Comme ça du Japon

Let me remember… It was a saturday and my little tribe and I were out for Tôkyô. The trip was an easy one as there was only one change. While the first train was 鮨詰め (SuShiDuMe) “sushi-packed”, the second train arrived empty. I could not put my finger on it but there was something different about this train.

Maybe it had something to do with the 配置 (HaiChi) “layout” of the seats. In Japan, there are two type of layout. The most common one consists of long rows of 座席 (ZaSeki) “seats” that run between the three doors on each side of the train. The other configuration is composed of two columns of seats for 2 persons separated by a central aisle. This particular train was of the first kind except that it had 6 doors per side instead of the usual 3. No wonder why this train felt so empty with that much fewer seats.

Looking closer, I found a switch on the side of our seat. A sticker next to it read 平日の朝１０時まで座席は使用できません (HeiJitsu No Asa Jû Ji MaDe ZaSeki Ha ShiYô DeKiMaSeN) “seats can not be used until 10 AM during the week”. As explained by the drawing on the left of the text, these seats automatically flip and close themselves along the side of the car during the rush hours !

As I was browsing the web to find more information on this train, I found this site on which was featured an even more interesting japanese train. It’s a train from the 京阪電鉄 (KeiHan DenTetsu) “Keihan railways company”. It was born from the brainstorming sessions the engineers of the company went through to solve the growing problem of post-war rush hours. They naturally thought of increasing the number of doors to ease the flow of passengers. However, as it would not have been a well received move due to the high level of service expected in the Kansai area, they went back to their drawing board. They eventually went with the リバーシブル電車 5000系 (RiBa-ShiBuRu DenSha 5000Kei) “reversible train 5000″, a train which has the particularity of featuring suspended seats above the extra doors during the rush hours. After the rush hour, employees block the doors and bring down the seats to fix them on the floor. The reversible train had its first commercial run in 昭和45年 (ShôWa YonJûGo Nen) “the year 45 of the Showa era (1970)”. After several updates the model 5000 is still in service.