Aomori – Akita

East or West, cant decdie, this graphic shows some of the options to travel out of Aormori

On second thought, it doesnt really show alot, I was just playing in Inkscape, thought it looked cool. The dotted lines are other train lines. The caligraphy shows the two main lines out of Aomori. That heavy dashed line is the scenic detour. There are so many routes cross crossing the country I cant decide what to do. I might post a West Coast/East Coast/Mountain Route from Aormori to Tokyo

Taking the very scenic coastal route.

AOMORI 0738

KAWABE 0817 640M

KAWABE 0903

HIGASHINOSHIRO 1213 8522D

The problem or advantage is that there is so much choice with getting around Japan. You can travel across and around the country without ever crossing or backtracking. The other interesting thing is that almost all the companies are privately owned. While JR run most of the buses and rail in the country quite a number of prefectures have either local government run or privately run operations. East of Higashinoshiro is Takanosu where you can get the Akita inland railway.

HIGASHINOSHIRO 1223

TAKANOSU(JR) 1247 647M

Walk to the next station

Yoshi Mori Express…or local train

TAKANOSU 1401 1511

KAKUNODATE 1601 1742

Hakodate – Aomori

The seikan tunnel. There are only 11 trains a day, all Limited Expresses. You can arrange to visit the underwater station of Tappikaitei, southbound the times are:

Hakodate 1040

Tappikaitei 1149

Tappikaitei 1359

Aomori 1445

There are only 2 trains a day that make the stop at the Tappikaitei tunnel station.

At 100m below sea level it is one of the worlds deepest stations.

Aomori was the end of the line before the tunnel openeed. A ferry still stands as a permanent museum.

Sapporo – Hakodate

Trains are not a popular for of transport for this journey, mainly due to the fact that you have to change train 3 times to travel via the Seikan tunnel.

Sapporo is the capital. Traveling onwards you can go east or west, again the slow train west on the Chitose Line

0913 SAPPORO (or any 15 mins up to 1130) 3853M

0958 OTARU 34km

change to the Muroran Line

1220 OTARU 2940D (5 trains a day)

1521 OSHAMAMBE +140km 2940D

and again to the Hakodate Main Line

1616 OSHAMAMBE 2846D (6 trains a day)

1734 MORI +63km 2846D

1940 MORI (5 trains a day)

2020 ONUMA +22km 822D (15 trains a day)

2107 HAKODATE +50km

Kind of a late arrival and a big trip, alternately I could break the trip at Oshamambe.

0806 OSHAMAMBE

0905 MORI 68km 3820D

1121 MORI

1201 ONUMA 3824D

1237 HAKODATE +50km

In fact you can set out and hop on and off trains all day along these routes as they carries quite a bit of traffic, being the main line from Sapporo to the mainland.

Local train rollingstock seems to be the JNR 700 series, either the 711, 721 or 731 series EMU

The  785 & 789 series are reserved for the limited express servicves.

781, with its distinct raised cab, once was the limited express, is now more and more relegated to local services.

JR Hokkaido also run numerous DMU services further away from Sapporo

Wakkanai & Hokkaido

The north island of Japan, Hokkaido.

Wakkanai seems an interesting little place. (Arriving at 3.30pm.)

There are around 3 express trains a day running to Sapporo. Taking 5hrs.

Japan is a public transport bonanza. JR have most of the details on their site about express and limited services. For local trains the listing on the JR site is only in Japanese. However there are other places to get local timetables in english.

To get to the Next island you have to hop on an off a couple of trains, however they are well coordinated.

The prices are easy to get used to.

You pay roughly by distance travelled. sound simple enough

+ Extra for Limited Express (LEX) or Nozomi or Hikari

+ a fee for 1st class (Green Car) or sleeper (-510 yen discount if you take a LEX)

All sounds very fair, 1/3 extra for 1st class is a sign of a very egalitarian society.

A ticket from Hakata to Tokyo (1000km) is…

13,440 yen + 8,880 yen for Nozomi Train (very fast) + 7,440 for Green Car – 510 yen = 29250 yen or about AU$290

Now for a 1000km trip that only takes 5 hours (200km/h), 1st class that’s a bargain.

To give a comparison from home, a 1300km/24hr train trip in Queensland on the Tilt Train, Business class will set you back AU$240; Eurostar was shorter and 1st class would have cost $750

Or you can add about 30-40% more time and take local trains only. Just because its harder I’ll take that option.

Oh, and unusual for Japan, most of the trains that run north of Sapporo are DMU’s.

Ill let the DMV website talk about the unique little form of local transportation. Its certainly quirky, it doesnt look like it will see much widespread use. 1stly the time and logistics involved in changing modes, the other is the capacity (16).

There used to be an overnight sleeper train between Wakkanai and Sapporo, the Rishiri dont know what has happened to it

Soya Main Line

its single line working as fas as Ashahiawa, then dual electrified line to Sapporo

There are 3 local trains that can get you there in one day, 0600, 1000 and 1400.

Total cost the cheap route is ¥7140, about 30% less that the Super-Soya, although twice as long.

JNR Kiha 54 provide to motive power for most local trains on this line.

