Photo/Illutration West Japan Railway Co. employs robotics technology to cut tree branches that are normally difficult to reach. (Provided by West Japan Railway Co.)

With a shrinking pool of skilled workers, Japan Railway companies are moving to automate traditionally backbreaking track and other maintenance work.

Leveraging robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) for difficult tasks has the double benefit of helping to maintain the companies’ reputation for operations that run like clockwork.

The often involves work performed at considerable height, such as hedge and tree trimming, as well as work tasks during nighttime hours.

It’s not unusual these days to see a humanoid that resembles a character from an anime performing those functions with a single staffer remotely piloting the robot while checking the view through virtual reality goggles.

West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) developed its android jointly with a robotics start-up. The multi-purpose heavy machinery for railway maintenance took up daily duties last July.

The robot can travel on both roads and tracks aboard a specially designed truck. With its extendable crane, the machine can reach heights of up to 12 meters and lift objects weighing up to 40 kilograms.

Tools on the arms are replaceable, so painting and parts replacement of overhead cables can be carried out as well.

“Robotics allow us to slash manpower by 30 percent,” said a JR West representative. “The ability of robots to operate at elevated heights via remote control means that women and elderly employees still have a role to play.”

According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, one in every three people in Japan will be aged 65 or older in 2040. The number of young, working individuals between 15 and 64 will go down by 12 million to 80 percent of the current level.

“Rail maintenance often entails heavy workloads at night,” noted a JR executive. “We are seriously concerned about worker shortages.”

Operators of Shinkansen services are also automating maintenance work as bullet train networks form the “major transportation arteries” across the main islands of the Japanese archipelago.

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) has equipment to autonomously inspect the condition of cars and underfloor devices at a rail yard in Tokyo. A verification test for commercial trains is in the cards, with an eye toward full introduction of the technology in fiscal 2029.

Tokaido Shinkansen Line trains consist of 16 cars that collectively measure 400 meters.

At present, employees walk on the roof and look under the floor almost every other day to spot problems. About 20 staff members are involved in the procedure, examining 70 trains daily.

An automatic inspection system of cameras and sensors that was recently installed at the entrance to a train shed records images from various angles as trains pass through the system.

Loosened bolts and worn brakes are quickly detected.

“The system performs a checkup each time a train arrives at the shed, enhancing safety at the same time,” said a JR Tokai official.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) began incorporating a rail monitoring system on 50 routes within its service area in 2018.

The equipment, mounted beneath the floors of passenger trains, automatically identifies deformed tracks and bolt anomalies through remote rail inspections.

As a result, JR East has reduced the frequency of visual checks by maintenance workers on foot along Tokyo’s Yamanote Line from once a week to once every three months.

In 2024, JR East also announced plans to manage data on track conditions in an integrated manner with Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Tokyu Railways Co., Tokyo Metro Co., Sagami Railway Co. and Tobu Railway Co.

The six rail operators will pool the information to improve the accuracy of an AI model that detects defects autonomously.

“The lack of workers is a common issue across the railway industry,” said Kazutaka Takeda, a track maintenance unit manager at JR East’s rail business headquarters. 

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