The is an

airport rail link An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport between an airport and a nearby city. Direct links operate straight from the airport terminal to the city, while other links require an intermediate use of a people mover or ...

service connecting Sendai Airport to

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

, Miyagi,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Rail service began on March 18, 2007.

Data

The third-sector Sendai Airport Transit Co., Ltd. (SAT) started construction of the line in 2002. The construction cost is expected to reach 34.9 billion

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. T ...

, and it may take as long as thirty years before the railway turns a profit. *Route: Natori Station – Sendai Airport Station *Length: 7.1 km *

Gauge Gauge ( ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, especia ...

: *Number of stations: 4, including terminals *Multiple-track sections: Single-track except for passing loop at Mitazono Station *Electrification: 20,000 V AC *Block system: Special automatic blocking (planned) *Rolling stock: JR E721-500 and SAT721 series 2-car EMUs

Station list

All stations are in

Natori, Miyagi is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 79,459 in 31,748 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Natori is in east-central Miyagi ...

Rolling stock

SAT has ordered six 2-car SAT721 trainsets which are used in conjunction with similar design JR E721-500 series sets. The stainless-steel bodied trains feature barrier-free design and have a top speed of . LED indicators show the stations and destination. Train interior and exterior announcements are given in Japanese and English. File:SAT-721.JPG, SAT721 series File:JRE E721 500.JPG, JR E721-500 series

Connections

From Natori Station, service extends via the

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line () is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Uts ...

tracks to Sendai Station, a stop for the

Tōhoku Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main island, Honshu. Operated by the East Japan Railway Company, it links Tokyo in the south to Aomori in the north, with ...

express trains located in central

. From Sendai Station, it takes 17 minutes (rapid service) or 25 minutes (local service) to get to the airport. The railway also has advertised that Sendai Airport can be reached from neighboring cities such as Fukushima and Ichinoseki in under one hour. Trains can be up to six cars in length. Besides being faster than existing bus services from the city, with a fare of 400 yen from Natori Station, or 650 yen from Sendai Station, the rail service is also less expensive.

Sendai Airport Transit

is a third-sector company in charge of constructing and running the Sendai Airport Line train service between Sendai Airport Station and Natori Station in

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

, Japan.

History

The company was founded on April 7, 2000, and has capital of over seven billion

. The Sendai Airport Line opened on March 18, 2007, electrified at 20 kV AC. The line was severely damaged by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

, and service was suspended indefinitely from March 11, 2011, and reopened on October 1 of that year.

Rolling stock

The company owns three two-car SAT721 series

EMU The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

trains (identical in design to the JR East E721-500 series sets).

References

External links

Sendai Airport Transit website
*

(how-to movies on transportation in Sendai)

(how-to movies on transportation in Sendai) {{authority control Railway lines in Japan Rail transport in Miyagi Prefecture Airport rail links in Japan Railway lines opened in 2007 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Japanese third-sector railway lines 2007 establishments in Japan Railway companies of Japan Railway companies established in 2000