Search the Community

In order to squeeze more capacity out of the railway network, infrastructure operator ProRail will begin to use a 6 second increment working timetable from the 2020 timetable revision, down from one minute timepoints. As many here know, this has long been a common practice among Japanese railways, though 6 seconds is very ambitious (depending on the railway or service, it typically ranges from 5 to 15 seconds in Japan). https://railway-news.com/prorail-increases-capacity-for-2020-timetable/

Dec. 19 JR East had a press release with the most detailed information to date regarding service changes with the upcoming timetable revision this March. Including the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and of most interest to me, the timetable for the Ueno-Tokyo Line. brief notes: *Southbound through trains off the Takasaki and Utsunomiya Lines, other than those terminating at Shinagawa, will continue on the Tokaido Line to either Hiratsuka/Kozu/Odawara/or Atami. A few services will even go as far as Ito or Numazu, for example, the weekday 20:24 from Utsunomiya (futsu 1635E) will reach Numazu at 0:37, truly a long-distance local covering 236km (and a cross-railway service- JR East and JR Tokai, at that). *Northbound through trains not terminating at Ueno, will continue on their respective lines to outer destinations, not terminating at a closer station such as Omiya. *On the Chuo Line, the up Azusa #8, (dep. Matsumoto 8:51), will terminate at Tokyo Station, (arr.11:50), to allow convenient connection with shinkansen services, among others. pdf of press release, including schedules: https://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2014/20141222.pdf