東海道新幹線の保守用車両事故で思うこと：2024年7月26日（金）

7月22日午前3時頃に愛知県蒲郡市の東海道新幹線の線路上で保守用車両同士が衝突し脱線した事故により，終日，愛知県の名古屋駅と静岡県の浜松駅の間の新幹線が運行停止になり，多くの人々が多大な迷惑を被った。

　日本では，ビジネスパーソンや国内外の旅行者が，文字通り，足止めを喰らった形となった。とりわけ，この日は多くの小中高校では夏休みに入ったばかりで，多くの家族旅行客が旅行計画をキャンセルせざるを得なくなった。

　今回の保守用車両事故に伴う新幹線運行停止により，あらためて思ったことは，JR東海当事者の説明力不足と説明態勢が組織的に整備されていなかったことと併せて，名古屋駅・新横浜駅の区間における新幹線の旅客輸送力（たとえば，東京・大阪間の東海道新幹線の1日あたりの輸送力は約37万席だという）を代替できる輸送手段が他に存在していないこと，である。

　インバウンドや国内旅客貨物輸送量の増加により，今回起きた事故による影響と同様のことが，今後も起きる可能性は大いにあり，起きても不思議ではない。鉄道在来線，高速バス，飛行機では，とてもじゃないが，この大きな輸送力を代替はできない。鉄道在来線では移動時間の違いで代替不能である。

リニア中央新幹線の構想は，こうした事態を回避するために検討されてきたことを多くの人々が気づく必要がある。

Thoughts on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen Maintenance Vehicle Accident: Friday, July 26th, 2024

On July 22, around 3 a.m., an accident occurred in which maintenance vehicles collided and derailed on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen tracks in Gamagōri City, Aichi Prefecture. As a result, all Shinkansen services between Nagoya Station in Aichi Prefecture and Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture were suspended for the entire day, causing significant inconvenience to many people.

In Japan, business people and domestic and international travelers were literally left stranded. Particularly on this day, many elementary, junior high, and high schools had just begun their summer vacations, forcing numerous families to cancel their travel plans.

Reflecting on the suspension of Shinkansen services due to this maintenance vehicle accident, I realized again that there was a lack of communication and explanation from JR Tokai, and that their organizational structure for handling such explanations was not adequately established. Additionally, there are no alternative means of transportation that can substitute for the passenger transport capacity of the Shinkansen in the Nagoya Station to Shin-Yokohama Station segment (for example, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen has a daily transport capacity of about 370,000 seats between Tokyo and Osaka).

With the increase in inbound and domestic passenger and cargo transport, it is highly likely that similar incidents will occur in the future, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they do. Conventional railways, highway buses, and airplanes cannot possibly replace this large transport capacity. Conventional railways cannot substitute due to differences in travel time.

Many people need to realize that the concept of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen has been considered to avoid such situations.