The , also known as the is a proposed 3.1 km railway line in the city of

Ota OTA or ota may stand for: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Off the Air'', an Adult Swim television series * Otakon, an annual anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland Electronics, science, and technology * Ochratoxin A (also termed OTA), a mycoto ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, connecting the

Tōkyū Tamagawa Line The is a commuter railway line in Japan owned by private railway operator Tokyu Corporation. It runs between Tamagawa and Kamata in southwest Tokyo, entirely within Ōta ward. The operator's name, Tōkyū, is included in the formal name of t ...

(which currently terminates at Kamata Station) to the Keikyū Airport Line (which currently terminates at Keikyū Kamata Station). One envisioned purpose of the line is to carry Haneda traffic to and from central Tokyo stations such as

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second largest ...

and

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

via the Tokyu network and the

Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line The , formally the , is a subway line operated by Tokyo Metro in west-central Tokyo and Wako, Saitama, Japan. The newest line in the Tokyo subway network, it opened in stages between 1994 and 2008. On average, the Fukutoshin line carries 362,654 ...

Design and configuration

The new line is designed to branch off from the Tokyu Tamagawa Line near Yaguchinowatashi Station, and from there enter a 1.7 km tunnel which would include new underground stations at Kamata and Keikyu Kamata. The line would emerge from the tunnel past Keikyu Kamata to join the Keikyu Airport Line between Kojiya Station and Otorii Station.

History

The Kamata district's two major train stations, Kamata and Keikyu Kamata, are located 800 meters apart, and a transfer between the stations requires a 10-minute walk. Ota City has had plans to connect the stations since 1982, but profitability and connectivity to Haneda Airport were major issues that delayed the project for years. One major issue with the project is that there is a difference in

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

between the Tokyu Tamagawa Line, which uses 3 ft 6 in gauge, and the Keikyu Airport Line, which uses

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

. Ota City's proposal to address this issue called for the line to initially terminate at Keikyu Kamata, allowing same-station transfers between Tokyu and Keikyu trains at Kamata, and then to eventually offer through service to the Airport Line either by using Gauge Change Trains or by upgrading the Airport Line to

dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...

. Although the Tokyo metropolitan government indicated skepticism about the need for the line, Ota has promoted its construction to national government officials. A study released by Ota in December 2015 estimated the economic impact of the line at around 239 billion yen, of which construction impact would account for around 184 billion yen and passenger consumption impact would account for around 54 billion yen. The Ota and Tokyo governments agreed in 2022 to divide the cost of the line, aiming to commence operation in 2035. As of 2022, the estimated project cost was 136 billion yen, and it was projected that the line would turn a profit after 17 years of operation. A third sector operating company, Haneda Airport Line, was founded in October 2022 with investment from Ota City and Tokyu.

References

Airport rail links in Japan Haneda Airport Proposed railway lines in Japan Railway lines in Tokyo {{Japan-rail-line-stub

Design and configuration

History

See also

References