national

New train carriages introduced on Tokyo’s Saikyo Line

12 Comments

Bringing commuters to Tokyo from neighboring Saitama Prefecture, the Saikyo Line, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), is one of the busiest in the metropolitan area. During morning rush hour its trains are packed to 200 percent capacity. On June 30, however, E233 Series trains were introduced to the line, and officials are hoping the new carriages, which are a whole 15 cm wider, will reduce crowding by 10%.

That’s right. Now instead of having to endure bone-crushing, suffocating, sucking-the-will-to-live commutes in trains packed to 200% capacity, riders will be able to breathe, and perhaps move just a little, while enjoying the relative luxury of a train crammed to just 190% capacity.

Praising the introduction of the E233 Series, Nobuo Tsukuba, the station master at Omiya Station, said, “Finally we are able to bring in these wonderful trains which should help alleviate congestion with their added width.”

Said a fourth-grader who had ridden on the new train from Kasukabe City, “The train looks very cool. I am happy the E233 has been introduced to the Saikyo Line.”

One another positive development is the fact that the new trains use LEDs for lighting, meaning they can operate using about 30% less electricity than previous models, and are thus kinder to the environment.

JR officials said they hope to replace all trains on the line with the new series by the end of the year.

Source: NHK Newsweb

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- 10 Yen Coin Takes Out Entire Shinkansen Train -- A Look at the New Shinkansen Kit Kat and Other Cool Japanese Kit Kat Packages -- New Shinkansen to Use Revolutionarily Simple Stations

© RocketNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

12 Comments
Login to comment

Sure hope the writer of this article is being overly sarcastic.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I was on one of these trains yesterday.

-Nice lighting and shaded windows. Felt pretty chilled inside. -Seats were wider, which is good -Doors between carriages are a single sheet of glass, meaning the whole thing feels lighter inside.

All of this meant nothing though, as after sitting down, some typical rotund obasan sat next to me, too close, and started searching pointlessly through her bag with her elbows out. On the other side some stinking salariman flopped down and started passive-aggressively sucking his teeth and sighing at my very presence.

These new trains are good, but the people on them are the same, which is the real problem.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Surely the result will be that more people will try to squeeze into the larger carriage....

4 ( +5 / -1 )

How did the boy ride on the train from Kasukabe? The writer needs an urgent lesson in Geography.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The only solution to overcrowding is to run more trains.

The Saikyo Line, by the way, is notorious for groping incidents. Understandable considering the overcrowding and longer distances between stops.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I'm glad RocketNews has brought these new train carriages to our attention. Always enjoy improvements in the rolling stock.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

15 cm wider will make absolutely no difference. You'd need a train 2 meters weirder to start noticing one.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Only in Japan a New train carriages "15 cm wider" is making a news.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

On my subway line, they added more doors to the new carriages. That means fewer seats. So it's now at the ridiculous state where you have to stand even when the train isn't particularly crowded.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

15 cm wider, will reduce crowding by 10% from it's 200 percent capacity. How come?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I take that train every day on the last very crowded bit, it's still never a problem to actually get on the train though. The trains already go every five minutes during the worst rush so there isn't much leeway to increase the number of trains. Additionally since so many people ride the train, they'll shut down the line during any major incidents downtown to avoid swamping the terminals, so there are a lot of delays.

There are also cameras in all carriages and women only cars, however many women refuse to ride those as a trainload of women in the morning is just as horrible as you'd imagine. :)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Will it reduce crowding by 10%?

No.

It will just be the same, and each carriage will carry 10% more passengers...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites