Grain railroads monitor Japan crisis

It still isn’t clear how the Japanese earthquake will affect global commerce, but North American grain railroads are closely monitoring the situation.

The U.S. Grains Council received news that the earthquake and tsunami may have caused “significant damage” to agricultural facilities and production areas.

“While the extent of the damage is not yet known, it will likely impact grain trade,” said the Council.

“Some ports in northern Japan, Kushiro, Hachinohe, Ishinomaki, and Kashima were hit by the tsunami. We’ve heard some feed mills and livestock operations have also been damaged by the tsunami. Those facilities were not severely damaged by the earthquake itself but were affected by the tsunami,” said Tommy Hamamoto, USGC director in Japan. “It is too early to tell what effect this will have on Japan’s agricultural sector, but it could be of significance.”

USGC President and CEO Thomas C. Dorr said, “The Council values our 50-plus-year agricultural partnership with the people of Japan and stand ready to work side-by-side as you respond and work through recovery. Count on our partnership and friendship now as you always have.”

The U.S. Grains Council is a private, non-profit organization.

The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit northeastern Japan Friday, followed by a major tsunami along the coast, caused major disruption to train services and damage to the network, reports Regional Editor Yoshihiko Sato of Railway Age sister publication International Railway Journal. All Shinkansen services terminating in Tokyo were stopped. 

On Saturday, JR East discovered that the Tohoku Shinkansen has been damaged along the Sendai-Morioka section. Damage to the Yamagata and Akita Shinkansen cannot be confirmed yet as road access is not possible. The Senseki, Kesenuma, Yamada, and Ofunato conventional lines have also been seriously damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, and four trains are missing. The extent of damage to the rail network in northeastern Japan is still uncertain at present.

Early Saturday morning another 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit the Nagano and Niigata area, IRJ’s Sata said. The Iiyama line was interrupted between Yokogura and Miri-Miyanohara in Nagano prefecture. Joetsu and Nagano Shinkansen services were halted, but restarted this afternoon after safety checks confirmed it was safe to run trains again.

In the Tokyo area, the entire railway network was paralyzed Friday, and an estimated 24,000 people could not go home and stayed the night at several facilities provided by local government and others. JR commuter lines, metro lines, and private railway services restarted Saturday morning after inspection of the infrastructure confirmed it was safe to do so.