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Illustrations of Japan’s “unseen” workforce of trains that work at night (2019)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- poidos 4y agoDown for me. Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230406214102/https://www.spoon-tamago.com/toei-project-unseen-maintenance-trains/ https://web.archive.org/web/20230406214102/https://www.spoon...
- itsmartapuntocm 4y agoLooks like it got the ol’ HN hug of death.
- manojlds 4y ago"Unseen" article
- whalesalad 4y agoI love the Tamiya style of illustration so much. This is awesome!
- neilv 4y agoThe illustration style reminds me of a young children's book of trucks or machinery that I had. IIRC, besides the normal fascination with big machines, the book seemed to glorify the machines and the idealized and determined workers operating them, a bit like propaganda posters from some other countries. I think the book I had was from Japan. (Half my family is from Hawaii, and there was a lot of cultural cross-pollination as part of ordinary life.)
- bb88 4y agoWe kinda forget about the people that make our cities efficient engines of capitalism. It's only when services stop (trash pickup, water, sewage, etc.) do we take notice of them. Whether in capitalism or socialism, work needs to be done. The more work done, the more efficient the system is. Infrastructure workers doing great work don't always get the respect they deserve.
- neilv 4y agoAgreed fully. The cultural values are interesting. For example, glorifying people doing good, beneficial work tells you something, and glorifying rich celebrities tells you something different.
- freetime2 4y agoThese train illustrations are also bit of propaganda (not that I have any issues with them, they are awesome!). > The illustrations of trains seen here are part of Project Toei, an initiative from the The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation to highlight various aspects of the city’s incredible infrastructure.
- e4e5 4y agoThe artist of these illustrations also drew the images of toy boxes, that's where you might recognize the style from? If you go on their website, you can see that most of the toys are machines: https://www.tamiya.com/english/e-home.htm https://www.tamiya.com/english/e-home.htm
- freetime2 4y agoI was expecting this to be about “Doctor Yellow”, an iconic test train used to maintain the Shinkansen lines. https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/japan-bullet-train-dr-yellow-shinkansen/ https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-cult...
- glandium 4y agoDoctor Yellow is less unseen, though. I've seen it a few times, and I wasn't even trying to look for it.
- VyseofArcadia 4y agoI wish we could just do maintenance in the US. Here in Boston, we underfunded the MBTA for a decade[0], and now the system is hanging on by a thread. Roads are falling apart, lighting poles are falling down, our natural gas infrastructure is leaking like crazy. Why can't we just take care of our stuff? [0] To pay for more car stuff which ended up being a boondoggle in its own right, of course https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/i-team-big-dig-root-mbta-financial-troubles/ https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/i-team-big-dig-root-mbta...
- jacobsenscott 4y agoYou can't privatize competently maintained infrastructure.
- _dain_ 4y agomost japanese railways are privately owned and operated and maintained, and turn a healthy profit
- gamblor956 4y agoWhich is why they shut down vast miles of their networks in unprofitable rural areas... And that is why rail is so expensive in the States; transit decisions are not made on the basis of profitability. (Note that in the case of Japan, some of these private rails were converted to "Third Sector" aka public-private rails, where they continue to be run by the private rail company under the financial subsidy of the local prefectures through which the rail line runs.)
- johncessna 4y ago> (Note that in the case of Japan, some of these private rails were converted to "Third Sector" aka public-private rails, where they continue to be run by the private rail company under the financial subsidy of the local prefectures through which the rail line runs.) I'm sure there are some differences, but this is true for Amtrak in the US too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#
- inasio 4y agoSpoon and Tamago is probably the newsletter I've been subscribed to the longest, every single (infrequent) email is beautifully crafted with very nice content, highly recommend.
- qiqitori 4y ago"Japanese trains are renowned for their [...] comfort" Yes, who doesn't love being packed into a tin can with some fellow sardines?
- freetime2 4y agoYou have a point - I find riding a train during Tokyo rush hour to be quite miserable. But not everywhere is as crowded as Tokyo, and lots of trains have reserved seating, and they are very comfortable indeed.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoExercise: Ride a Tokyo train (subway or other), during rush hour. Go to London. Repeat. Go to New York (Brooklyn is recommended). Repeat. Tokyo is the place least likely to smell like sardines.
