＠64 days until Hiroshima Summit: Germany streetcar
Mar. 16, 2023
by Yota Baba, Staff Writer
“A super-low-floor streetcar has arrived from the sky”- This wass the headline of a Chugoku Shimbun article written in March 1999 to report the arrival of a new streetcar called the Green Mover at Hiroshima airport after it was shipped from Germany by air.
In Japan, technological development of streetcars lagged behind because some people thought it was a “thing of the past.” Therefore, the Hiroshima Electric Railway Company (Hiroden) purchased the streetcar from Germany where low-floor streetcars were then widely used. The new streetcar drew much attention as a standard-bearer of barrier-free society. In 2005, Hiroden purchased Japan-made super-low-floor streetcars as successors, and caught up with the progress in western nations.
However, it has some challenges such as a long-time wait time at traffic lights. So, next-generation Light Rail Transit (LRT) operated in western nations is a little better in terms of convenience. We would appreciate if people from those nations attending the summit meeting of G7 (Group of Seven industrial nations) offer some advice on streetcars, too.
(Originally published on March 16, 2023)
“A super-low-floor streetcar has arrived from the sky”- This wass the headline of a Chugoku Shimbun article written in March 1999 to report the arrival of a new streetcar called the Green Mover at Hiroshima airport after it was shipped from Germany by air.
In Japan, technological development of streetcars lagged behind because some people thought it was a “thing of the past.” Therefore, the Hiroshima Electric Railway Company (Hiroden) purchased the streetcar from Germany where low-floor streetcars were then widely used. The new streetcar drew much attention as a standard-bearer of barrier-free society. In 2005, Hiroden purchased Japan-made super-low-floor streetcars as successors, and caught up with the progress in western nations.
However, it has some challenges such as a long-time wait time at traffic lights. So, next-generation Light Rail Transit (LRT) operated in western nations is a little better in terms of convenience. We would appreciate if people from those nations attending the summit meeting of G7 (Group of Seven industrial nations) offer some advice on streetcars, too.
(Originally published on March 16, 2023)
