KUJI, Iwate Prefecture--As the first new recruit of Sanriku Railway Co. in 12 years, Sho Komatsu’s initial task was to clear debris and mud from around a train station he had used almost daily as a high school student.
KUJI, Iwate Prefecture--As the first new recruit of Sanriku Railway Co. in 12 years, Sho Komatsu’s initial task was to clear debris and mud from around a train station he had used almost daily as a high school student.
Only a few sections of the 107.6-kilometer Sanriku Railway Line on the coast of Iwate Prefecture have been restored since it was largely destroyed in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami last year.
But each day brings Sanriku Railway closer to a full resumption of operations—and raises hopes of a revival of a symbol of local pride.
Komatsu himself is also moving nearer to his dream of one day driving a train.
These days, the 19-year-old stands on the Kuji Station platform, often in light snow, pushing a button for a bell that informs passengers that the train will depart in one minute. After confirming the last person has entered the two-car train for the 11.1-km run, Komatsu takes his spot in the rear car.
At 7 a.m. on Feb. 23, when the first train of the day was about to start, Komatsu opened the train doors again for a senior high school student running down the stairs to the platform. Such consideration for passengers is often seen at rural railway stations in Japan.
“I learned about this through on-the-job training,” he says.
Komatsu often speaks too fast in his train announcements, and he is too nervous to smile at the passengers, which sometimes leads to scoldings from his superiors.
But he doesn’t let his mistakes get him down.
“I feel happy when I talk with the passengers and think that I am needed by them,” he says.
Komatsu joined the railway company in April 2011, a month after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck.
He found himself remove debris and mud from the train base around Sakari Station in Ofunato day after day. The tsunami left the station’s office on the southern end of the line about 1 meter deep in water.
Komatsu said he applied for work at the local railway company so that he could be around to take care of his family members.
His parents and grandparents cultivate seaweed. His two older brothers landed jobs in Sendai, the capital of neighboring Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tohoku region.
On March 11, 2011, Komatsu was boiling seaweed harvested in the morning in a kiln in the family’s workshop on the coast. After he returned to his house on higher ground, the powerful quake struck, followed by the tsunami.
Komatsu said he saw people on the roofs of their houses crying for help before being swallowed up by the waves. Two of his friends were killed in the disaster.
Some of his schoolmates should have landed jobs at local factories after graduating from senior high school. However, the companies had to withdraw their offers because of the serious damage caused by the quake and tsunami.
Komatsu thought that he would face the same fate.
In late March, however, a Sanriku Railway official phoned him, saying, “We want you to hang in with us together.”
In those days, the company was facing difficulties working out a recovery schedule for its railway line.
“By employing a new recruit as scheduled, we wanted to show the local community and the employees our determination to continue operating the railway line,” said Sanriku Railway President Masahiko Mochizuki.
Sanriku Railway opened in 1984 as Japan’s first “third-sector railway company,” jointly operated by central or local governments and private companies. The predecessor of Sanriku Railway was a local line of now-defunct Japanese National Railways.
However, the number of students who use the railway line to go to schools has decreased in recent years. The total number of passengers in fiscal 2010 was only 30 percent of the annual figures in the mid-1980s.
With its operating losses continuing, the railway company was unable to survive without subsidies from local governments along the line.
Kuji Station Master Kazushi Hashikami, 47, who is training Komatsu, was one of the first people employed by Sanriku Railway. At the age of 19, he was the conductor on the first train on the company’s opening day.
Hashikami recalled that, at each station, people living along the line welcomed the train as “Oraho no Santetsu” (Our area’s Sanriku Railway). He is still proud of the enthusiasm shown to the railway line at that time.
The Great East Japan Earthquake seems to have rekindled that enthusiasm.
Sanriku Railway workers toiled day and night and recovered train operations at Kuji Station five days after the March 11 disaster. The company ran “recovery support trains” on a limited section of the line free of charge.
Some female passengers rode the trains with knapsacks to carry goods and merchandise they had purchased. Others were carrying shovels to help in the recovery efforts. Some insisted that they pay the train fare.
Hashikami has often told Komatsu about his experiences of 1984, comparing them with those of a year ago. He has also taken Komatsu to the places where recovery work continues or events are being held.
At some events, Komatsu has worn the costume of Sanriku Railway’s mascot, Santetsu-kun.
Through the experiences of the past year, Komatsu as well as Sanriku Railway realized that the local community and the railway company need each other.
One resident sent a message to the company, “Run, run while carrying hopes.” The message has become a motto of sort for Sanriku Railway.
Using Kuji Station on the northern end of the railway line, Komatsu began to receive training as a conductor in February.
Only people 20 and older can take the national examination to become train drivers.
Komatsu said he is determined to be a train driver in 2014, when all sections of the Sanriku Railway line are expected to be in operation.