Narita Shinkansen

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The Narita Shinkansen (成田新幹線) was a project to connect Narita International Airport to Tokyo Station with a high-speed Shinkansen ("bullet train" line). The project has been abandoned and will be replaced by the Narita Rapid Railway.

1 History
2 Future
3 Technical details
4 External links

[edit] History

Planning of the Narita Shinkansen started in 1966 and permission to build was granted in 1972. Construction started 1974, but was significantly hampered due to resistance from local residents protesting against the expropriation of their land for a project that would bring no benefit to them. (Similar issues have afflicted Narita Airport itself.) Construction was frozen in 1983 and the Basic Plan granting construction rights was cancelled by a special law in 1987 — the only Shinkansen line ever to meet this fate.

Due to the opposition, only a 9-km stretch of track bed and the airport station shell had been constructed before the project was halted. While the Shinkansen link was stalled, the private Keisei Electric Railway had constructed an ordinary rail link to airport. However, Keisei services had to terminate outside airport grounds and transfer passengers by bus, as the station inside the airport and the track connecting to it was owned by (now former) state operator JR.

After the passage of the groundbreaking Railway Enterprise Law in 1986, Keisei acquired the rights to operate as a "third type" (第3種) railway company that leases tracks from JR, and starting in 1991 both Keisei and JR have operated direct airport services to the terminal built for the Shinkansen. The culvert connecting to the airport station was also originally designed for Shinkansen use.

Other parts of the Shinkansen right of way are now used by a number of companies. The Tokyo Station platforms originally intended for the Shinkansen and a stretch of connecting track are now used by JR's Keiyo Line services to Chiba. The Hokuso Railway uses a segment between Komuro and Chiba New Town. A section between Chiba New Town and the airport, reserved but not used, is presently being prepared for use as part of the Narita Rapid Railway.

[edit] Future

While revivals of the Narita Shinkansen are proposed periodically, the cancellation of the basic plan, lack of political will and the construction of the Narita Rapid Railway as a replacement all combine make this unlikely. The Rapid Railway is being built as standard gauge (like the Shinkansen), theoretically leaving a door open for eventual conversion. However, the Rapid Railway's design speed is only 160 km/h and it will — at least initially — terminate at Keisei's part of Ueno Station, not the more central Shinkansen hub of Tokyo Station.

[edit] Technical details

With a design speed of 200 km/h, the Narita Shinkansen was designed to cover the 65-kilometer distance in 35 minutes, including a stop at Chiba New Town. Currently, the Narita Express takes 53 minutes for the same trip (non-stop but along different tracks, making a detour via Chiba), but this should improve to 36 minutes from Narita to Nippori when the Narita Rapid Railway is completed in 2010.