The Tsugaru Strait line includes the Seikan undersea tunnel with a total length of 54 km. If some trouble occurs along this long tunnel, the driver in the tunnel would have to communicate with the train dispatcher quickly and efficiently, making a train radio system for communication indispensable. Fig. 17 shows the outline of the train radio system of the Tsugaru line.
To ensure consistent transmission quality, a LCX (Leakage Co-axial) cable system, the same one used on the Tohoku Shinkansen expected to run along the undersea tunnel line (3-rail track) in the near future, was adopted. Fig. 18 shows the composition of a LCX cable.
A semi-duplex system, referring to the combination of a duplex device for the base station and a simplex device for the mobile station, was adopted to allow efficient communication even if an accident should occur in this long tunnel. The C-type system was adopted for open areas other than the tunnel section.
Fig. 17 Outline of the Tsugaru line train radio system
