Chapter 286 Little Karuizawa
If a railway station has a daily passenger volume of more than one thousand, then there is income worth developing.
The road distance from Daguan to Lujiao is 30 kilometers, and the distance would be roughly the same if a railway were built.
There are at least a thousand people traveling back and forth on this road every day. If you count the round-trip tickets, that number needs to be multiplied by two, doubling the number of passengers.
According to Japan's current railway freight rates, the average cost is about 20 to 30 yen per kilometer.
For a 30-kilometer round trip, each person can contribute about 1,500 yen in passenger fees per day.
If calculated on a daily basis, the ticket revenue alone would be around 1.5 million yen, which is a very considerable sum.
Of course, this is just a rough calculation. The actual railway ticket prices in Japan are actually very complicated to calculate.
Like a taxi, it has a starting price within a few kilometers, and additional charges will be charged after that.
There are also differences between adult tickets and children's tickets, ordinary tickets and express tickets, but the general data is similar.
When these ticket prices are accumulated, although the daily commuting cost per person is about 1,500 yen, it is more than 30,000 yen in expenses per month.
Based on the monthly salary of more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan for most people, commuting expenses seem to account for too large a proportion.
But don’t forget that the company also provides an additional transportation subsidy in its individual salary, such as Shirakawa Electric in Kazuo.
Excluding this part of the cost, the actual commuting expenses paid by each person are not that exaggerated.
So neither Shirakawa Kaede nor Nagata Masaru are worried that ticket prices will bring extra pressure to passengers.
And 1.5 million is only the minimum daily income of this railway, because there are more than just two stations from Daguan to Lujiao.
There are other stations within this 30 kilometers, which also includes the passengers who originally traveled along the way.
In addition, ticket prices are only part of the railway's revenue. Don't forget that Keio and Tokyu have other side businesses.
For example, retail department stores, real estate, and tourism.
Real estate may not be a popular investment industry in Northeast China, but the other two are still promising.
For example, for retail department stores, it would not be excessive to set up a small department store at each station along the route.
With so many people, there will always be various demands. Food, drinks , reading materials, emergency supplies, etc. are all very popular in the market.
In addition, the tourism industry in Northeast China is not entirely useless. Nagata Masaru and Ogawa Kazuo were both rapidly calculating the gains and losses in their minds.
To be honest, even though the current conditions look pretty good, they still have concerns in their hearts.
Why? Because the cost of building railways is too high.
If we were to build a railway from Taikan to Kakuno, it certainly wouldn’t be the old tram tracks.
It's the kind of tram that starts slowly with a "clang clang" sound.
If we want to solve the traffic problem in Kazuo and reduce people’s commuting time, we must have a train that can match the speed of the subway or some JR lines.
The ideal driving speed in Baichuan Feng's mind is around 80km/h ~ 100km/h. There is no need to drive too fast, after all, this is not a long distance.
However, the construction cost of such a railway is also very high. According to the current construction cost, the estimated construction cost of one kilometer of railway is about 2 to 3 billion yen.
The total cost of building a 30-kilometer railway is approximately 80 to 90 billion yen, which is undoubtedly a huge sum for anyone present.
"Mr. Nagata and Mr. Ogawa, please rest assured. The local government of Akita and even Shirakawa Holdings will provide certain support for railway construction, both in terms of policy and funding."
"Oh~" Nagata Masaru and the others became interested. The signal released by Shirakawa Kaede's words was quite interesting.
"That's right." At this time, Sasaki Kikuharu, who was sitting at the head, nodded in agreement, "In order to support Akita's transportation business, I naturally have no choice but to do so.
Whether it is the construction subsidy from the Ministry of Transport or the local finance, there will be appropriate funding support.”
The first person that Shirakawa Kaede discussed his plan to build a railway between Odate and Kazuno was Sasaki Kikuji.
He was well aware that such infrastructure projects must rely on the power of the government, even if Japan allowed the existence of private railways.
But with policy support and government endorsement, the construction of this railway is possible.
So Baichuan Feng analyzed in detail the benefits that would be brought to all parties after the Lujiao was built into a railway, and promised a lot of other benefits.
Coupled with Abe's new pleading, Sasaki Kikuji was finally moved by his grand plan.
Yes, the benefits of building an express railway in Lujiao go far beyond this, and this is only part of Shirakawa Kaede's plan.
However, although he was the one who proposed the plan, the most active person among them was not Shirakawa Kaede, but Kazuno Mayor Abe Arata.
In order to build this railway, he almost resigned from his position as Prime Minister Sasaki Kikuharu.
Although there is no hierarchical relationship between the mayor and the governor, Abe Arata does not mind lowering his head for this matter.
Fortunately, everything went well in the end.
Now, after hearing the promises of Shirakawa Kaede and Sasaki Kikuji, Nagata Masahiro and Ogawa Kazuo were also somewhat tempted.
Huge investments do carry risks, but if everyone is sharing the burden, then it can be considered carefully.
"Excuse me, how much money can Shirakawa-san and Sasaki-san share?"
Now that you are interested, let's discuss it together and see if this investment is feasible.
Nagata needs to first assess how much support Akita can provide.
Sasaki Kikuji and Shirakawa Kaede looked at each other, and the former spoke first.
