Are all Joban Line trains leaving Ueno only rapid with no local trains?

[gmat]

Looking are the boarding signs for the Joban trains, both the blue and green band trains are now Rapid Service.

Here is a Joban Line schedule. The blue band on the schedule suggests that the blue band trains should be local and the green ones rapid.

 

A look at the train board shows no local trains.

 

 

 

Here is a blue band train.

 

 

 

 

 

And a green band train.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the guide boards in Ueno Station mention a Narita Line.

I guess that when the Narita Express started running, the Joban Line took over the rapid or local service.

I tried to research it in Wiki in English but came up blank. The Joban Line isn't mentioned as going to Narita Station.

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Brant

[bikkuri bahn]

The Joban Line isn't mentioned as going to Narita Station.

 

That's because it doesn't go there, rather there is a connection with a branch of the Narita Line at Abiko.

[gmat]

Thanks, Bikkuri Bahn, so Narita means Narita line? Why not Akibo? I guess I'll never know.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[bikkuri bahn]

so Narita means Narita line? Why not Akibo?

 

Actually there are three lines that make up the Narita Line- the main line from Sakura to Matsugishi, the airport line from Narita to the airport, and the aforementioned branch line to Abiko. 

map

[spacecadet]

Are you sure there wasn't just a problem on the line that day?  It happens...

[gmat]

I'll be visiting Ueno Station more often so I can check it out.

Best wishes,

Grant

[Guest ___]

To be honest with you, I can' recall seeing Joban line trains running down on the lower platforms when I was there a few years back.

 

EDIT: Looking just now at my pictures, all the Joban Lie trains were above ground. The above pictures look like there is a full structure on top of the current platforms that the Joban Line trains are on. Has something changed at Ueno?

[bikkuri bahn]

These pictures are taken at the elevated portions (platforms 9~12) of the station (the lower platforms are considered ground level)- Ueno Sta. was built on the side of a slope/cliff.  According to JR East's map of the station,platforms 11~12 are for locals as well as rapids bound for Toride and environs.  In the pictures I can't help but noticing that on the edge, cut off, is some info on the boards about locals- perhaps those are for Joban Line trains?

 

http://www.jreast.co.jp/estation/stations/204.html

[bikkuri bahn]

Has something changed at Ueno?

 

It may be the in-station shopping center (ekinaka).

[Guest ___]

I've only seen the Utsunomiya & Takasaki Line trains on those platforms.

 

Here's some shots of the Joban Line on the upper platforms.

 

EDIT: Looking over the map, it's possible due to how the light was that I never shot down under there. With the way I shoot, I prefer to work under natural light and avoid artificial. If the end of the platforms were crap under there, I'd most likely would have avoided it.

[gmat]

The cut off portions on the left are for the Shinkansen. I didn't take a photo of that sign.

 

Here are the other two boards showing the Takasaki and Utsunomiya Lines. There were no Joban local trains on previous the board. That and the fact that all of the Joban trains were Rapid got me thinking.

 

Takasaki Sign Board.

 

 

Utsunomiya Sign Board.

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[spacecadet]

I don't know what this means because I'm a bit unclear on what's "ground level" and what's "above ground" at Ueno, but I was just there a couple weeks ago riding the Joban line (to what station I can never remember, somewhat past Toride, probably Sanuki) and we took a rapid train that was definitely on a platform where you could see daylight above.

 

I didn't notice the sign, unfortunately, or whether all the trains were rapid.

[gmat]

I'll try to get some photos today to bring some clarity about the different platforms.

 

Dr. Yellow passes by Shinagawa today and this weekend, I'll try a couple of budget trips.

Best wishes,

Grant

[bikkuri bahn]

gmat, it seems there are very few locals originating at Ueno Station, however, in one of your pics, the 20:41 for Katsuta, is designated a rapid, however, JR East's online timetable has it as a local, so I don't know what's going on there.  I have a hunch that the rapids out of Ueno stop at all the inner Joban Line stations anyway, and then run a limited stop pattern after Kita Senju (where Chiyoda Line run through trains emerge- these are local trains), essentially being what I call "zone rapids", or in Japanese kukan kaisoku.  Consultation of a paper timetable would be the easiest solution, but I don't have on hand at the moment.

[miyakoji]

Interesting, JR East's online timetable is this: http://www.jreast-timetable.jp/1107/train/065/067851.html , but Ekikara shows this: http://ekikara.jp/newdata/detail/1301241/48460.htm .  It skips one station, Kairakuen, which according to wikipedia is a temporary/special station used during plum blossom season.

[spacecadet]

I just asked my wife for any insight into this - she took the Joban line from Sanuki to Ueno every day for many years and we still take it every time we go to Japan, including a week or two ago.  According to her, there are no, or very few, local trains from Ueno to Sanuki.  She says it's always been that way.  But she says the rapid trains only skip like three stops, so to her and most people there it's basically a local anyway.  If you want a real "rapid" service, you take the new Fresh Hitachi service (which we took coming in to Ueno when we started our trip 3 weeks or so ago).  If you want a "local" train to hit those skipped stops, you take the subway, whichever one it is that continues onto that line.

 

We were in a green car on our way from Ueno to Sanuki and I was both kind of excited about that and also preoccupied with both taking pictures and also managing our mountains of souvenirs and other crap we had with us, so I didn't even notice what stops we stopped at - but she says we did stop at all the inner stops in Tokyo, and all the other stops except those few that get skipped just before Sanuki.

 

Edit: Actually Wikipedia seems to explain this pretty well, and what's there supports what my wife is saying:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dban_Line

 

If you look at the "station list" section, you can see that there actually are quite a few (more than the 3 she said) stations skipped between Ueno and Toride - to hit those stations, you take a Chiyoda line subway.  All the trains leaving from Ueno are *at least* rapid trains up to Toride.  At Toride, it looks like they then become local trains, as the Chiyoda line terminates.

 

I don't see a column for the Fresh Hitachi trains there - from what I remember, the only stop between Sanuki and Ueno on that train was Toride.