(本文選自《經濟學人》20200912期)
背景介紹：
2018年4月1日，又到了每年櫻花盛開的季節，沿線布滿櫻花的日本JR三江鐵路線在這一天發出了最後一趟列車，此後便徹底廢止。三江線並非個例，在日本，越來越多的鄉間鐵路正在消失。Japan’s rural railways are disappearing
But Tokyo’s rail network is still expanding
Tucked away in the verdant mountains of Shimane, in western Japan, Gobira railway station has nearly disappeared. Its signs have faded, the letters hardly legible. The tracks are blanketed in thick moss and overgrown with weeds.
掩藏在日本西部島根縣蔥蘢群山間的江平火車站已幾近消失。其火車站站牌已褪了色，上面的字跡也幾乎難以辨認。鐵軌被厚厚的苔蘚所覆蓋，周圍也是雜草叢生。Its last departure was in the spring of 2018, when the 108km-long Sanko Line, which snaked through six municipalities in Shimane and Hiroshima prefectures, closed after 88 years. 「It’s sad that the Sanko Line is gone,」 a local reminisces. 「When we were young, we would stretch our hands out of the train windows and touch the leaves of the mountain.」
江平火車站最後一次發車是在2018年的春天，從那時起，這條長達108公裡、蜿蜒穿過島根縣和廣島縣6座城市的三江鐵路線在運行了88年後最終廢止。一位當地居民回憶道：「三江線消失了，這真讓人難過。在我們小時候乘坐火車時，我們會把手伸出窗外，觸摸山林間的樹葉。」The line carried an average of 83 passengers a kilometre in 2016, down from 458 in 1987. It was losing ¥900m ($8.5m) a year when it shut. 「It was a difficult decision,」 says Masuda Kazutoshi, a former mayor of one of the towns served, who oversaw the process. 「But in reality, we all knew that this was going to happen.」 A bus service has replaced the trains.
2016年，三江線平均每公裡載客量為83人，低於1987年的458人。在2018年廢止時，三江線每年虧損9億日元（約合850萬美元）。三江線途經某市的前市長、經歷了該線路廢止全過程的增田和敏說：「這是一個艱難的決定，但我們都知道這一天遲早會到來的。」這條火車線路如今已被公交線路所取代。Japan is a railway powerhouse. The famed shinkansen, or bullet trains, connect far-flung corners of the country. Two new stations were added this year to Tokyo’s already expansive commuter-rail network to ease congestion at rush hour and provide better access to venues for the Olympics. One of the new stations boasts cleaning robots and an automated convenience store.
日本是鐵路大國。其著名的新幹線鐵路（或者說子彈頭列車）連接著這個國家各個遙遠的角落。今年，東京本已十分龐大的通勤鐵路網又新增了兩個火車站，以緩解尖峰時段的交通擁堵，並為奧運場館提供更為便捷的線路。其中一個車站甚至配有清潔機器人和自助便利店。Yet many railways in rural areas face a similar fate to the Sanko Line. A total of 44 lines, spanning over 1,000km, have closed since 2000. Three-quarters of local railway companies are unprofitable. The shrinking and ageing of the population, which are especially acute in rural areas, have drained away passengers and revenue.
然而，許多鄉間鐵路卻面臨著與三江線相似的命運。自2000年以來，日本總計關停了44條鐵路線路，全長超過1000公裡。四分之三的地方鐵路公司無法盈利。人口的萎縮及老齡化現象的加劇（尤其是在農村地區）使得乘客和收入漸漸流失。Cars have also become more popular in rural areas, even among the elderly: the number of licence-holders over the age of 75 is climbing, according to government statistics. Covid-19, which has slashed the number of workers and tourists on rural routes, will push railways further into debt.
汽車在農村地區也變得越來越受歡迎，甚至在老年人群中也是如此：據政府一項統計數據顯示，75歲以上持有駕照者的人數正在攀升。新冠肺炎疫情的爆發致使鄉間鐵路沿線的工人和遊客的數量大幅減少，這使得鐵路公司更是負債纍纍。The government provides relatively little support for struggling lines. Japan’s railways were privatised in the late 1980s, and the subsidies train companies receive are at best a quarter of what is needed to keep them all afloat, estimates Utsunomiya Kiyohito of Kansai University. Roads, by contrast, receive massive funding. Near the defunct Gobira station, dozens of construction workers can be seen toiling on road-improvement schemes.
政府相對很少會對那些苦苦掙扎的鐵路線路提供支持。據關西大學的宇都宮清仁估計，日本鐵路在20世紀80年代末實行私有化，鐵路公司最多只得到了相當於維持運營所需費用四分之一的補貼。相比之下，公路建設卻得到了大量資金。在已廢棄的江平火車站附近，你可以看到數十名建築工人在為公路修繕計劃而辛勤工作。「Lawmakers living in Tokyo don’t see what’s happening in rural communities,」 laments Kojima Mitsunobu, chairman of Ryobi Holdings, a transport company. Resentment of rural-urban disparities runs deep in the municipalities of Shimane and Hiroshima, too.
運輸公司菱備控股的董事長小島光信悲嘆道：「生活在東京的議員們根本看不到農村社區正在發生的事情。」在島根縣和廣島縣，人們對於城鄉差距的怨念也在加深。「Japan thinks Tokyo is the only place people live in,」 says Morita Ippei of Gounokawa Railway, an organisation seeking to revitalise the towns along the Sanko Line. 「The Sanko Line disappeared. We were abandoned, discarded.」
溝川鐵路機構（一家致力于振興三江線鐵路沿線城鎮的組織）的森田一平說：「在人們看來，東京才是日本唯一有人居住的地方，隨著三江線的消失，我們被拋棄了，被徹底拋棄了。」「If we continue down this path, every form of public transport in rural regions will disappear in the future,」 warns Mr Utsunomiya. The buses that replaced Gobira’s trains are empty: 「carrying air」, as Mr Masuda puts it. He worries it is not so much public transport that is disappearing, but rather the communities it serves.
宇都宮警告稱：「如果繼續這樣下去，未來農村地區的所有形式的公共運輸都將消失。」在江平，取代火車的公共汽車上空無一人：正如增田和敏所說，「它運載著空氣」。他所擔心的不是公共運輸正在消失，而是它所服務的社區正在消失。本文翻譯：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
編輯：Vinnie
乘坐著老舊的火車，慢悠悠地穿過山林鄉間，欣賞著沿途的美景，這或許是乘坐火車最美妙的體驗。然而，在未來，這種體驗或許將變得越來越難實現。正如文末所說，讓人擔憂的並非鄉間鐵路或其他交通工具的消失，而是小鎮或村落的消失。
重難點詞彙：
verdant [ˈvɜːrdnt] adj. 青翠的；蔥蘢的；沒有經驗的
legible [ˈledʒəbl] adj. 清晰的；易讀的；易辨認的
oversee [ˌoʊvərˈsiː] vt. 監督；審查；俯瞰
congestion [kənˈdʒestʃən] n. 擁擠；擁塞；淤血
drain away 漸漸枯竭；排去；流盡
subsidy [ˈsʌbsədi] n. 補貼；津貼；補助金
lament [ləˈment] n. 輓歌；慟哭；悲痛之情 v. 哀悼；悲嘆
revitalise [ˌriːˈvaɪtəlaɪz] vt. 使有新的活力；使新生
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