Seems too good to be true.
So what’s catch? Well the first, and rather predictable, piece of fine print is how they measure the travel time. 36 minutes is the time needed to travel from Nippori （日暮里駅）to Narita’s Terminal 2 Station (空港第2ビル駅). Presumably if you get on at Ueno （上野駅）and have to use Terminal 1 （成田空港）then it will take closer to 40 minutes. That itself is not a deal breaker. Perhaps the bigger problem for most of us is the location of Keisei’s existing stations in Nippori and Ueno. Unless you live on the Yamanote Line (山手線) or in one of the many cardboard boxes in Ueno Park, neither are really that benri (便利, convenient.) It doesn’t help that JR’s Nippori Station is one of the only JR stations in the capital to have neither an escalator nor an elevator. Even if the new Keisei Nippori Station will be completely barrier free like they are promising, it is of little consolation to those of us who have to lug our family’s heavy suitcases up the stairs on the JR side in order to get there.
Here is the detailed PR video (in Japanese) that will give you a run-down of more details:
[flv width=”480″ height=”360″]http://www.stippy.com/wp/wp-content/zuploads/z_movs/20091225-NewSkyliner_Outline.flv[/flv]
Narita Sky Access – 36 minutes/2400 yen/62.0km Between Nippori and Narita:
The new train will be known officially as: “Narita Sky Access” (成田スカイアクセス), and the fare from Nippori to Narita Airport will be consistent with the current Keisei offering of 2400 yen. This makes it not only faster than JRs N’EX (Narita Express) offering, but also cheaper.
The next best news – apart from cutting off 15 minutes from the existing travel time – is that trains will be really frequent. In addition to the 3 express trains (特急) that will continue to run the existing (51 minute) route to the airport from Ueno, there will be 3 Sky Liners and 3 express trains running every hour on the new route. That’s 9 trains an hour to Narita from Ueno. That’s even better than Hong Kong’s Airport Express (機場快綫, 5 trains per hour) which anyone who has used will agree is a very efficient system. How will the Narita Express (N’EX) be able to compete with its frustrating 2 trains per hour timetable? (Currently Keisei has 55% of the market for train passengers to Narita but this is bound to increase post 2010.)
Apparently the government isn’t too happy about this as the Transport Ministry (国道交通省, kokudokotsusho) want to cut the travel time between Narita and Haneda dramatically before the runway expansions planned at each airport are completed in 2012. Fat chance of that. Keisei’s management have made it clear that it would be impossible without more tunnel space at some key stations on the subway line that would enable an express train to overtake the normal slower trains. But hold on a second, the government is talking about shaving off over 40 minutes from the current travel time (106 min à 65 min). That’s going to take more than just a bit of improvising underground near Asakusabashi (浅草橋駅).
So I can hear you thinking it over. What if they did get their act together and link Narita and Haneda with a high-speed express train? Would I use it? Is the Asakusa Line really that much more helpful compared to say catching a bus from Narita to a more convenient location? This is the icing on the cake for those of you who plan to be in Tokyo long term. Unless Hatoyama scraps it, the government will start including funds in their budget from this year enough to build a new station on the Asakusa Line that links it directly to Tokyo Station (東京駅) by 2015. Nice. I’m not quite sure how it would work exactly. It’s supposed to be somewhere between Takaramachi (宝町駅 ) and Nihonbashi (日本橋駅) but that smells to me of another long, sweaty underground walk like they have at the existing Nihonbashi station for the Asakusa Line. It all sounds a little too aggressive to me. I don’t think I would bank on it being completed on time especially since Ishihara wasn’t successful with his bid for the 2016 Olympics. Fat chance.
But doesn’t that just strike you as poor planning? Why on earth wouldn’t JR have extended the shinkansen to reach Narita? They could have at least built their existing line on a wider gauge size so that they could potentially upgrade it one day. Funny you should ask. I’d always blamed this gross inefficiency on the ex-bureaucrats at JR but it turns out we have the selfless Japanese people to blame for that hour of pain we experience every time we travel out to Narita. Yep, the bureaucrats had it right. The national government actually approved the construction of a Narita Shinkansen (成田新幹線) and even purchased acres of land in Tokyo and Chiba before the idea was scrapped. At the time, the politically powerful residents of East Tokyo, Chiba and also the left-wing were up in arms at the idea of building a noisy train through their backyards that wouldn’t even stop near their houses. Sounds like that old lady who refused to sell her house to the Narita Airport and now lives right under the flight path of the second runway. Edogawa Ward (江戸川区) actually took the Minister for Transport (運輸大臣) to the Supreme Court in order to stop the construction!!
