2. Trends In railway systems

In an age such as ours, what sort of changes can we expect to see in railway systems, which are of course one of the main foundations of our social infrastructure? Railways play an essential role as means of transport engaged in carrying large numbers of people at prescribed times. Cities and culture have developed and economic activities are conducted to the background of such large-scale and punctual railways. Railways are thus means of transport that stand at the core of urban functions.
However, now that we are in what might be described as the age of the individual, the diversifying needs of passengers must be dealt with by regarding railways not merely as a means of transport: they need to be equipped with added value and to evolve from being mere moving spaces to becoming a part of people's living space. We need to see the realisation of the same concepts of latitude and convenience that we have come to expect in the home and in the office as well as the idea of "universal design" to facilitate travel by passengers of all kinds, including those who find it difficult to travel owing to age, disability, etc. The idea of coexistence with other means of transport as represented by the concept of intermodality-implying high-quality spaces that interlink seamlessly with living spaces-is likely to become increasingly important. On the other hand, how about the question of coexistence with the global environment? Railways are essentially a means of transport that have relatively little ill effect on the environment, and in an age such as ours when problems such as that of carbon dioxide gas emissions in the cities are growing ever more serious, there seems little doubt that they are going to become more important than ever in the future from a high-level standpoint. We will be entering an age when, paradoxically, railway systems will be required to show yet greater affinity with the environment.
Nevertheless, the demands of a changing era are not all going to be entirely welcome as far as railway operators are concerned. This is because investment in this area often involves questions incompatible with economic considerations. It goes without saying that demands made of operators such as greater managerial efficiency and lowering of costs are going to become major topics of concern, as are also the creation of new business in a gigantic field with extremely extensive customer-attracting capacity. The first important matter that must be tackled is that of lowering initial costs in connection with rail vehicles. The energy-saving cycle is another important key phrase both in the sense of coexistence with the global environment and in the sense of stepping up managerial efficiency. Methods of rolling stock maintenance also need to be modernised and rationalised. From our position as manufacturers, we need to reduce the burden imposed by maintenance and establish a system so that, if a breakdown does occur, the length of time during which rolling stock is inoperative is kept to the absolute minimum. On the other hand, from the standpoint of creating new business, although positive efforts have been made hitherto to encourage advertising and sales of goods in high-class, today, in the era of ubiquitous information when we all go around with mobile phones, mobile handsets and personal computers, rail vehicles are likely to come increasingly into focus as locations for the creation of new business by taking advantage of the way in which they enclose people within a fixed space for a fixed period of time.