Research on New Methods for Railway Forest Maintenance and Management

In the late 19th century, railroad forests were first set up along what is now the Tohoku main line in Japan. Railroad forests were created in order to facilitate operational safety in case of avalanche, snowdrift, or other natural disasters. A general forestry business model was used to maintain and manage them in the past, but such models are difficult to use in modern railroad forest management. Since snowdrift prevention has improved and the areas surrounding railroad forests have changed (increased encroaching housing being one such change), railroad forests need to be reevaluated as disaster prevention facilities. Conversely, with increased attention on environmental issues, railroad forests are being valued in and of themselves as greenery. JR East used a multifaceted approach to assessing railroad forests that included both their environmental protection and disaster prevention functions. JR East is proceeding with studies of modern railroad forest management and maintenance methods using the assessment results as their foundations.