Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1917 — Japan’s Experience Costly. [ARTICLE]

Japan’s Experience Costly.

When the railways of Japan were first planned, the narrow gauge of 8 feet 6 Inches was selected for them, because it was cheapest to build and equip, and was thought best suited to the country’s narrow highways and steep grades. Now the 6,000 miles of Japanese railways, all of narrow gauge, are found to be sadly behind the times, and a movement is on foot to rebuild them to standard gauge, although the cost Is estimated at nearly 1450,000,000. At present the trains are slow, the fastest expresses making less than 30 miles an hour; the coaches are low and narrow, and the sleeping cars are cramped and inconvenient; while most of the railway inventions of other nations cannot be used because of the difference in track gauge and size of cars. The director of imperial railways favors the change, in spite of the cost, and estimates that the main Tokaldo line could be converted to broad gauge in 12 years and other lines on the main island of Japan within 25 years.—Popular Mechanic* Magazine.