At the best of times it has been difficult to get information in English on the local trainlines in Tohoku, and probably to be fair for the whole of Japan. There is a distinct preference for providing information on the well travelled, more frequent and more profitable Shinkansen lines. Since the earthquake it has been much worse - which lines are open, which are not, which are going to be repaired, which are being written off.
In Itoku supermarket in Takanosu the other day they were having an exhibition of photos from trainlines in the north of Tohoku. There was a big map of the local lines which was instructive.
The blue on the map show private / non JR lines.
The red lines on the map show lines that have not been reconstructed.
The black lines are the JR lines.
The situation continues to improve. The Hachinohe line was re-opened between Hachinohe and Kuji on 17 March. Kit Kat are now selling packets of Kit Kats promoting the Sanriku rail lines. JR is promoting the coast as a destination again. There is much to be done still, particularly at the human level, but in terms of infrastructure, JR is doing very well.
The map below is quite helpful for planning a seishun 18 kippu.
There will probably be another post to follow.
Local trains of Tohoku - this will need to be opened in a new tab to get the writing big enough. |
A clean copy without my scribblings... |
2 comments:
It looks as if JR got its act together looong before Tepco and the government. I know their job was much smaller, but they seem to be much more Organized with a capital O.
Did you buy that KitKat? Photo? Guess who loves KitKats? :D
I did buy it. I bought two actually. But to my dismay I don't have a photo. They are actually "world packs" sold as a pack of 13 - 5 from the UK, 5 from Aus and 3 from Japan. I bought them in Odate and assumed I could get them back here easily - but have yet to see them. It's possible that it's a Tohoku promotion? Not sure. Will keep up the search!
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