictions on supply and demand adjustment in mass transit. The economy of Hokkaido Chihoku-kogen Tetsudo Company, the owner of the “Furusato-gingasen”, is not healthy just like other third-sector railways in rural areas. New countermeasures should be estimated and tried at this critical turning point.
The first step was test calculation of the high speed improvement utilizing the “Furusato-gingasen”. We had a result that it would cost approximately four billion yen. We also analyzed the attitudes of the residents in Kitami and Abashiri who usually use railways. As the result of the simulation by a modal choice model, it was clear that application of the “Furusato-gingasen” would be able to raise the share of railway transportation between Sapporo and cities in eastern Hokkaido.