Odakyu Electric Railway to Launch PATRAIL Trail Management Solution to Improve Maintenance Operations for Local Governments

Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Shigeru Suzuki) will begin offering PATRAIL, a trail management solution designed to improve operational efficiency for municipalities and other organizations involved in the management and maintenance of hiking trails, on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Trail management and maintenance require inspections across broad areas within limited timeframes, while involving multiple stakeholders such as national, prefectural, municipal, private-sector, and volunteer organizations. As a result, reporting on site conditions and inspection results can take time, and reporting methods are not always standardized, making it difficult for administrators to organize and consolidate information. These circumstances can make it hard for administrators to accurately grasp on-site conditions, leading to issues such as the need for re-inspections and delays in repairs. Another challenge is that smooth trail management requires the accumulation of knowledge such as repair histories, while information and experience tend to depend on individuals. PATRAIL is a system that enables centralized management of information on hiking trails and mountain structures obtained through daily patrols. Users can take photos on site via a smartphone app, and GPS automatically links location data with the management ledger. In addition to photos and videos from the field, users can register whether repairs are needed, the level of urgency, and the status of temporary measures, allowing administrators to gain an overview of the entire trail’s current condition. This makes it possible to efficiently prioritize locations requiring repairs and consider construction plans, helping administrators decide where to begin and how much can be addressed within the fiscal year. The system can also automatically generate documents needed to initiate repair work from collected data, improving administrative efficiency, standardizing written content, and facilitating communication with workers. Furthermore, locations showing minor abnormalities or changes can be photographed and recorded periodically, enabling continuous monitoring of trails and structures. Past repair histories and response status can also be shared among relevant parties. This helps prevent excessive dependence on individual knowledge and contributes to building a stable trail management and maintenance framework. The new service was designed after proof-of-concept testing in cooperation with Yamanashi Prefecture, where many areas including Mount Fuji are popular for hiking, while listening to challenges faced by trail administrators. PATRAIL was proposed by an Odakyu employee through the company’s internal business idea program, “climbers,” which collects ideas that can help solve social issues and aims to commercialize them. The service name is PATRAIL. It reflects the company’s desire to support those who conduct patrols to watch over trails and continue keeping them safe. The service launch date is May 23, 2026. The date was chosen because on May 23, 2014, an amendment to Japan’s Public Holiday Act was passed to designate August 11 as Mountain Day. Main functions include a trail survey app for patrols, with on-site photo and video capture, field condition reporting such as repair needs and urgency, and GPS integration. Video functionality is scheduled for implementation in July. The administrator database includes a trail management ledger for mountain structure information, repair histories, and inspection records; automatic document generation for initiating repair work; and repair planning support. The installation fee starts at 550,000 yen before tax. The fee is calculated according to the size of the target area, and a separate usage-based system fee will apply. The service URL is https://www.odakyu-pat ail.com/. Inquiries should be directed to Odakyu Electric Railway’s Trail Maintenance and Management DX Business Desk. For reference, the proof-of-concept in Yamanashi Prefecture was adopted under the “TRY! YAMANASHI! Proof-of-Concept Support Program,” which fully supports social demonstration projects conducted across Yamanashi Prefecture by startups and other companies with advanced technologies and services. System development and verification of app operation were carried out in the prefecture from November 29, 2024 to February 28, 2025. PATRAIL was conceived by Takuto Itaya, who joined Odakyu in 2015 and has worked as a station staff member and train driver. As a hiking enthusiast, he became aware of the worsening deterioration of hiking trails and proposed the business to address the challenges facing them. Through PATRAIL, he aims to protect hikers’ safety, support mountain tourism, and preserve mountains as tourism resources for the future.