The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has approved the railway business restructuring implementation plan for the Johana Line and the Himi Line.
The operating body for both lines of JR West will be changed to Ainokaze Toyama Railway. The plan is aimed to be initiated roughly five years from the start, with support from JR West and surrounding municipalities.
Expenses for updating, maintaining, and repairing railway facilities will be supported by Toyama Prefecture, and the municipalities along the lines including Takaoka City, Himi City, Tonami City, and Nanto City, along with JR West. The prefecture and these four cities will invest in Ainokaze Toyama Railway and establish a management stability fund to offer support. JR West will contribute by securing technical personnel such as train drivers, facilities, electricity, vehicles, etc., and will contribute 15 billion yen.
An investment of 34.22 billion yen will be made for the introduction of new vehicles, compatibility with transportation IC cards, improvement of existing facilities, increase in the number of trains operated, patterned timetabling, and improvements for the through operation of both lines at Takaoka Station. All of these will utilize the General Grant for Infrastructure Development.
The line’s financial status for fiscal year 2022 shows a deficit of 1.086 billion yen, with a target to improve this to a deficit of 706 million yen by fiscal year 2034. The difference in balance will be compensated from the management stability fund.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