If you’ve ever gone to Disneyland then I’m sure you’ve wondered why the underground station for the Keiyo line (京葉線) at Tokyo Station is in such an inconvenient place? Well that “hole in the ground” was originally planed for the shinkansen station (as they were going to continue it through to Shinjuku). After canceling the shinkansen the government had to come up with an excuse to “use” the hole and hence we have the Keiyo Line. They also spent 90 billion yen building a meaningless piece of track from Narita to Tsuchiya (土屋) called the Narita Airport High Speed Rail. Oh, and you guessed it. It was completed 15 years behind schedule AND wasn’t even high speed! Because they built it on small 1067mm tracks, Keisei has had to build another wider line right next to it in order to complete their real “High Speed” railway! Gotta love JR.
I wonder how much the new train will cost passengers to use. The Hokuso Line that it will be an extension of is pretty expensive at the moment (It currently costs 1070 yen just to get from Nippori to Imba Nippon Medical School (印旛日本医大駅, Imbanipponidai) which is about the price you pay to get all the way to Narita on the existing Keisei line if you don’t use the Sky Liner. But hey, even if it costs 3,000 yen like the Narita Express it is still probably worth it for returning that extra 15 minutes of your life that JR robs from us each time. And I’m sure that the regular express will be cheaper for the day before pay day.
Here is the plan, for where the new track will run. It really seems to cut a beeline for the airport:
So back to my original worry: Where should I live? Well, if I could bare living out in the boondocks, I guess the obvious places where land prices are likely to rise are where the new express (特急) is scheduled to stop: Takasago (高砂駅), Shin-Kamagaya (新鎌ヶ谷駅), Chiba New Town Central (千葉ニュータウン中央駅), Imba Nippn Medical School and Narita New Town North (成田ニュータウン北駅). Hmmm. That’s a tough call. Nothing against those of you living in Chiba but it just feels soooo far away from it all!
I feel like I’m back at square one. What’s it like living in Takasgo? Where do you think I should live? I look forward to your comments below.
Official site for more information: www.new-skyliner.jp
Japan is all about improving things toward speed… However, they forget to improve quality life of their own people.
I am not surprise about this, what makes our life better getting quicker to Tokyo station? definetily not our lives but YES, the owner of Keisei family*specially income*…
You have to be BLIND if you think that your Kids will grow in a better place than you, if you choose Tokyo.
We live in a period of History where we can choose Quality Life or either Corporate Life, and my friend if you don’t get the same pie as these Bankster you better do not join their GAME.
I also mentioned this on Shibuya 246’s post on this a few weeks ago, but it is good to see the wide gauge tracks of the hokuso line finally being put to their originally intended use. I have used that line quite a lot in the past and was very annoyed at how expensive it was – just to pay for the construction of a shink-worthy line with no high-speed service.
It is also worth mentioning the 上野中央通り地下道 (Ueno-Chuo Dori underground passage), which has been open for a little over a year now. It connects JR Okachimachi (yamanote, keihimtohoku), Naka Okachimachi (Hibiya), Ueno Hirokoji (Ginza), and Ueno Okachimachi (Ooedo) stations to Keisei Ueno Station.
It is still a bit of a walk, especially from Okachimachi and Naka Okachimachi, though. If coming from JR, it would be better to walk from JR Ueno rather than JR Okachimachi.
But the good thing about it is that there are absolutely no stairs to be climbed what so ever. There is what I consider to be the worlds strangest elevator climbing a total of about 1.5 meters at the end into Keisei Ueno station, but the entire route is *very* luggage friendly.
But yes, you do have to walk.
When I lived in the Iidabashi area up until recently, I always took the Ooedo line to Ueno Okachimachi, then walked the passage to the Keisei station.
So, I’d suggest, assuming you are rich 🙂 , to buy in Iidabashi. Kagurazaka and Kasuga (also on the Ooedo line) each have plenty of imported food and wine. Iidabashi has 4 subway lines plus the JR, and I consider taking the Ooedo line to Keisei Ueno to be one of the easiest ways to get by train to Narita.
Using Ueto in the promotion certainly works to get my attention.
The express train sounds awesome. But when I arrive at Narita, I always head north to Tochigi so I take a bus. I wish there was a direct train from Narita to Utsunomiya.
