Any News of the Planned Extention from JR Kamata To Keikyu Kamata Stations?

[gmat]

I read on the Wiki page on Kamata Station that there are plans to extend the Tokyu Tamagawa Line from their Kamata Station to the Keikyu Kamata Station by 2020. I think that there isn't much time to complete it and have cycled by looking for above ground signs. None that I can see, though.

Anybody have more info?

 

On a different topic, my student told me that Odakyu had announced plans for the final upgrading of the Line from Yoyogi Uehara to Shinjuku Stations. Anyone have details on the plans? This is about the last place in Tokyo to shoot the Odakyu Line at ground level. I'll miss it. I also noticed that on the bottom level at Shinjuku Station, there are steps going downwards that are blocked off. Could this be for another level that is unused right now?

 

Grant

 

 

[railsquid]

8 minutes ago, gmat said:

 

On a different topic, my student told me that Odakyu had announced plans for the final upgrading of the Line from Yoyogi Uehara to Shinjuku Stations. Anyone have details on the plans? This is about the last place in Tokyo to shoot the Odakyu Line at ground level.

 

I haven't heard of any such plans; they have been extending the in-between stations to 10 car length and Yoyogi-Hachiman is being rebuilt (albeit at street level) so I don't think there would be any more plans at the moment.

 

Maybe your student meant the completion of the underground section between Yoyogi-Uehara and Umegaoka which is due in 2018?

 

Quote

I'll miss it. I also noticed that on the bottom level at Shinjuku Station, there are steps going downwards that are blocked off. Could this be for another level that is unused right now?

 

Nope. I saw an excerpt from a TV programme on Youtube recently which was poking around various parts of the Shinjuku stations, IIRC that was a connecting corridor between the lower level platforms which is no longer in use.

[railsquid]

18 minutes ago, gmat said:

I read on the Wiki page on Kamata Station that there are plans to extend the Tokyu Tamagawa Line from their Kamata Station to the Keikyu Kamata Station by 2020. I think that there isn't much time to complete it and have cycled by looking for above ground signs. None that I can see, though.

Anybody have more info?

 

 

Plans are still just that... plans.

 

Japanese Wiki page: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蒲蒲線 lists the latest development as being from March 2017 when Ota-ku published a table of estimated costs.

 

[railsquid]

58 minutes ago, railsquid said:

 

I haven't heard of any such plans; they have been extending the in-between stations to 10 car length and Yoyogi-Hachiman is being rebuilt (albeit at street level) so I don't think there would be any more plans at the moment.

 

 

Digging around a bit, I can't find any evidence of any plans for that stretch of line. Some sort of modification would be desirable to get rid of that big crossing at the Odakyu Shinjuku station throat; I wonder if any feasibility studies have ever been made.

[gmat]

Sorry that this is so late but thank you railsquid for the info. I won't see my student until January, but she had mentioned that plans for the whole line had been made at the time of the 64 Olympics.

 

grant

[railsquid]

Around that time the two major activities on the Odakyu line were:

• rebuilding Odakyu Shinjuku station to its current form
• through-running with the Chiyoda line

The current construction activity probably dates from planning in the late 80s/early 90s; it was certainly in full swing in 1997 when I started using the line, and will finally be completed next year.

 

Evidently the stretch between Yoyogi-Uehara and Shinjuku isn't seen as a priority, possibly because - apart from the road just outside the station - there aren't any major road crossings (IIRC) which would make it worth the (probably very high) cost. It's certainly not on the map of current and future grade separation projects:

 

http://www.kensetsu.metro.tokyo.jp/jigyo/road/kensetsu/gaiyo/04.html

 

so I reckon the stretch will be "safe" for a few years yet...

[gmat]

That stretch is pretty busy and only using two tracks. I suspect that if they had four tracks, it would help the overcrowding on the train. I used to ride the bicycle past Shimo-kitazawa going to work before it went underground and I would always catch the crossing barrier and it was often a pretty long wait. There are three crossings with a a good amount of traffic between Shinjuku and Yoyogi-Uehara. The first two streets out of Shinjuku and the shopping street after Yoyogi-Hachiman. The latter has a good amount of bicycle traffic, too. Those streets probably put a limit on the number of trains able to run on that line. 

I wonder what Odakyu will do.

Thank you for your information.

Grant