Japanese Trains

While the common scheme was to just hand the highest bidder the ownership of trains and hope for the best, the Japanese government offered control over everything even remotely related to train travel: rails, stations, scheduling, even the signals! But this generous offer didn't come for free. The new patron of the Japanese railway can get it all, but in exchange, the new owner won't get any government funds. Seems risky - yes, but fair.

The Japanese railways were privatized in 1987, and it wasn't scattered companies that bought the right to handle different regions of the country as the system is in the UK even today. No, a lion's share of all railway traffic in the country is the responsibility of JR Group, an assembly of seven very similar companies tightly working together.

If something needs to be changed, the decision has to go through a much smaller number of management teams (all within a single company!) than anywhere else, and it saves a lot of time and money.

​By taking a leap of faith and deciding to swim against the current, Japan took a big risk, which turned out to be the best possible way they could have gone. As the result, all the power to make decisions turned out centralized in one big company that is profitably motivated to keep relentlessly improving their services!

The Land of the Rising Sun boasts not only one of the most advanced train systems in the world but also one of the most extensive ones. The web of the railway lines covers the whole country, so it's hardly a surprise that rail travel in Japan is extremely popular among locals and tourists alike. Legendary Shinkansen and limited express trains both boast incredibly fast travel times, and short-distance trains allow traveling to even small remotely-located villages. What is more, the Japanese famously value punctuality above all, and Japan's trains are no exception. The average annual delay of a train is just 54 seconds, can you believe it?

Japanese train stations might seem absolutely chaotic. The crowds, the train departure signals, and the general atmosphere of high-alert might be overwhelming when you visit the station for the first time. Seeing all railway stuff constantly pointing all over the place and loudly speaking to no one in particular definitely doesn't help. But like everything else train-related in Japan, this strange practice is meant to increase employees' efficiency. The trick is that when there are multiple senses associated with each step, it significantly increases the workers' awareness even during the routine actions they repeat several times throughout the day, erasing the possibility of workplace mistake by 85%!