By JUNICHI KAMIYAMA/ Staff Writer
March 29, 2021 at 18:24 JST
Kintetsu Railway Co.’s Limited Express Urban Liner Plus (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
OSAKA--With profits declining due to reduced passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kintetsu Railway Co. plans to embark on transporting goods for corporations on a limited express train.
Kintetsu Railway's Limited Express Urban Liner will carry industrial and commercial products, along with passengers, between Osaka and Nagoya, company sources said.
The limited express trains will haul the items on about five round trips a day from this summer.
The railway company, which operates long-distance railway lines, hopes to grow its new cargo business to make up for reduced profits during the pandemic.
The Urban Liner run between Osaka Namba Station and Kintetsu Nagoya Station takes 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Kintetsu Railway plans to collect goods and products from corporations and load them onto the trains in the morning and deliver them to the clients by the early evening on the same day.
The items will be placed in spaces that were originally used for in-train sales services.
Staff of Fukuyama Transporting Co. will pick up the goods and transport them by car to and from the stations.
In general, shipping typically is completed by the next day if trucks haul the goods between Osaka and Nagoya.
Utilizing the faster limited express trains, delivery can be completed the same day.
Kintetsu Railway believes that there will be demand for shipping of industrial products and electrical equipment parts, which usually have short delivery times, in addition to filling stock orders among apparel stores.
According to the railway company, there are currently no regular transportation services for goods using limited express trains among major private railway companies in the Kansai region.
Japan Railway companies have already been making efforts to transport goods and passengers together on the same trains.
West Japan Railway Co. has just started testing shipping fresh products such as vegetables and fish from February utilizing the Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka Station and Kagoshima-Chuo Station.
From last October, East Japan Railway Co. has also been regularly transporting fresh fish using the Tohoku Shinkansen.
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