Platform 13½ set to open at Ueno Station in Tokyo

[gmat]

For the Train Suite Shikishima.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2016/12/09/platform-13%C2%BD-set-to-open-at-ueno-station-in-tokyo/

 

Grant

[cteno4]

Reminds me of the first class lounges at airports with entrances along non descript doors that open to these large lounges that seem to go off in another dimension...

 

Jeff

[kvp]

Since the train's lobby seems to be on the end of platform 13, this narrow walkway could only be explained by some design error, like the main door being on the wrong side or something like that.

 

ps: i thought that half numbered platforms were reserved for stub tracks built into the ends of wider island platforms...

[katoftw]

I think the half number is an attempt at humour and an attempt to relate it to Harry Potter.  I don't think the real platform will have a number.

[bikkuri bahn]

Since the train's lobby seems to be on the end of platform 13, this narrow walkway could only be explained by some design error, like the main door being on the wrong side or something like that.

No the pre-departure lobby is located near the buffer ends. The narrow walkway is entirely intentional to provide a sense of exclusivity (much like the red carpet at GCT for the 20th Century Ltd) and to segregate the patrons from the hoi polloi.

[railsquid]

There is also quite a wide gap between the tracks there, occupied by a lower-level platform I presume was once used for provisioning trains, loading/unloading luggage etcetera.

[kvp]

Imho they should have built the lobby with direct access to the platform or just made platform 13 closable for the normal passengers. This way, the passengers still have to go across the main area from the lobby side of the buffer to the enterance of the special platform. Unless this was intentional (like allowing photo opportunities), i find the whole thing an aftertought.

 

ps: i know that the old royal waiting hall in budapest western station works the same way, except if it's used, the tourists don't have to go around the buffers to track 10 and board from the service pavement side, but could board right in front of the door from the middle of the normal platform (and could enter the waiting hall from the outside taxi stop through a dedicated gate, bypassing the station)

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes an afterthought, as in a nitpick or making majors out of minors. I trust JR East, as the biggest passenger railway in the world, has thought out pretty much everything in typically thorough Japanese fashion, especially given Japanese customers are perhaps the most demanding in the world. The "long" walk is likely purely intentional, as it provides some drama for the passengers to walk a good length of the (relatively short) train, as well as provide a chance for them to see and be seen by people from the opposite platform (i.e. a virtual advertisement for exclusivity).