"The Ministry of Transport's subsidy is expected to be around 5 billion yen, and Akita's local budget is expected to be around 10 billion yen."
"Baichuan Holdings is also expected to have an investment quota of 5 billion." This is the answer given by Baichuan Feng after careful consideration.
Of course, Keio and Tokyu have to rely on transportation, and he can only play a supporting role at most.
Besides, this is not his area of expertise, so he won't take the spotlight.
Akita Prefectural Government holds 150, Shirakawa Holdings holds 50, and 90 billion minus 20 billion leaves a gap of 70 billion.
Nagata Masaru and Ogawa Kazuo looked at each other and had a rough idea of what was going on.
The two companies can certainly afford 70 billion, and even 90 billion per company is no problem.
But investing is never that simple, and there are bound to be many considerations.
“We already know the sincerity of Shirakawa-san and Sasaki-san.
However, more field investigations are needed to make the most appropriate choice for railway investment and construction.”
Nagata Masaru and his colleagues were very cautious about the construction of this kind of local railway.
Because the railway focuses on long-term benefits, not short-term benefits in the next few years.
In addition, the future development and population changes in Northeast China are also something they are concerned about.
Given their position and perspective, they look at problems more accurately than ordinary people.
Tokyo is the center of neon after all, there is no doubt about that.
As Tokyo becomes more and more developed, the gap between it and remote areas is widening. Will there still be such a large population here in the future?
Once it has a population, how can we ensure that it will not be attracted by big cities?
These are all important factors that affect infrastructure investment, and Nagata Masaru and others see them very clearly.
"Of course, that's as it should be."
Baichuan Feng didn't expect that he could convince others to invest huge amounts of money in Akita just by talking and giving them some information.
"Keio and Tokyu need to conduct more detailed investigations on the geographical environment and passenger flow of the two locations."
He understands that without investigation, there is no right to speak.
"However, would you two like to hear about the next development plan for Deer Horn?"
"Eh" Nagata Masaru and Ogawa Kazuo both showed surprised expressions.
Aren’t we here today to discuss the operation and construction of new lines, as well as other projects?
The two looked at each other and said seriously, "I'd like to hear the details."
Is it true that all Shirakawa Kaede wants to do is build a railway from Odate to Kazuno?
Of course not.
What he wanted to do was to lead the entire Lujiao to ascend and include Lujiao as one of his plans for future layout.
During this period of time, he thought about it and felt that the only way for Lujiao to develop was not industry, but tourism.
There is no doubt that Kazuo is destined to be inferior to other cities in the Tokyo area in terms of resources and geographical location.
Baichuan Feng is not so arrogant as to think that he can drive the leapfrog development of the antler industry by himself.
If you want to fully utilize the advantages of antlers, you can only overtake others and adapt to local conditions.
“Nagata-san, Ogawa-san, please look, this is a detailed introduction to deer horns.
The natural resources, geographical environment and climate are very similar to those of Karuizawa in Nagano, and even exceed the latter in some places.
For example, during the heavy snow in winter, if Kazuo built a ski resort, it would definitely be bigger and more exciting than the one in Karuizawa.
Hot springs. Many of Karuizawa's hot springs are artificially developed.
However, the hot springs in Lujiao are all naturally formed and there are more of them than the former.
There are eight scenic waterfalls in Shikaku, a water-based forest, which far exceeds the number of Karuizawa.
In autumn, the beech trees with antlers and the maple trees all over the mountains are definitely one of the most unforgettable beautiful sights.
In addition, there is Tazawa Lake to the south of Shikaku and Towada Lake to the north, both of which are scenic lakes with their own characteristics.
In terms of natural resources alone, Deer Antlers is definitely not worse than Karuizawa."
After listening to Shirakawa Kaede's introduction and the supplementary information in his hands, Nagata Masao and Ogawa Kazuo both took a deep breath.
They were surprised by Shirakawa Kaede's generosity. "So Shirakawa-san wants to make Shikaku the second Karuizawa?"
"No," Shirakawa Feng shook his head firmly, "Shikaku can only become a small Karuizawa, but he won't become the second Karuizawa, at least for now."
Ah, this...
From the tone of his voice just now, they thought that Shirakawa Kaede ambitiously wanted to compete with Karuizawa .
The result was just a "Little Karuizawa". The so-called "Little" actually means copycat.
However, although the goal was set a bit cowardly, Nagata Masaru and his men felt inexplicably relieved.
What they feared most was that Baichuan Feng would get carried away and become unrealistic.
But now it seems that the other party is still very sober, so they have a greater interest in understanding this plan.
All investments must be based on feasibility before further development is possible.
"Then please tell us in detail about the development plan for Shikaku-san."
Nagata Masaru and Ogawa Kazuo sat up straight. They had already felt that the so-called railway construction was just a bonus and there were bigger plans waiting for them.
When it comes to the development plan of Shikaku, Abe Arata is so excited that he trembles all over.
When Shirakawa Kaede revealed his plan in front of him and Sasaki Kikuji, Abe Arata almost knelt down to Shirakawa Kaede on the spot.
As expected, he is a super hero and wealthy man in Akita Prefecture. His vision is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary people.