- suction 4y ago[dead]
- drtgh 4y agoI would make two distinctions by my experience ten years ago, the inter-provincial trains where you go seated, and the metropolitan trains where you go standing. In the first ones, even in the older trains that takes you to the most remote village, the separation between the seats is very generous, what made them very comfortable, which is strange since the height of the people is supposed to be lower than Europe. If they are renowned this I want to try it and keep criticizing the ridiculous separation of the seats here, like if it were planes... The second ones, metropolitan at rush hour, on the way to and from work hours, are hell. There is no other definition. But this is exclusively a matter about they would need triple the number of trains in rush hours. Nevertheless, as those companies managing it are private, I'm not sure if that number of trains increment for rush hours would be profitable (probably not due what keeps happening along decades). Off topic: Clearly in Europe the politics go against car ownership for the next years (bad decision). If trains keep being as they are now, all is gonna be a pure shit and pain. Does exist any kind of prevision over this? In the last years I started to think politicians in Brussels are not able to think. In this aspect I envy the Chinese "politicians" prevision.
- cryptoz 4y agoI saw a yellow maintenance train in Montreal metro once after getting off the last train at night. I had a digital camera with me (2006 or so) and I started to take pictures but I was immediately chased away my multiple (several) very angry employees shouting at me in French. I couldn’t believe that they treated it with such secrecy but also ran the train through while people were in the station still.
- dylan604 4y ago"shouting at me in French" implies to me that you don't speak French and had no idea what they were yelling about, which I would be in the exact same boat, er train, er whatevs. Did you find out what they were yelling and if any of it would make sense? Maybe you had a Canon and they were all Nikon fans? Maybe they were die hard film fans and hated digital cameras?
- Aeolun 4y agoThey’re not actually so unseen. Two of the 4 stations near my house have sets parked along the rails (presumably for easy access at night). It’s true I’ve never seen them actually drive though.
- decafninja 4y agoNYC is proud of its 24/7 subway service. Tell a NYer another city’s subways are better because of XYZ and they’ll shake their fist and say “but we have 24/7 service and they don’t!” But I can’t feel part of the reason for the NYC subways many woes is because of the 24/7 service and the lack of maintenance and cleanup.
- beckler 4y agoI love taking the subways in NYC. They have such a rich history and it’s so easy and affordable, but yeah… it’s also incredibly filthy.
- pclmulqdq 4y agoI, too, love riding in an antique tin can (likely 50+ years old) driven by a maniac and infested with rats the size of dogs. It is still the best way to get around Manhattan...
- decafninja 4y agoI’m no bike zealot like some here, but I make it a point to avoid the subways as much as I can in favor of biking around Manhattan. The only time I venture underground is when it’s pouring rain. Even dodging cars, I find it a much less stressful experience than the subways. I fully understand this isn’t for everyone though. And not just because of cars.
- Tade0 4y agoI grep up in a city where the last train would start its route at 0:15, or 3:00 on Friday nights. The first would be at six or so. No problems with maintenance and cleaning whatsoever. Then again no homeless either, considering it's closed for a few hours of the day.
- deebosong 4y agoI gotta agree with this. If I'm waiting at 2am for a subway in NYC for 1 hr, versus waiting 6 hours for the first subway to kick back in if it's say, 12:01am in Japan or South Korea? Then IMHO it's better to just eat the cost, take a taxi, feel the burn of $100 to get home vs. say $2-4 for a 3am subway ride, and give the NYC MTA subway system time to work on repairs, renovations, additions, etc. 24 hour subway leaves no time at all to do any maintenance. I really, really, really really really wish that NYC would just straight up plagiarize Japan or South Korea for their metro systems. Even their "next stop" displays are far superior than what NYC currently has. One can dream...
