Japan Trains Foreign Workers for Railway Maintenance

Shirakawa, Fukushima Pref., March 22 (Jiji Press)–East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, has taken the lead in launching a training program aimed at nurturing about 100 foreign workers annually under Japan’s specified skilled worker program amid severe labor shortages in railway maintenance. The trained workers are expected to find jobs at railway companies across the country, attracting attention as to whether they can contribute to alleviating the labor shortages. On March 6, the scene of the program was shown to the press at JR East’s general training center in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. A total of 113 participants from four countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, attended lectures in Japanese and took part in exercises such as moving rails on a training track and operating machines used to tamp down the ballast laid beneath the rails. About 60 pct of the participants have experience in participating in technical intern programs in Japan. Le Nhat Tin, a 30-year-old trainee from Vietnam, said that although the technical terms were difficult to understand, they became easier to understand with support from instructors. “I have learned the importance of safety,” Pandu Mukti Pranoto, 24, from Indonesia, said. “I want to work in Japan for a long time.” The trainees came to Japan after receiving informal job offers extended by a total of 47 companies, including jobs at maintenance divisions of seven JR companies and major private railway firms as well as their partner companies. Following four weeks of training, they will take exams to be held by the end of this month to demonstrate their skills. Those who pass the exams are expected to start working in Japan this summer. Amid labor shortages and a shift in workers’ attitudes, with many avoiding night shifts, railway companies have in recent years shifted maintenance work, which was primarily conducted at night, to daytime hours by suspending train services. JR East, which experienced a series of transportation disruptions earlier this year, plans to increase its technical staff next fiscal year. “We have introduced new equipment, technologies and a labor-saving system, but it is difficult to secure enough maintenance workforce with Japanese workers alone,” Naoyuki Sakaguchi, manager of JR East’s human resources development unit, said. “Foreign workers are rare in the railway sector, so we have called on other companies to take part in the training program,” he said. The company plans to train about 100 foreign workers going forward and is considering holding training sessions multiple times a year if there is sufficient demand, he added. “Looking ahead, it is extremely important to involve foreign nationals and train them to address the labor shortages in the railway sector,” said Hitoshi Tsunashima, project professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Nihon University’s College of Industrial Technology, who has expertise in railway engineering. “Labor shortages have become an urgent issue, particularly for regional railways regarding track maintenance, and I want to closely monitor JR East’s efforts,” he added. In March 2024, the Japanese government added the railway sector to the specified skilled worker program, which was introduced in April 2019 to accept more foreign workers in Japan. As of January this year, 52 people were granted Type 1 residency status in the railway sector under the specified skilled worker program. The residency status allows skilled workers to stay in Japan for up to five years. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]