First, freight trains. Since passengers are not allowed to board these trains, there is no need to include them in passenger timetables. The “Freight Timetable,” published annually by the Japan Railway Freight Association, shows what freight trains are scheduled on which routes, but it does not indicate the passing time of each train at each station. Then, you cannot know the passing time of freight trains at intermediate stations. If you use the same line every day, though, you might remember. However, in some areas of JR West, I have seen cases where “freight” is indicated on departure signs. This is not for the convenience of photographing freight trains, but to alert passengers to the fact that the train is departing.
Circuit train This is another easy-to-understand category. For example, when many trains run from the suburbs to the city center during the morning rush hour, there is often little demand in the opposite direction. This causes trains arriving at the terminal station on the city center side to be turned around and returned to the depot as a round-trip train. Conversely, there are cases where trains are sent back from the depot to the terminal station in preparation for the rush hour. In addition, when the garage where the cars belong to is far away from the actual operation site, a round trip train may be set up to send the cars in or return them to the garage. It is a natural sentiment to say, “Why don’t they just operate the trains rather than send them back to the depot? Also, since there are no passengers on the trains, it is easy to make adjustments such as passing through stations along the way or stopping for long periods of time.
As we have explained before, railcars are subject to inspections required by law. After a major inspection is completed, it is necessary to confirm that the car functions properly, so a test run is conducted by actually taking the car out on the main line. Since passengers are not allowed to board the test train, it is inevitably a train that does not appear on the timetable. In addition, before a new train is put into service by a train manufacturer, a test run is conducted to confirm that the new train will function properly. In particular, new Shinkansen trains are often put into service after a certain amount of “running-in”. This is to prevent transportation disruptions due to initial breakdowns. In addition, there are cases where test trains are run on the main line for the purpose of technological development. In the case of the Tokaido Shinkansen, the first test car (J0 formation) manufactured for the N700S is a dedicated test car that is not used for sales. Whenever new equipment or systems are developed, they are placed on these cars and run on the main line. On the Tohoku Shinkansen, the newly built ALFA-X Type E956, which is a purely test car, is sometimes seen on a test run. It would be a lucky encounter.
© Source travel watch