- wongarsu 4y agoThese grinding trains can be surprisingly fast. Here's a video of one driving by in Germany, grinding rails at 80km/h (50mph) [1] 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s38VVmlV7kc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s38VVmlV7kc
- suction 4y ago[dead]
- elif 4y agoThis article doesn't touch upon it, but the tasks of these trains are computer vision and AI problems. The majority of inspection work is done by software. JR has aspirational plans that by 2032 all of these maintenance vehicles will be fully autonomous.
- GalenErso 4y agoCan you expand on that? The article doesn't explain how these trains do maintenance exactly.
- all2 4y agoOne of the units is described as smoothing the tracks to the micrometer level. I assume this is something like a camera array and tooling combo, where the tracks are imaged in 3D using the cameras, and abrupt changes in surface level are annotated, the grinding equipment is adjusted to the correct placement to remove the changes in surface level. There are a few cars on the unit, so I expect this process happens 2, 3, or even 5 times for a given segment of track.
- astrobe_ 4y agoWould cameras be accurate enough for this task? It seems to me that laser-based measures would be more fit to the task.
- all2 4y agoYes, even relatively low resolution cameras can provide enough information to track an object with high precision. For example, optical mice can provide high resolution tracking in 2D.
- elif 4y agounfortunately the most recent information i got on it was on live NHK air and i can't find a copy of the video. here is an english language document i found from 2017 that shows the new (at the time) Automated Obstacle Detection Vehicles but doesn't mention the efforts to eliminate humans from the loop. https://international-railway-safety-council.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sasaki-safety-system-for-track-maintenance-vehicle-operation-of-shinkansen.pdf https://international-railway-safety-council.com/wp-content/...
- Animats 4y agoNo mention of "Dr Yellow?" "Dr. Yellow" is a Shinkansen inspection train. They are painted bright yellow like other maintenance equipment, and otherwise look much like the regular Shinkansen rolling stock. They run at the same speed as regular trains, so they don't delay service. There's a cult thing of wanting to see "Dr. Yellow".[1] Dr Yellow slowly passing a grade crossing.[2] 8 million views! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j2SHLdL8yI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j2SHLdL8yI [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbST7EoNZw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbST7EoNZw
- pcurve 4y agoDr. Yellow is so cool... love that 2nd video. It's so wild. You don't realize how tall these trains are because of platform heights, but that video puts things into perspective. Video of inside Dr. Yellow https://youtu.be/AKxJJka12NE?t=346 https://youtu.be/AKxJJka12NE?t=346
- qgin 4y agoI really want prints of these.
- zkirill 4y agoI'm not sure if these are the same trains that are typically accompanied by a team of 10-15 railroad workers and a whole electric lights orchestra. It's such a treat to see them working diligently through the night, dead quiet, passing through sleeping neighbourhoods in perfect unison. It always gave me the impression that the railroad workers took utmost pride in their work.
- insane_dreamer 4y agoTIL the US has ~100x (!!) more derailments / year than Japan. > In 2018 there were just 2 derailments across the entire country. The average over the past 20 years is a bit higher (roughly 10 per year) but have been in a downward trend. And while it’s not a fair comparison, just for reference the U.S. (according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics) had 1376 derailments in 2018. While also in a downward trend, the U.S. has over 1000 derailments each year.
- ryanjshaw 4y agoSurely you should be looking at derailments per passenger mile or <goods> mile, not absolute numbers?
- insane_dreamer 4y agoFair point. But while US trains travel longer distances, you can be sure there are many more trains running in Japan than in the US (especially passenger trains. So my guess is that the numbers might be somewhat comparable. No time for indepth research, but quick search shows Japan with 289 billion passenger/km (https://www.statista.com/statistics/627883/japan-railway-passenger-volume/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/627883/japan-railway-pas...) vs US 10 billion passenger/km (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transportation_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transportation_in_the_Uni...). But that's not fair comparison since in the US train is mostly used for freight.
- gc9 4y agoFreight trains have been getting longer to save labor. Tight schedules encourage skipping the effort to rebalance the train into a safer car ordering. When braking, a long line of heavy cars at the back can push empty cars at the front off the tracks. https://www.propublica.org/article/train-derailment-long-trains https://www.propublica.org/article/train-derailment-long-tra...