Snow in Tokyo January 2013

[bill937ca]

Monday is a holiday in Japan.  This snow looks wet and heavy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope Toni has a shovel!

Edited January 17, 2013 by bill937ca

[Densha]

Hope Toni has a shovel!

 

Today we also got our first big load of snow over here. It's already surpassing the 5cm, but it seems worse in Tokyo. Tonight I used the tram to get home but it lost power three times because of ice on the catenary, it was just for a few seconds but interesting to experience.

Update: at the moment there's about 15-20cm snow in Holland and while there are problems and delays it looks like the public transport behaves fairly well. Did any more snow fell in Japan?

Edited January 15, 2013 by Densha

[Ochanomizu]

Let me to help those girls with a warm kotatsu and some sake.

[Kabutoni]

Yeah, it was pretty heavy, plus I noticed the city councils don't give a shit about slippery roads. No communal services sholveling, no salt on the roads, no nothing... The first disappointment in Japanland.

 

Apart from a more detailed report on my blog (link in my signature), here's another picture from my trip on the Sagami Railway from Yamato to Yokohama yesterday.

[bikkuri bahn]

Yeah, it was pretty heavy, plus I noticed the city councils don't give a shit about slippery roads. No communal services sholveling, no salt on the roads, no nothing... The first disappointment in Japanland.

 

Apart from a more detailed report on my blog (link in my signature), here's another picture from my trip on the Sagami Railway from Yamato to Yokohama yesterday.

 

Toni, that's because such great quantity of snow falling in such a short period is extremely rare in Tokyo. It would be the same and likely worse if the same thing happened in san Francisco. Otoh, in places such as Sapporo, such snowfall is a daily occurence and measures are taken such that minimal if any fdisruptions occur. I am also in Tokyo at this moment waiting for a flight back to Sapporo, i will post pics of yesterdays snowfall on the keikyu line when i get back home. Suffice to say, keikyu did good job despite the record snowfall.

 

[Kabutoni]

I know it's a rare occasion, but still, you'd expect one or two snowplows or machines like that for the roads in every city ward...

 

Anyway. Have some Sotetsu:

 

[gmat]

Two articles from Japan Today. As Bikkuri Bahn said, heavy snow falls like this are very rare. The last one like this was in 2006. You will get three or four snowfalls in the lowland Tokyo area each year with one or maybe two having snow that remains on the ground for more than a day or prevents you from using your bicycle over the next two days.

 

Snow hits Kanto, paralyzing transport; 267 injuries reported

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/snow-blankets-tokyo-for-first-time-this-winter

 

 

One dead, 900 hurt after heavy snowfall in Kanto-Koshin region http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/369-snow-related-injuries-reported-in-tokyo-6-prefectures

Took pictures of the Setagaya Line and also the Odakyu line at Gotokuji Station. The trains were passing by with snow pasted on the front and back of the trains. The Setagaya Line stopped while I was taking photos on the platform at Gotokuji Station, some time after 12:39 and before 13:53. Had to walk back to my apartment. I had stopped shooting as it seemed to be warming up and after a brief 15 - 20 minute period of time when trains heading towards Shinjuku stopped, I noticed that the snow on the top of the Shinjuku bound trains were melting. So I thought that it was warming up and that the snowfall might be ending. But it didn't seem like it walking back.

When the Setagaya Line was stopped, the poles came down on the crossing next to Miyanosaka Station, causing a long line of cars that waited for a long time. Oddly enough other crossings weren't affected. I saw at least three workers there, two went down the line to help a train that appeared to be stuck and the third stayed at the crossing, but no one thought to raise the poles to let the cars pass. 

 

When I had started taking photos, at Setagaya Station, (Setagaya Line) there was a man with a large wooden board clearing snow from the crossing next to the station. Low tech but effective. 

 

Can't seem to upload my photos to Photobucket.    Again.

 

Grant

[Martijn Meerts]

 

Today we also got our first big load of snow over here. It's already surpassing the 5cm, but it seems worse in Tokyo. Tonight I used the tram to get home but it lost power three times because of ice on the catenary, it was just for a few seconds but interesting to experience.

Update: at the moment there's about 15-20cm snow in Holland and while there are problems and delays it looks like the public transport behaves fairly well. Did any more snow fell in Japan?

 

Had half an hour delay because there was about 1cm of snow around the tracks for half the trip. The rest was snow free.. (Not much snow in the southern parts of the Netherlands ;))

[bill937ca]

[bikkuri bahn]

So Monday I took a local from Keikyu Shinagawa to Kanagawa Shinmachi just after the snow really started falling (past noon).  Rolling stock was an 800 series, which is commonly used on the stoppers. 

1. the first pic is at Samezu, my train (the 800 series 6 car consist) was stopped to let the Kaisoku Tokkyu pass, here you see the tail end of that fast train.

 

2. a decidedly non-Tokyo scene, more like something you'd see in Fukushima or further north or over on the Japan Sea side (Kamata area as seen from the Keikyu mainline).

 

3. somewhere just after leaving Keikyu Kamata, on the new elevated portion of the line.

 

4. contract worker clearing snow from the platform at Rokugodote.

[bikkuri bahn]

Second series.  Crossing the Tama River and Keikyu Kawasaki Station.

 

1. pic is just after leaving Rokugodote Station, the crossing of the Tama River.

 

2. an up train on same bridge

 

3~5 are the approach to Keikyu Kawasaki and signals

 

6~8 After leaving Keikyu Kawasaki, we can see that the snow and the subsequent disruption of the operating diagram has caused up direction trains to be stacked up waiting to enter the station.

[bikkuri bahn]

Final series.

 

1. At Namamugi Station.  Locals stop here to let faster trains pass, however the kaitoku that was due was delayed a few minutes more, enough time for me to leave the train, take a leak on the second floor restroom (three cups of coffee, heh) and come back and snap this picture, before reboarding.

 

2. At Kanagawa Shinmachi, this train was terminated, and was scheduled to go to shed, but due to schedule disruptions, was amended on the spot to a local service bound (I think) for Uraga. I think many passengers were thankful as it spared them a wait on the cold platform for the next down local.

 

3. A view of the condition of the platform at Nakakido.

 

4. At Yokohama Station, the trains were running (amended schedule), but notice no times were posted, just the train services due, in order.

[miyakoji]

Those are some good pictures. I especially like the Kanagawa Shinmachi station sign. Conditions weren't bad enough to impair signal visibility, I guess? Doesn't seem to me that Kanto area railways would be prepared, both in operations and equipment, like those up north.

[bikkuri bahn]

Those are some good pictures. I especially like the Kanagawa Shinmachi station sign. Conditions weren't bad enough to impair signal visibility, I guess? Doesn't seem to me that Kanto area railways would be prepared, both in operations and equipment, like those up north.

 

 

Yes, actually the pictures from the cab make visibility look worse than actual, as the driver had the wiper going.  Visibility I suppose was adequate or within the parameters, signal spacing is pretty close on Keikyu, and likely the trains were running at reduced speed.

[Guest Closed Account 1]

The theirs top video says private. Can you let us see it please?

[Guest Closed Account 1]

The third top video says private. Can you let us see it please?

[Guest Closed Account 1]

The last of the top videos says private. Can you let us see it please?

[bill937ca]

The last of the top videos says private. Can you let us see it please?

 

Only the fourth video shows as private to me.  Once a video is private only the video maker can change that.