The government is discussing a plan to expand the cargo transit system across the nation to convey large containers for international maritime transportation on overland rail lines. To this end, it plans to begin feasibility trials with Japan Freight Railway Co. within this fiscal year to examine operational and other issues.
The move to use freight railways to transport maritime containers is aimed at strengthening the response to the so-called 2024 problem in logistics, in which the transportation capacity is feared to decline due to stricter regulations on overtime work by truck drivers.
Most marine containers comply with international standards that set the height at about 2.9 meters and the length at about 12.2 meters -- larger than the railroad containers now in use across the country.
