Haneda Airport: Slowing Down?!

Introduction

On 24 October, Keikyu published an overview of new timetables that take effect on 26 November. According to the company, it is the biggest timetable change in more than 23 years. Like other railway operators around the world, Keikyu has decided to reduce services as ridership has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic level. However, the timetable revision contains significant changes that are contradictory to its long-term objectives, and thus raises serious concerns that how or even if do they really think carefully about their future, as argued below.

What happens to Keikyu lines?

Limited Express Tokkyu

Service reduction. Keikyu has not yet published statistics this year, but other railway companies in Tokyo have seen less passengers than before the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Tokyu estimates 14% less ridership than pre-COVID days by March 2023. As considerable number of people prefer remote working even today, the ridership of trains in Tokyo is not expected to be fully recovered, just like other major operators across the country and around the world – such as JR Group, Transport for London and Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York. Keikyu is no exception.

During rush hours, not a few fast services from Shinagawa towards Yokohama and Yokosuka will be formed of eight coaches instead of twelve. In the daytime, trains to and from Yokohama area will be reduced from 18 to 15 services per hour. Airport Express will be every 20 minutes instead of 10, and Limited Express Kaitoku to and from Toei Asakusa Line will be downgraded to Tokkyu.

More radical changes will be taken place: services between Tokyo and Haneda Airport, as described below.

How do services to Haneda Airport change?

Before looking the new service patterns, it is important to review the current off-peak timetable (daytime on weekdays and almost the whole day at weekend).

BEFORE the timetable revision

At present, Limited Express Kaitoku (including one Airport Limited Express) to/from Shinagawa and Toei Asakusa Line run every 10 minutes, and Airport Express to/from Yokohama runs every 10 minutes. As the map shows, Kaitoku is a fast service, while Airport Express is semi-fast. The fastest Airport Limited Express runs every 40 minutes.

AFTER the timetable revision

The new timetable shows that many Kaitoku services (except Airport Limited Express) are replaced with slower Tokkyu, and Airport Express will be provided every 20 minutes. It is not even certain at present that if trains to and from the Airport will always be provided exactly every 10 minutes. The fastest Airport Limited Express keeps running every 40 minutes.

Why does Keikyu adopt such a measure? The company cuts Airport Express by half, but in that case, small stations between Keikyu Kamata and Haneda Airport will only have three trains per hour, which is disproportionately infrequent. In compensation for that, Kaitoku services are going to be downgraded to Tokkyu, in which case those small stations will have almost equivalent number of trains to before the timetable revision.

However, it is needless to say that downgrading services means nothing but longer journey time. Tokkyu between Shinagawa and Haneda Airport Terminals 1,2 is expected to take 20 minutes, five minutes longer than Kaitoku.

Why is it so problematic?

Airport Express

Haneda is one of two international airports in Tokyo, and it is well known that Haneda is far closer to the capital and thus more convenient than Narita Airport. It is obviously essential to keep public transport between the airport and the centre of the capital smooth. Furthermore, as the country reopened at last, Haneda Airport will certainly be busy once again. Amid the surge in demand, slowing down is simply a backlash.

There are three major routes connecting Tokyo and the Airport: Keikyu, Tokyo Monorail and bus services. It depends on which part of Tokyo you are going to or from, but all these three choices are equally attractive. In other words, competition with each other is always severe.

A typical suburban train on JR East network

More importantly, Keikyu is expected to drop out the race in the near future. JR East has been constructing a new line that connects the Airport and Tokyo station, and it is scheduled to open by March 2030. At present, a journey between them takes 33 minutes via Keikyu and 28 minutes by Tokyo Monorail, but the new JR line will take just 18 minutes. Meanwhile, a Keikyu train between Shinagawa and the Airport will take 20 minutes. Hence, the result of the race (JR East vs Keikyu) is patently obvious.

Has Keikyu given up the race?

Limited Express Kaitoku (through-service)

Not really. According to the latest investment plan, Keikyu has been refurbishing Haneda Airport Terminals 1,2 station with new turnback sidings to boost capacity by providing more services. Keikyu has endeavoured to encourage businesspeople and tourists to use its services as much as possible so that not a few of them might still choose Keikyu even after JR launches new services. "Keikyu is fast and convenient"...this is what the company has been eager for passengers to remember.

