Why was the Yamagata Shinkansen "Tsubasa" mini-shinkansen created? [Yamagata Prefecture]

The Yamagata Shinkansen, also known as"Tsubasa,"is a train that runs directly between Tokyo Station and Yamagata Station and Shinjo Station in Yamagata Prefecture.
This article will explain why this train was created.

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What is the Yamagata Shinkansen "Tsubasa"?

The "Tsubasa"is a JR East Shinkansen/limited express train that primarily connects Tokyo Station with Yamagata Station or Shinjo Station in Yamagata Prefecture, without requiring transfers.
The journey time between Tokyo Station and Yamagata Station is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the journey time from Fukushima Station to Yamagata Station is approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes.
The journey time from Yamagata Station to Shinjo Station is approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Many "Tsubasa" trains"Yamabiko"run coupled with
"Yamabiko" trains mainly connect Tokyo Station with Sendai Station or Morioka Station.

The "Tsubasa" is also known as the "Yamagata Shinkansen," but this Yamagata Shinkansen has significant differences from the Tohoku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen, which run through the same prefectures in the Tohoku region.
"mini-Shinkansenare that it is considered athere is no other line in Japan whose official name is 'Yamagata Shinkansen'that
(although this will not be covered in this article, the same applies to the "Akita Shinkansen").

So, what line does the "Tsubasa" train actually run on?
The section from Tokyo Station to Fukushima Station is the "Tohoku Shinkansen."
The Tohoku Shinkansen isa genuine Shinkansen line(a line where trains can travel at speeds of 200 km/h or more on its main sections), and the current "Tsubasa" trains travel on the Tohoku Shinkansen section at a maximum speed of 300 km/h
(only when using the latest E8 series trains; the E3 series has a maximum speed of 275 km/h).

The official name of the section from Fukushima Station to Shinjo Station is the "Ou Main Line."
Although it is sometimes commonly called the "Yamagata Shinkansen," this section is a "conventional line," meaning it is not a Shinkansen in the strict sense.
Because it is a conventional line, it cannot reach the speeds of a typical Shinkansen.
The maximum speed of the "Tsubasa" is limited to 130 km/h, about the same as a typical limited express train.
It also passes through level crossings that do not exist on typical Shinkansen lines. The
reason why the "Tsubasa" can travel from Tokyo Station to Fukushima Station in about an hour and a half, but takes an hour to travel from Fukushima Station to Yamagata Station in the neighboring prefecture, is because the train's speed drops significantly once it enters the Ou Main Line.

The "Yamagata Shinkansen" is a common name for the section of the Tohoku Shinkansen line between Tokyo Station and Fukushima Station, and the Ou Main Line between Fukushima Station and Shinjo Station (sometimes referring only to the Ou Main Line section), as well as the trains that run directly on that section.
This type of direct service between Shinkansen and conventional lines, as seen on the Yamagata Shinkansen, is also called a "mini-Shinkansen."

Why did this mini Shinkansen come into being?

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The creator of the Yamagata Shinkansen

There is a man who could be called the father of the Yamagata Shinkansen.
He was the late Shuichiro Yamanouchi, who joined the Japanese National Railways (JNR), the predecessor of JR, and later served as vice president and chairman of JR East after its establishment.

In 1982, the Tohoku Shinkansen (between Omiya Station and Morioka Station) and the Joetsu Shinkansen (between Omiya Station and Niigata Station) opened.
Mr. Yamanouchi, who was working as a senior official for the Japanese National Railways, saw the crowded trains filled with skiers during the first winter after the Joetsu Shinkansen opened and realized the power of the Shinkansen to attract passengers.
That's when he thought, "If we run the Shinkansen to Yamagata, a mecca for skiing, we'll be able to attract many customers."