Certainly doesn’t help getting to Minato-ku
I generally taxi to Tokyo and N’ex from there, but that works out to about 5,000 each way. All right when the company is paying but would like to go cheaper when its on my own dime
The problem I really have is how to get there with kids.
Two suitcases, buggy, two carry ons, a one year old, a four year old – total mission.
Last time I took a renta-car but that involved dropping everyone at airport, gassing up, returning it to the shop which is a good 5 km from the aiport and then getting them to run me back – was easy for everyone except me, but including the time going to pick up the car etc, was probably close to a three hour journey to the airport… and cost about 1man
I’ve even though seriously about just taxiing it when I’m with the family – i think its 18,000 or so – fixed price. Would just be so easy…
To answer your question, what’s it like living in Takasago, its not too bad if you don’t mind suburban lifestyle. Once you cross Arakawa and venture into Adachi, Katsushika and Edogawa wards you are moving away from shitamachi and definitely into the burbs. Not that its all bad though, the supermarkets are cheap, plenty of parks and space for kids (many 幼稚園 as well), and its cheap enough to own a car (a must if you have kids) as parking is reasonable. If you’re just on the other side of Arakawa, access to the centre of Tokyo is reasonable too e.g. Chiyoda-Joban line, so if you can live with a 30-45min door-to-door commute then you’re looking in the right place. On the downside, eating out can be a bit of a downer unless you really dig family restaurants.
So where should you live? Depends on your budget and how comfortable of a commute you need. I live in Ayase (綾瀬) and would recommend it given that its on the Chiyoda line, 始発 frequently depart from there so you can get a seat for the whole journey (e.g. about 20mins or so to Otemachi, 30mins or so to Akasaka). For Narita access from Ayase, its a one-fare cab ride to 堀切菖蒲園 which will get you on the Keisei line. If something a bit further out is preferable, I’d look at places on the Tsukuba express line, Joban or Tobu-Isesaki lines, but avoid anything on the Toneri liner (too slow). For the Joban or Tobu-Isesaki lines, the trains are pretty crowded during rush hour (not as bad as Tozai line though) so you might want to do a run once to check yourself.
If I were looking right now to buy, I’d be interested in the going price for apartments/houses around the 青井 and 六町 stations on the Tsukuba express line. The infrastructure around those stations is still a work in progress but the general surrounding areas are all new and look quite good. Apart from the need to change in Ueno or Akihabara, access to the centre of Tokyo is comparable to living in Ayase.
“JR’s Nippori Station is one of the only JR stations in the capital to have neither an escalator nor an elevator.”
I travel through Nippori station every day. There are escalators and elevators to all the JR platforms.
thanks for the tip off.
looks like the new service wills tart on July 17 and cost 1,200 yen (200 more than the existing train) for a standard train and 2400 yen for the slightly faster express “Skyliner” (480 yen more expensive than now). Either way it is much less than Narita Express.
3 years ago we were faced with the same problem.. where to live. I had already been in Japan 13 years crammed into a 1DK in Ikebukuro and then a 2LDK in Ueno, which had felt like a palatial palace when we first moved in, but after 8 years left me feeling like I was living in a doll house.
Through a bizarre chain of events we considered a housing estate near Shin-Kamagaya on the Hokusou Line (I had never heard of either!), and after finding out that I could reach Shinbashi Stn. using a single train and in 45mins (local train), we figured we would check it out just for interest’s sake.
Within a week we had signed a contract on a house. I was a true Edoko so cannot believe that I actually moved outside of Tokyo. But the space, the quiet and a sunny blue sky vs grey polluted one somehow won me over (not to mention twice the space for half the price of a Tokyo mansion)
In that 3 years that have passed, the area has boomed, all in rediness for the new Narita trains. The Access Tokyu means that I will be able to get to Narita on a single train in 35mins (oh sheer heaven) and the number of trains heading into the city will double (from what I understand) as well.
You would be surprised at how good the area is for those imports – there are two import food shops (one with a huge selection of wines) right outside the station and Costco and Ikea are just a car ride away.
Yes, the one thing that was very droll was having to buy a car to get around. Oh that and the fact that after a night out in Tokyo instead of jumping in a taxi to go home for just a couple thousand yen, I have to ride the “gero-train” or else fork over 10-13,000 yen for a taxi.
But seriously, the peace and space I have at home make up for it.
Starting this weekend right?