Translation
Local railway lines are an indispensable way of getting around for older people and students, yet as passenger numbers fall, quite a few of them keep running at a loss and now face closure. Beyond enjoying the beautiful scenery from the train window, we are being asked how we intend to protect these lines.
Grammar
～にとって · “For, from the point of view of”: 高齢者や学生にとって, “for older people and students”, says whose view 不可欠 is based on.
～である一方で · The formal copula である plus 一方で sets two sides of the same thing against each other: the lines are essential, but they also face closure.
～により · Formal, written form of ～によって for a cause: 利用者の減少により, “due to fewer passengers”.
～に直面している · “To be faced with ~”, with ている for an ongoing state: 廃止の危機に直面している路線, “lines facing the threat of closure”.
～も少なくない · Literally “are not few”, meaning “quite a few”: many lines are in this situation.
～だけでなく · “Not only ~”. Enjoying the scenery is not the whole story; the question of protecting the lines is raised as well.
question + が問われている · The embedded question どうやって…守るのか becomes the subject with が, and the passive 問われている means “is being asked” or “is being put to us”.
Words
- 高齢者 こうれいしゃ · older person
- 学生 がくせい · student
- 不可欠 ふかけつ · indispensable, essential
- 足 あし · leg; here, a way of getting around
- 一方 いっぽう · on the other hand, while
- 利用者 りようしゃ · user, passenger
- 減少 げんしょう · decrease, decline
- 赤字 あかじ · deficit, running at a loss
- 続く つづく · to continue
- 廃止 はいし · abolition, closure
- 危機 きき · crisis
- 直面 ちょくめん · facing, confronting
- 路線 ろせん · route, railway line
- 車窓 しゃそう · train or car window
- 風景 ふうけい · scenery, landscape
- 守る まもる · to protect, to preserve
- 問う とう · to ask, to question