Nevertheless, the new timetable revision makes services slower and less convenient. It does not make sense at all. They might have been caught in a dilemma of whether pursuing efficiency by cutting trains and staffs or keeping frequent and fast services to the Airport. It is possible that they simply lack a consistent long-term plan or failed to form a consensus inside the company. More likely, it is because the company has been suffered severely from staff shortage so that they had no choice but to significantly reduce services, as Keikyu has been notorious for poor working conditions, which has often been mocked as "the railway of thirteen-consecutive-day labour".

Is there any impact on the new Kamakama Line?

A train similar to Tokyu Tamagawa Line

Highly unlikely. Kamakama Line is a proposed new railway connecting Kamata and Keikyu Kamata station, which is approximately half a mile. It connects Tokyu and Keikyu lines, allowing through-service between Haneda Airport and western part of Tokyo (such as Shibuya and Ikebukuro) via Tokyu Tamagawa, Meguro and Toyoko Lines. Some services might be extended to as far as Kawagoe and Tokorozawa in Saitama Prefecture. There are many difficulties in this project, particularly different track gauges between Tokyu and Keikyu. It is reported that Ota City of Tokyo and Tokyu are positive about the new railway, but Keikyu is reluctant to pursue it. The Metropolitan Government of Tokyo had been opposed to the plan at first, but agreed in 2022 with expending 30% of the cost.

Keikyu has not done anything about the proposed Kamakama Line, and the company has never published any announcement about it either. Since Keikyu has not been positive about the Line, it is almost certain that the timetable revision is completely irrelevant to the Kamakama Line project. Thus, there will be no impact on the new line.

Conclusion

Keikyu has decided to reduce regional services in Yokohama area, but it also significantly cuts the services between central Tokyo and Haneda Airport. Whether intentional or not, businesspeople and tourists will surely be dissatisfied with the new timetable. Even without the timetable revision, Keikyu is on the verge of losing the competition with the rivals (particularly the new JR line), and the revision will definitely deteriorate the situation further. Frankly speaking, it is suicidal.

It is deeply concerning that whether the company has determination to have a consistent long-term plan or not, or even if it is capable to do so.

The Red List of Trains in Japan (Oct-2022 update)

The Red List of Trains in Japan has been updated with five new articles as listed below, including the latest bullet train N700S series. All Izukyu trains (Shizuoka Prefecture) are now available.

In addition, many articles have been updated, especially JR Kyushu’s rolling stock as a new high-speed rail was opened in September.

N700S series

• N700S series bullet train
• Izukyu 100 series
• Izukyu 2100 series
• Izukyu 3000 series
• Izukyu 8000 series
• Toei 6500 series
• Tokyu 300 series

Information about recent changes on "Current Status" can be found HERE .

The Railway in Japan: the 150th Anniversary

On 14th October 1872, the very first railway in Japan opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama, which are now called Shiodome and Sakuragicho, respectively. The railway was supposed to open three days before that, which was 9th September in the lunar calendar, but it was postponed due to a storm. In fact, the line had been in use since 12th June but it was a provisional service, so 14th October is officially set as the birthday of the railway in Japan.

There are several memorials and heritage of the very first railway even today, and this article shows some notable examples that can be found in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures.

Japanese railways in the early days were dependent on the British Empire. One of the most influential person was Edmund Morel (1840-71), a young civil engineer. After graduating King's College London, he engaged in railway construction in the British colonies including Australia, New Zealand and North Borneo. He came to Japan in 1870 with his wife, and he arranged the plan that contributed to saving money (especially foreign reserves) and encouraging domestic industrialisation. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 30, a year before the railway was opened. His grave is located in the Foreigners' Cemetery in Yokohama, and it is designated as a National Railway Memorial.

This is a monument near Sakuragicho station, which was called Yokohama station at that time. Sakuragicho station is about a mile away from the current Yokohama station, but Sakuragicho is actually closer to the port and thus the then city centre. The monument is about a three-minute-walk from Sakuragicho station, but it is not necessarily easy to figure out.

The monument is nearly triangular-prism-shaped, and each side has an illustration of the then-Yokohama station, the first timetable and inscription, respectively.

The English inscription reads:
"The first railway in Japan was opened to traffic here May 7, 1872 (lunar calendar). It operated between the Yokohama Station located on this spot and the Shinagawa Station in Tokyo. The far-sighted endeavour of the men who developed this railway typified the spirit of their times. May their tradition continue to inspire future generations."

As noted above, the first railway was imported from the United Kingdom, and probably that is why the inscription is based on British English, while most English documents in Japan are American one.

