Railways

On the other hand, Japanese railways manufacturers and railways operators face the reality of decreasing population, limiting the growth of their businesses and decreasing human resources for the operations and maintenances. One recent development is the announcement by JR East and JR West that they will be looking into the possibility of joint development of standards and testing schemes for railway related products and services. The EBC applauds this and will support the potential harmonisation of standards for the Japanese market. If successful this is would prove a pivotal change to the fragmented system where, in principle, each operator has its own standards and assessment schemes. This has been pointed out by the EBC as an issue that prevents overseas suppliers to penetrate the Japanese markets, and to successfully invest in Japan. While it currently only involves two operators, albeit the biggest two, the EBC views this as a very important first step. The EBC, furthermore, believes that more operators should look as similar initiatives, and that it is important that the Ministry for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) takes an active role.

Promoting the globalisation of business amid such challenges, expanding the footprint and offering railways vehicles produced in the region at competitive prices rather than producing and exporting from Japan are the only opportunities for further growth. In this respect, Japan’s railways can also be globalised, just as Japan’s automobiles industry succeeded in globalising in the previous century. Just as Japanese manufacturers need European expertise in a global competitive market, the EBC believes that the domestic market would also benefit from higher penetration of advanced European products and services. The aforementioned global expertise and references provide a good basis for continuing to deepen cooperation between the European Union’s railways technology companies and Japanese railways companies looking for Win-Win opportunities.

The EBC commends the collaborative efforts of the European Commission and Japanese ministries, particularly the advancements achieved under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). These include alignment on technical requirements, testing methods, and the acceptance of certifications based on international standards, as well as the extension of public procurement regulations to local governments.

Similarly, while the EU-Japan EPA did bring positive opportunities, the EBC emphasises the importance of building on this progress. Further harmonisation of regulations and standards, alongside the elimination of redundant certifications and testing, is crucial for enabling European companies to operate more effectively in Japan—and vice versa. The EBC also calls for the reactivation of the EPA’s technical rules committee to advance mutual recognition of standards and approvals.

On the same note, the EBC believes that the Japanese market would benefit from a national testing and certification scheme which should be used by all operators. The goal of the conformity assessment scheme should not be to limit differences in performance requirements where operators might have different requests and demands. The scheme would rather focus on safety which should be the same for all operators in Japan. It would give the authorities a better oversight on what safety protocols are used when it comes to railway related systems and equipment. Furthermore, this would remove the need to perform an assessment including testing to be repeated and would be beneficial to all operators and suppliers in Japan, whether they are foreign or domestic. The EBC believes that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism together with Japanese operators should take a greater role to achieve this.