Reshaping of Joban Railways

The Reshaping of Joban Railways was a plan outlined by Kowloon-Canton Railway Board member and Minister for Transport, Richard Beeching, to rationalise the Joban railway network by almost 1000 kilometres. Railways that were deemed unprofitable or overlapping were demoted to freight branches only or were completely demolished. The booklet contains a summary of lines to be closed and the reasons given.

Factors

The criterion for the specified local lines were:

Lines that are too short and serve little to no purporse

Lines that are overlapping with more than 3 lines paralelling the same area

Lines that incur a debt equal to or more than 500% of yearly income

Lines that have been slated for abandonment due to disrepair

Lines that require repairs costing greater than 6 years of income of the line

Lines that run service to areas suffering from Rural-Urban migration with at least 60% population loss trends

Lines with less than 1 service a day

Freight branches that serve single industries

Outrage

Taken from the news report of that day:

"This has enraged multiple towns such as Aki and Esplande, Reimu since the only serving transport has been losing money ever since they were built, thus the public has been protesting at Fuka KCR Office, to no avail, MPs of the towns will be attending the meeting at City Hall next week to discuss about railways that will be closed, it is expected over 1000 miles of track will be removed and will be replaced by a efficient bus service."

- Sorano Times, 11 Febuary 2022

Specified Local Lines

The Specified Local Lines was a list of lines that were slated for closure, and to either be closed completely or replaced with a bus service.

Line

Name	Company	CJK	Reason	Fate
Ome Line	Harmony Rail Transit (Joban)	青梅線	"The section from Ome to South Beach can no longer be serviced by cross-border train services, and therefore traffic on the line has fallen to less than 1 service per day. The line's operating costs are 800% of income, and so this line has been slated for demolition. A replacement bus service is not advised, as there is little to no traffic in the region."	Scrapped
Keio Line	KCR	京王線	"The Keio Line is an extremely short branch line, with an entire journey taking 4 minutes on it's furthest termini. All the stations have been deemed to be within walking distance of the main Joestu Line. The branch line of the Keio Line, the Keio East Line, is worse still, with both ends of the single-track line being less than 5 minutes walk from each other. It is therefore the reccomendation that the line be scrapped.	As of September 2022, discussions are still going on between KCR and the local authorities.
Sakuya Line	KCR	咲夜線	"The Sakuya Line links the village of Reimu to the main Joestu Line. However, Reimu Village has lost more than 50% of it's population due to rural-urban migration, and the trend seems to be speeding up. Therefore, it is estimated that operating costs for the line will exceed 500% of the yearly income within the next 2 years, and therefore should be scrapped without delay."	As of September 2022, discussions are still going on between KCR and the local authorities.
Aozora Line	KCR	青空線	"The Aozora Line has fallen into disrepair due to the state of much of the infrastructure. There are several rusted bridges and enbankments that will require repairs, and the cost is estimated to be greater than 6 years of income of the line. It is therefore recommended that the line not be repaired, and instead abandoned."	With the terminating of the Tohoku Shinkansen at Touhou, Touhou became a major transport hub, and traffic on the Aozora Line increased significanty. Repairs were conducted and the line was not scrapped.
Iizuna Line	Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu)	飯綱線	"The Iizuna Line is paralled by the Mihara Line, the Yurakucho Line and the Rinkai Line. The heaviest traffic on the line was between Kata and Furudono,when the temporary tracks for the Seiyo and Lamtsu Main Lines ran via that way. However, the lines have since been moved, and traffic on the line caps out at 12%. The line runs an operating deficit of close to 300% of it's income."	The Iizuna Line was scrapped between Furudono and Yellowstones. However, the remaining portion of the line was still used by Ai-Liner services and Ome Heritage Line services.