>>1273918>>1273940I've done some research on the issue, and have come to a couple of conclusions. There was a study on why freight's modal share in Europe was so low compared to the US. The paper concluded that about 80% of this difference was due to geography and was not fixable (because the longer coastlines and more developed waterways of Europe make bulk shipping by sea more affordable and practical than in the US), but that the remaining ~20% was because of inefficiency. The one major change the paper recommended was allowing freight trains to be longer, stating that there are double-digit efficiency gains in doing so.
Now, while the situation isn't identical in Japan, I'd imagine it's pretty similar. Main difference and the issue I see is that since the various passenger JRs own almost all the track freight runs on instead of the government, so it'd be hard to convince them to invest in the longer sidings and other upgrades neccessary for longer freight trains. Kinda the inverse of Amtrak's problems in the US.
