Authorities to push for ‘superior’ rubber-tired Mt. Fuji tram line

This photo shows an artistic rendition of a rubber-tired tram that would ascend to the 5th station of Mt. Fuji. (Courtesy of the Yamanashi prefectural government)(Kyodo)

KOFU (Kyodo) — The Yamanashi prefectural government on Thursday pushed for the construction of a rubber-tired tram line ascending halfway up Mt. Fuji, following survey results that deemed the plan “superior” compared with a previous proposal.

“I want to gain understanding by creating opportunities for residents to speak” about the proposal, said Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki at a regular press conference. The prefecture said the cost of introducing the tram line could be less than 50 percent compared with that of the previously considered light rail tram plan.

Rubber-tired trams with sensors enabling them to follow magnetic markers that can be placed on the existing roads would eliminate the need to build a new rail line, as well as have higher transportation capacity than buses, according to the survey.

Authorities hope to develop the local transportation network and extend the tram line to a magnetically levitated bullet train station that is planned to be built in the prefectural capital of Kofu.

According to the survey results, introducing a light rail tram line would cost 134 billion yen ($935 million) due to the need to construct tracks, while a rubber-tired tram line would cost just 61.8 billion yen.

Transportation capacity was also estimated at 120 seats per carriage for the rubber-tired tram, as opposed to only 33 to 58 seats for buses.

“We will continue to investigate the profitability of the project and the necessary facilities,” a prefectural official said.

The proposal to build a light rail ascending to Mt. Fuji’s 5th station, the starting point of a popular climbing trail that begins at an altitude of about 2,300 meters, was shelved amid public concerns over its environmental impact.

Mt. Fuji, Japan’s iconic 3,776-meter mountain peak and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, attracts many climbers and tourists from home and abroad.

But the rising popularity of the mountain, which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, has led to challenges including “overtourism” and “bullet climbing,” whereby climbers attempt to reach the summit in time to see the sun rise and then return without stopping to sleep.