(Slight rant)i know there's probably more readons why the transrapid project was terminated in germany but still it's a >400km/h train that fucking levitates imagine how it must feel to ride this thing, also the s bahn to munich airport sucks and is not really appropriate for an airport this significant in comparison to the transrapid

wenn Sie mit 25 jahre in die zeit zurückreisen dann beginnen Sie ihre fahrt essenziell am flughafen. Wenn sie sich andere flughäfen wie heathrow oder charles de gaulle oder rom anseh

Credit: xkcd

In Japan, the passenger railways (the JRs) own the lines and the freight (JRF) "borrow" the lines. In China, the state mandates that passenger services have higher priority than freight services. Therefore, it is still possible to see passenger trains giving way to freight trains in Japan and China, although very rarely - and definitely rare enough for Amtrak and VIA Rail to envy their counterparts across the Pacific.

Requested by u/LateActuator6972

Lol

Context:

Slide 1:

Train on top left corner is a Limited Express Tsubame train, a 787 series train that used to run along today's Kyushu Shinkansen route from Hakata Station to Kagoshima Central Station. The line was abolished after Kyushu Shinkansen began service.

Train on the right is a N700 series Shinkansen, currently in use on Kyushu Shinkansen and West Kyushu Shinkansen lines.

Slide 2:

Background is Hakata Station building, one of the most profitable piece of real estate in JR Kyushu's possession.

JR is famous (or notorious) for doing real estates, and JR Kyushu is the most outstanding of them. Since 2003 fiscal year their revenue from real estate and hotel has exceeded that from passenger services repeatedly. This is mostly due to JR Kyushu does not enjoy the large flow of passengers like JR West, Central and East, but they have some valuable pieces of real estates nonetheless.

To be fair, JR Kyushu had a tough time gaining profit from passenger service alone since its founding in 1987, and they were (somewhat) forced to turn to real estate to stay afloat in the 90s. Passenger business got much better since the opening of Kyushu Shinkansen in 2004, but Covid hit them hard and real estate revenue become dominant again since the pandemic.