0600 WAKKANAI 0km 4326D

0840 OTOINEPPU 130km 4326D

0920 OTOINEPPU 4328D

1021 NAYORO +53km 4328D

1106 NAYORO 324D

1255 ASAHIKAWA +76km 324D

Change to the Electrified system to Sapporo

1341 ASAHIKAWA 2192M

1522 IWAMIZAWA +96km 2192M

1535 IWAMIZAWA 3446M (Also more leave at 1605/1635/1705 … 2305)

1618 SAPPORO +40km 3446M

For some more info on JR Hokkaido see this interesting article on JRTR

Sakhalin – Wakkani

Russia to Japan.

The Heartland Ferry a day covers the 170km journey in 5h30min.

Departure dates vary considerably between winter and summer. Approximately 2-3 times a week during summer.

Dep Korsakov 1200 (Russia Time)

Arrival in Wakkani 1730 (Japan Time is -2h ie 1530)

Train station is quite near the ferry terminal

Sakhalin Oblast

The main center is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. There are regular buses or a train service.

Train 695 | Kholmsk – Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk | 0445 – 1106

An annoying time to depart but good for making the most of your day. The line offers some amazing views running north along the coast then winding through the hills to run south again. There is a southern route that seems to run directly across the mountians taking around 100k, it seems this route is not in use, at least by passenger trains. Its a shame as the countryside is quite spectacular.

Sakhalin is an oil rich island, but without so much of that annoying envionmental legislation to get in the way of the oil companies.

This is not a place you can visit in winter, only between March and October. Outside that the tempurature can get as chilly as -40deg C

Tunnel to the mainland

During 1950 a plan was hatched by Stalin to connect Sakhalin to Russia. Lines up and down Sakhalin were already in place. This hastened the building of the main line from Poronyansk, half way up the island to, Pobedino then to Nogliki . A line from Pobedino to Pogbini would carry the mainland connection.

Studies were carried out to make the crossing at the narrowest point of the straight Pogbini, a crossing of only 9km.

Sadly this railway was build using gular labour. Some 12000-9000 prisoners worked on the line. Almost the entire land was constructed by hand, very little machinery was used.

Stalin died in 1953, after 3 years of work, 22 days after his death, the amnesty of prisoner began and the camps dissolved.

The work was carried out simultaneously across the route. A mystery surround how much of the tunnel was actually built, some say only plans were made, other say that it lies under the straight, flooded under the waves.

After 1950’s more work was done to slowly complete the line as far north as Noglik.

On the mainland a line runs north from Komsomolsk along the Amur river. Only a road runs as far as the little seaside town of Lazarev.

It is hard to imagine they continued building for 3 years summer and winter.

Since the Trans Asia Railway has been promoted in the 90’s the Russians are again looking at a Japan – Moscow – Europe railway. Only 9km to bridge to Russia and 50km to Japan, by modern tunneling or even bridging standards this is a short hop. The other remaining barrier, gauge conversion, Sakhalin went with 1067mm, after the Japanese established the 1st lines and locomotives.

Tunneling Article pdf

Oil

This century has see Sakhalin run by the Russian and Japanese. WW2 it was a war zone. Before and after this it was more know for its prisons than for its mining and fishing industry.

Only the last 50 years has seen the oil & gas reserves here exploited. They are said to be the world largest. Conditions for workers and development seem to relect a (forgive the americanism) Wild west scene.

Shell was the biggest driller in the area until the Russians began their own companies pushing the dutch multinational to one side.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups are getting more and more interested in this place, as untouched by humans as it is, only 11% is nature reserves. And the laws of protection are not nearly as strict as European or North American nations.

Coming from a area that has some minig towns, sure there is lots of money. But at the end of the day you dont get alot of hospitals, schools, libraries, parks, clean air things that you can value your whole life. You generally get alot of bars, hotels, and eventually police, fire and ambulances.

Vanino – Kholmsk

Rumors of a ferry service. Other than air this is the only access russia has to the Sakhalin Oblast. There are 2 trips a day. Trip takes around 10 hrs. The ferries take passengers trucks and railway wagons. The ferries leave when they are full.

Vanino

A port built to rival Vladivostok as the eastern port of Russia. The urban area is spread across three harbors and includes other townships.

The first harbor has the port and township of Vanino. Small but significant in that it is the main link Sakalin has to Russia.

The second harbor is home to a Russian airforce base and old naval supply depot. Google earth show a couple of warships and some rusting submarines (small ones). During the 70’s when the Baikal-Amur Magistral was built, this tail end from Amur to Vanino, as well as opening up Sakahlin and Vanino, was constructed as a reserve pacific port to Vladivostok.The military base has been here since the late 1800’s.

The third harbour is home to the bigger town of Sovetska Gavan.

Khabarovsk – Vanino

Only two trains make the whole trip on the slow and winding route.

The route forms the eastern most part of the Baikal Amur Mainline. Another amazing feat of soviet and Russian engineering. Rare little youtube videos online. The main section of the line parallels the Trans-Siberian route for over 3500km.

Khabarovsk – Vanino | 855km

0130 – 0037 | Train 351

1658 – 2306 | Train 953

A long stop is made the following day (+10hrs) in Komsomolsk for 1-3 hours. They turn the train here as the BAM line forks here with the sharp end of the wye going in to the city center.

It would be possible to break the journey at a couple of places and still manage to sleep on the trains.

Khabarovsk

Nice place. Only 30km from Chain, no major links, the road links make this another major trading city.