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Obstacles and loopholes to the construction of the Yamagata Shinkansen

However, there was a major obstacle that had to be overcome in order to build a Shinkansen line to Yamagata: the
"Shinkansen Development Plan."
This plan, created in the 1970s, simply put, defined the "Shinkansen Development Plans" that would be prioritized for construction in Japan in the future.suchLines
as the Tohoku Shinkansen from Morioka to Aomori and the Hokkaido Shinkansen were included in the Shinkansen Development Plan, but the Shinkansen to Yamagata was not. It was
not at all realistic to build a Shinkansen to Yamagata before sections that had already been approved as Shinkansen Development Plans.
In fact, at the time, when the Japanese National Railways was in financial difficulty, even the commencement of construction on Shinkansen Development Plans was frozen.
If they waited for the Shinkansen Development Plans to be completed,when the Shinkansen to Yamagata would be builtthere was no telling
In fact, even now, more than 40 years after Mr. Yamanouchi first conceived of the Shinkansen to Yamagata, the opening date for the entire Shinkansen Development Plan is still not in sight.

Reference:Railways: About Shinkansen Railways – Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport
and Tourism (Of the Shinkansen lines under development, the Hokkaido Shinkansen: Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station to Sapporo, the Hokuriku Shinkansen: Tsuruga Station to Osaka, and the Kyushu Shinkansen

However, Yamanouchi found a loophole.
"a line on which Shinkansen trains can run butcan only travel at speeds of less than 200 km/h is not a 'Shinkansen' linethat
The Shinkansen and the general conventional lines of the Japanese National Railways/JR have different track gauges (the distance between the two rails), but if the track gauge of the conventional lines is widened to match that of the Shinkansen, a line on which Shinkansen trains can only travel at speeds of less than 200 km/h is created.
It is possible to run trains that run directly from existing Shinkansen lines on these conventional lines with only the track gauge widened, without interfering with the Shinkansen development plan.

This is how the mini-Shinkansen concept was born in Mr. Yamanouchi's mind.
Since it cannot travel at the same high speeds as the Shinkansen on conventional lines, a significant speed increase cannot be expected even if a mini-Shinkansen is built.
However,a Shinkansenrunning directly to conventional lines without transfers, and the ease with which it can appeal to railway users, are important points.

Furthermore, the necessary construction work would only involve widening the track gauge of existing lines and making minor improvements to facilitate high-speed operation. This
also has the advantage of being significantly cheaper than building a full-fledged Shinkansen line capable of speeds exceeding 200 km/h from scratch

It appears that Mr. Yamanouchi's concept was also inspired by the TGV high-speed trains that run in France.
Unlike in Japan, the track gauge for conventional lines and dedicated high-speed lines is the same in Europe.
As a result, through services between conventional lines and dedicated high-speed train lines are common.

Mr. Yamanouchi proposed the mini-Shinkansen concept within the Japanese National Railways (JNR), but initially, no one took him seriously.
So he spoke to a JNR executive who was an upperclassman from the same elementary school, and the response he received was, "That's interesting, let's study it together."
However, although discussions progressed within JNR, they didn't know how to make it a reality. It
was Yamagata Prefecture that came to their aid.

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1992 Benihana National Athletic Meet

In 1981, it was decided that Yamagata Prefecture would host a major event:
the 47th National Sports Festival, the Benibana National Sports Festival, held in 1992.
In conjunction with hosting this event, Yamagata Prefecture needed to improve its transportation infrastructure to access the prefecture. This
need to improve Yamagata Prefecture's transportation system perfectly aligned with Mr. Yamanouchi's vision of running a Shinkansen line to Yamagata.
With the support of influential local politicians, the Yamagata Shinkansen plan—in which Shinkansen trains would run from Fukushima Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen line onto the conventional Ou Main Line—moved towards realization.

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July 1992: Yamagata Shinkansen opens

Five years after the establishment of JR, on July 1, 1992, the Yamagata Shinkansen finally opened, and the "Tsubasa" train began running between Tokyo Station and Yamagata Station.
The trains used at the time of opening were six-car "400 series" electric trains developed specifically for the Yamagata Shinkansen.
Existing Shinkansen trains were too large to run on the conventional Ou Main Line, so smaller, specially designed trains were needed.
I (then an elementary school student) also rode on the line shortly after it opened, thanks to my father who was from Fukushima Prefecture.

Just as Mr. Yamanouchi had envisioned, the impact of a direct Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Yamagata, even if it was a mini-Shinkansen, was significant, and the "Tsubasa" quickly became a popular train.
Just three years after its opening, the train was expanded by one car to become a seven-car train.

