KEY POINTS:
It seems an unlikely venue for a potential revolution in public transport - a sleepy town in the lush, pine-carpeted mountains of rural Japan.
But this is where punters began paying yesterday to board the world's first hybrid train service.
The candy-coloured Hybrid Train E200 pulled quietly out
of the station at Kobuchizawa carrying about 100 passengers, waved off by cheering schoolchildren, a crew of traditional Taiko drummers and several ecstatic trainspotters.
"I love trains and wanted to check this one out for myself," said Mikihiro
Kobayashi, a 27-year-old engineer who said he had taken the day off work to see the E200's debut. "I hope Japan exports it because the environment is becoming a big issue around the world."
Looking like a slightly sleeker version of the mechanical workhorses that ferry millions of Japanese to work and school every day, the train might pass unnoticed by the keenest trainspotter. But inside it is noticeably quieter, thanks to a motor that moves only on battery power and shuts off when idling. Screens in each carriage give all the detail any passenger could want on the engineering miracle humming around them.
Designed and run by transport giant Japan Rail, each 180 million ($325 million) train is powered by a super fuel-efficient diesel engine and lithium-ion batteries that recharge every time the brakes are applied, a system that cuts power, noise and emissions by up to 60 per cent.
"We're very proud of it," said Kenji Motate of Japan Rail East.
"This is a very beautiful area so it is fitting that a train so kind to the environment is debuting here."
The clean-energy prototype will hum its way between picturesque Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures in central Japan, a hikers' paradise where the revolutionary engine can be tested on the region's hills.
In the summer months the line is packed with families on day outings and in winter it ferries people to ski resorts which have increasingly been hit by a lack of snow.
"I've been riding this line for 40 years so when I heard about this train I took my two grandchildren along to show them," said pensioner Mineko Yamaguchi. "I'm teaching them about the beauty of the natural environment." Her grandchild, 6-year-old Ayase, said the train was "cool" and promised to tell his friends about it.
Japan is a world leader in the development of hybrid cars and low-emission buses, which increasingly operate around the country. Plans are already well advanced to run a hybrid streetcar in Tokyo.
But a Japan Rail spokesman said it was "too early" to contemplate selling the E200 on the open market.
"We're still trying to modify and improve its performance."
Japan Rail wants to make the E200 10 per cent more fuel efficient than conventional trains, but admits that compared to standard diesel trains, their current prototype is expensive. "We think it is inevitable that we will have to spend money if we are going to save the environment," the spokesman said.
- INDEPENDENT