Neither station buildings remain today. The original buildings of both stations were destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, but JR East reconstructed the Shimbashi station building in 2003, and it is now a small museum called Former Shimbashi Station. The building itself is less than 20 years old, but its design is based on what was used to be. The ruins of platform can be observed in the museum, though no photograph is allowed inside the building.

There is also a small monument behind the museum, consisted of a platform and tracks. They are obviously not original ones, but they tell us that the very first train departed towards Yokohama exactly at this position. The museum is less than a ten-minute walk from Shimbashi station of today.

The very first locomotive in Japan still exists. It was built in 1871 by Vulcan Foundry, a company in Merseyside (defunct in 1962). The locomotive was initially called "the first locomotive" and renumbered to Class 150 in 1909. The locomotive was used on the line for eight years, then reallocated to Kobe, Nagoya and later Osaka. It was resold in 1911 to Shimabara Railway in Nagasaki Prefecture, where the loco was operational until 1930.

The locomotive had been preserved at Transport Museum in Tokyo since 1936. It was designated as a National Railway Memorial in 1958 and as an Important Cultural Property in 1997. It has been preserved at Railway Museum in Saitama since 2007, and now exhibited near the entrance.

Furthermore, there is another locomotive at a shopping centre CIAL Sakuragicho. This one was built in 1871 by Yorkshire Engine Company (defunct in 1965), and initially called "the tenth locomotive", which was renumbered to Class 110 in 1909. However, Frederick Collier Christy (a locomotive superintendent) soon reported it to Richard Vicars Boyle (an engineer-in-chief) that the No.10 loco was poorly constructed and thus very unreliable. The locomotive was used between Shimbashi and Yokohama for the first eight years, and transferred to Kobe with the No. 1 locomotive, then reallocated to various places including Hokkaido, Nagoya and Toyama. The loco was withdrawn in 1924.

This locomotive had been preserved at Omiya Maintenance Depot until 1962, and moved to Ome Railway Park in the west of Tokyo. As its condition deteriorated, JR East dramatically repaired and restored it to the original style, and installed at its original workplace in 2020.

The above-mentioned memorials are mostly easy to access for tourists. Those visiting Tokyo and Yokohama might be so busy to look around the cities that they have no time to see railway heritage, but they are worth visiting if you like Japanese railways. Most places are open every day and free of charge, but the Railway Museum in Saitama is obviously not. The Foreigners' Cemetery in Yokohama is open on certain Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only, so it is advised to check the calendar online in advance.

Shonan-Shinjuku Line and its rivals

Shonan-Shinjuku Line Map (General)

Shonan-Shinjuku Line is a major railway service in Tokyo, operated by JR East. Like Thameslink in London, Shonan-Shinjuku Line offers services from north to south and vice versa, going through the centre of the capital. It was first commenced in late-2001, and soon expanded again and again. Today, it is regarded as one of the most important and successful railway network in Japan.

Shonan-Shinjuku Line Map (Technical)

Technically, Shonan-Shinjuku Line is not registered on an official document. It consists of several existing lines as shown above. Before the Shonan-Shinjuku Line was launched, almost of all services on those lines started or terminated at Tokyo or Ueno, and all passengers had to take another train to continue their journeys. Shonan-Shinjuku Line, which provides direct services between them, made train journeys in the Greater Tokyo Area far more convenient and less troublesome than ever before.

E231 series for Shonan-Shinjuku Line

As JR East launched the Shonan-Shinjuku Line, rivals had to reconsider their strategies. To be specific, Tokyu and Odakyu have been working hard to win the competition against JR East, many of which have also been successful.

5000 series on Tokyu Toyoko Line

Tokyu Toyoko Line competes with Shonan-Shinjuku Line between Yokohama and Shibuya. Toyoko Line had been served by stopping and express services until March 2001, but Tokyu introduced a faster one (limited express). Tokyu has also been in competition with JR East between Yokohama and Shinjuku or even Ikebukuro since 2013, when through-services of Toyoko Line and Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line started. Tables below show their performance. Both Tokyu and JR East offer their fast services every 15 minutes.

Yokohama - Shibuya

	Journey time	Single fare
JR East	25-28 minutes	400 yen
Tokyu	27 minutes	280 yen

Yokohama - Shinjuku*

	Journey time	Single fare
JR East	30-33 minutes	570 yen
Tokyu	34 minutes	450 yen

*Shinjuku station of JR East and Shinjuku-sanchome station of Tokyo Metro.

