Business trendsJapan's empty bullet trains look to fresh freight for revenue
Railway operator does not expect passenger numbers to return to pre-virus levels
An experiment aboard the Tohoku Shinkansen: Boxes containing fresh fish sent from Sendai Station arrive at Tokyo Station on Aug. 26. (Photo by Shohei Nomoto)
AKANE OKUTSU and SHOHEI NOMOTO, Nikkei staff writers
September 13, 2020 10:34 JST
TOKYO -- East Japan Railway, which serves Tokyo and other parts of Japan, plans to use some of its shinkansen as high-speed freight trains as it looks for alternative revenue sources that, like its passengers, won't be scared off by the coronavirus crisis.