On December 4, 1999, the Yamagata Shinkansen was extended to Shinjo Station, and some "Tsubasa" trains began operating only as far as Shinjo Station.
As the number of trains required increased, the new "E3 series 1000 series" trains were introduced.

to replace the 400 series, which had been in service since the line's opening, the "E3 series 2000 series"was introduced
There are slight differences from the E3 series 1000 series, such as the shape of the headlights, and some seats inside the train are equipped with power outlets
(however, I have the unfortunate experience of getting off the train with my charger still plugged into one of these outlets).
The E3 series 2000 series was introduced in rapid succession, and the 400 series ceased commercial operation in April 2010.

Author: © DAJF / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38954889,

From 2014 to 2022, a sightseeing train operated mainly on the Ou Main Line. It
"Toreiyu Tsubasa."was called
It was a modified version of the "E3 Series 0" that had been used on the Akita Shinkansen, and was renamed "E3 Series 700."insideA notable feature of the train was that it had a footbath

In March 2024, the latest model, the "E8 series," was introduced.
The minority E3 series 1000 series trains were retired from service as they were replaced by the E8 series.
In the future, the E3 series 2000 series trains are also scheduled to be replaced by the E8 series.

The E8 series has increased its maximum speed on the Tohoku Shinkansen line from 275 km/h to 300 km/h.
In addition, onboard services have been improved, including the installation of power outlets at every seat and the addition of wheelchair spaces.

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Kaminoyama Onsen, the birthplace of the Yamagata Shinkansen

One reason for Mr. Yamanouchi's strong interest in Yamagata seems to be that he had evacuated to Kaminoyama Onsen in Yamagata Prefecture during the war.
Years later, even after the Tohoku Shinkansen opened, Mr. Yamanouchi tried to visit Kaminoyama Onsen again with his former evacuation companions.
However, despite all of his former evacuation companions being successful businessmen,none of them knew about the express train on the Ou Main Line that went from Fukushima Station to Kaminoyama Onsen at that time.

In his book, Yamanouchi writes that it was a new discovery for him to realize that for the average person living in Tokyo, regional railways other than the Shinkansen practically don't exist.
This experience likely inspired him to consider running a Shinkansen line to Yamagata.

In any case, Kaminoyama Onsen is a place associated with the creator of the "Tsubasa"
train. Some Yamagata Shinkansen "Tsubasa" trains also stop at "Kaminoyama Onsen Station"
(incidentally, before the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen in 1992, it was called "Kaminoyama Station").

Kaminoyama Onsen's history dates back to 1458, when a traveling monk discovered the hot springs while healing his wounds.
During the Edo period, Kaminoyama Castle and the Kaminoyama Domain were located here, and the area flourished as both a hot spring resort and a castle town.
Furthermore, its location on the Ushu Kaido road led to its development as a post town.
This town, possessing three distinct characteristics—a hot spring town, a castle town, and a post town—is considered rare throughout Japan.
It's a place where you can enjoy strolling through the historic streets while wearing a yukata (traditional Japanese summer kimono) and visiting various hot springs.

There are also eight walking courses set up in five locations, and the area is known as a health resort where you can improve your health through walking and hot springs

The "Tsubasa" train stops at Kaminoyama Onsen Station approximately once an hour.
Why not consider Kaminoyama Onsen as a travel destination?

Information

• Name: Kaminoyama Onsen
• Location: Kaminoyama City, Yamagata Prefecture
• Inquiry number: 023-672-0839 (Kaminoyama City Tourism and Products Association)
• Web1　Ueyama Rhapsody
• Web2　Kaminoyama Onsen | Tourist Spots (Kaminoyama City/Murayama Region) | Travel to Yamagata – Yamagata Prefecture's Official Tourism and Travel Information Site

Google Maps

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summary

The Yamagata Shinkansen's "Tsubasa" train, by providing direct service from the Tokyo metropolitan area to Yamagata, has not only transported many people butalso greatly contributed to promoting the existence of Yamagatahas
When the Yamagata Shinkansen first opened, a Yamagata prefecture official reportedly told its creator, Mr. Yamanouchi, that "the most appreciated thing is that the name 'Yamagata Shinkansen Tsubasa' is announced at Tokyo Station at regular intervals."
The "Tsubasa" will undoubtedly continue to play a vital role as a major mode of transportation connecting the Kanto region, Fukushima Prefecture, and Yamagata Prefecture.

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