Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka subway/trains going to 24-hour operation?

[Sacto1985]

According to this article in Nihon Keizai Shimbun:

 

http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFS1505J_V10C13A4MM8000/

 

They are seriously looking at running subways and commuter trains 24 hours a day in the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka areas. While that sounds like a good idea, I really have to ask these questions:

 

1. How are they going to do track and rolling stock maintenance?

 

2. Just how far will the 24-hour service extend from the city center?

 

3. What will be the train schedule between 0000 and 0500 hours JST?

[marknewton]

Track and rollingstock maintenance can still be done with 24 hour running. Not every car or train will be in service at 3am, so those cars not in traffic are available for inspection and maintenance. It's just a matter of planning. Likewise with trackwork - a lot can be done while trains are running by working ATP.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Mudkip Orange]

In NYC they cut back lines that overlap, and branches revert to shuttles (e.g. the M train stops at Myrtle with a forced transfer to the J). Tokyo doesn't have the same sort of branching structure, but there is some redunancy. For instance, the Hanzomon line could terminate at Nagatacho, with a forced transfer to the Ginza Line for continuing service to Shibuya.

 

Likewise NYC will do spot night-time closures of individual lines for 1-2 weeks. I'd be blown away if the Japanese couldn't realize the maintenance efficiencies of the NY MTA.

[ToniBabelony]

I was always wondering about Tokyo not having some sort of 24h transport service (apart from taxis), since it's one of the largest and most important cities of the world. Now things are changing, I'm speculating on how it will change the way of life here. I expect to see only trains and buses in the metropolitan area to work around the clock and not to the satellite cities (Saitama, Chiba, Kawasaki, etc.), so for me personally it won't make much of a difference unfortunately (for those long nights on the booze).

[bikkuri bahn]

Labor costs- you're likely going to need to insert another shift at all those stations, as well as train crew. Who's going to pay for them? Unless the city governments are going to pony up. Also, regarding maintenance, time windows are going to become even more narrow, and if that impacts operations during morning rush hour, no way are the railway companies going to serve midnight revelers at the expense of workers trying to get to their offices on time. I see 24 hour bus services ("owl services" as they are called in the U.S.) being feasible though.

 

*too add: check this post by quashlo over at SSC forum, regarding Tokyo. Seems the talk is just about the Toei Bus system, not rail.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=102340724&postcount=5337

Edited April 17, 2013 by bikkuri bahn

[bronzeonion]

Track work would become impossible, they really can't run it permenantly like that, a few nights per week would be okay but not 24/7. The trains are extremely light compared with the rest of the worlds trains but that doesn't mean the track doesn't need to be replaced etc from time to time!

[marknewton]

With the best will in the world, trackwork would NOT become impossible. If you have double tracks, you close one and run bi-di on the other. We do it here all the time, and we're not exactly the most progressive railway around.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Densha]

Interesting. In the Netherlands there is an intercity train every hour on the most important mainlines every night. During some nights once in a while the trains terminate at certain stations because of trackwork but there are replacement busses for the trains between the stations that the trains can't get to. Considering the close distance between the stations (15 - 30 minutes) it's kind of a suburban system, the cities are very close to each other.

 

@Mark

I read somewhere that Japanese railway systems usually only have signalling in one direction, you'd especially think that of subways.

[bill937ca]

Quashlo has posted more information.  There will be one 2.75 km bus route on Friday nights running once an hour.  Fare will be Y800 (although a news article says the fare is Y400).

 

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=104262827&postcount=5566

[Sacto1985]

I think in the end, the most likely extra public transit service between 0000 and 0500 hours daily will be more bus service. Which makes more sense, since commuter trains and subways are quite maintenance-intensive on a per kilometer basis and will need non-working hours to accommodate the track and overhead wiring maintenance work.

[Mudkip Orange]

derp.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Mudkip Orange