Yokohama - Ikebukuro

	Journey time	Single fare
JR East	36-42 minutes	650 yen
Tokyu	41 minutes	480 yen

The tables show that fastest services of Shonan-Shinjuku Line are slightly faster than Tokyu's limited express, but fares are quite different. No wonder why many passengers from Yokohama prefer Tokyu to JR East.

Odakyu 3000 series

Odakyu also competes with Shonan-Shinjuku Line between Fujisawa and Shinjuku as well as Odawara and Shinjuku. Odakyu has been providing Romancecar services, which are even faster but expensive. Thus, the company introduced Shonan Express between Fujisawa and Shinjuku in 2002, which does not require any additional ticket. It was rearranged to Rapid Express in 2004, and most people prefer Odakyu to JR East.

Fujisawa - Shinjuku

	Journey time	Single fare	Frequency
JR East	49 minutes	900 yen	2 per hour
Odakyu	57 minutes	600 yen	3 per hour

Odawara - Shinjuku

	Journey time	Single fare	Frequency
JR East	77 minutes	1,520 yen	1 per hour
Odakyu	89 minutes	900 yen	3 per hour

It is even clearer than the JR-Tokyu competition that Odakyu takes longer but way cheaper than Shonan-Shinjuku Line. A return journey between Odawara and Shinjuku via Odakyu saves more than 1,200 yen, enough to have a wonderful lunch at a restaurant in Tokyo.

Tokyu and Odakyu provide cheaper services, but it does not mean at all that Shonan-Shinjuku Line is useless, as not all passengers can use an alternative option to JR East. In addition, if there had been no Shonan-Shinjuku Line, neither private railways would have changed their timetables with fast and reasonable train services. It might be a rare example of successful competition that is beneficial for railway users.

Green Car, Free of Charge

185 series repainted like a train in the early-60s.

In Japan, some JR trains have first class coaches called Green Car(s). The reason why first class is called as such is because the coaches had a pale green stripe to distinguish themselves from standard class coaches together with a clover mark that is still in use. Japanese National Railways adopted such a livery in 1960, and first class tickets were also green. Since 1969, first class coach has been called Green Car, and JNR removed the pale stripe in 1978.

211 series Green Cars in 2012

In the Greater Tokyo Area, JR East provides Green Car services on its suburban trains. To be specific, Takasaki, Tokaido Main and Utsunomiya Lines (also known as Shonan-Shinjuku or Ueno Tokyo Lines), Sobu Rapid and Yokosuka Lines (including services towards Narita Airport and other relevant lines in Chiba Prefecture) and Joban Line. Green Cars of suburban trains on these lines are now all double-decker.

Needless to say, you have to purchase a Green Car ticket in addition to an ordinary fare ticket. As of 2022, a Green Car ticket for suburban trains in the Greater Tokyo Area costs 580-1,260 yen. The price is cheaper when you purchase at the weekend and before getting on a train.

However, you can take a seat on a Green Car without paying extra in very limited cases, as described below.

Coaches nos. 4 and 5 of E531 series are Green Cars as well

In rare instances, a very few Joban Line trains between Tsuchiura and Iwaki provide de facto free Green Car service. Such a service is never announced in advance. It is said that not a few local residents attempt to be on a "precious" seat, though no light refreshments are available and seats are often set backwards.

E501 series has standard class seating only

Why is there such a case? The reason is simple: because the train is not supposed to have Green Car coaches. Stopping services in this area are provided mainly by E531 series, but some of them are E501 series. Each 10-car E531 series unit has two Green Cars, but no E501 series unit does. When there is a lack of the E501 series, an E531 series train is used instead. Hence, there are free Green Cars.

E231 series on Shonan-Shinjuku Line

There were a few other cases in the past. Some E231 series on Takasaki and Utsunomiya Lines had free Green Cars from 1 Jul to 16 Oct 2004. Furthermore, several E531 series trains on Joban Line had ones as well from 6 Jan to 17 Mar 2007. They were temporary as Green Cars were gradually inserted to all units at that time. Presumably, staffs of JR East considered it would be wise to make them free for a while as they would attract potential passengers paying extra after Green Car service was duly launched.

E233 series on Chuo Line

A similar temporary scheme will possibly be adopted again in Tokyo soon. JR East is preparing for Green Car service on Chuo Line (Rapid), which is scheduled to be launched in March 2025. Since it will take at least several months for all units to have first class coaches, they could be treated as de facto free Green Cars for a while. There is no relevant official announcement from the company so far, but based on precedents, the temporary measure is likely to be adopted in January 2025 – unless JR East is mean enough to shut all doors.