NEX to Kawaguchiko!

[Guest keio6000]

Nariichi-san kindly included in my recent order a flyer which indicates a new once a day service of the narita express to kawaguchiko.   i really enjoy getting to fuji and i really like the nex, so this is a really nice new service.  

 

the timing is a bit strange - leave narita at 9:15 and arrive at kawaguchiko at 12:43, depart kawaguchiko 14:13, arrive narita 17:29.  given the extra effort it takes to buy a nex ticket, i wonder who this is for- the best i can imagine is internal tourists who arrive at narita (or tokyo) on an early morning flight or shinkansen, get to fuji in time to check in to their hotels, and then have a convenient trains soon after checkout.  so, i think it appeals more to fuji area visitors rather than fuji climbers.

 

note that if you have a JR pass, you will need to pay a supplement for the fujikyuko right of way usage.

 

if you have too much time on your hands, you can take the nex there and hang around the station for an hour or two just to see the keio-liveried 5000 they have there and then go back to to tokyo. :)

 

it would be quite nice if they finally built a train line that connected fuji station with the gotemba line at gotemba or, even better, at a new station at the gotemba premium outlets.

 

new stations could include the town of oshino, and yamanaka-ko.  

 

i think this would encourage more tourists to the fuji region since as is it's hard to get to fujiakwaguchiko from the south of japan.   plus, the conection to the mall would be a boon and they'd welcome it.   plus, you could also have romancecar services all the way to fuji, alibeit via an indirect route.

 

this would require only about 10-15km of new track.

 

however, this idea is stymied by a lack of good connections from the gotemba line to the shinkansen.

 

my very quick and not deeply considered sketch:

 

 

 

[railsquid]

this would require only about 10-15km of new track.

 

More to the point, it would require 10-15km of new track mainly in very expensive tunnels, which is probably why it's never been done. (Also, if Google Maps route measurement can be trusted, it would be nearer to 30km).

Edited October 10, 2014 by railsquid

[Guest keio6000]

More to the point, it would require 10-15km of new track mainly in very expensive tunnels, which is probably why it's never been done. (Also, if Google Maps route measurement can be trusted, it would be nearer to 30km).

 

sure, but it's imaginary money we are building with :)

 

and plus, the japanese construction-industrial complex are always looking for something to do.

 

im sure there are some really good reasons why it hasnt been built.   but then again, im sure there are not very good reasons why chuo shinkansen is being built, and it's going up,it seems.

 

(i forgot to mention - the line would be very good also perhaps as a JR Central  'round fuji sightseer" if it could get right of way on fujikyu and Jr east.. and if there actualyl was a view of fuji from the west.

Edited October 10, 2014 by keio6000

[railsquid]

sure, but it's imaginary money we are building with :)

 

That's my tax money you're talking about ;)

[Guest keio6000]

That's my tax money you're talking about ;)

 

oh come on - it's japan.  zillion year zero percent bond financing that will have no negative consequences down the line.. promise :)

[westfalen]

A tunnel under Mt Fuji with an elevator to the summit. :)

[railsquid]

Some people would call it an elevator shaft, others a magma egress facility.

 

Now, an escalator up the mountain would be much cheaper and less likely to cause unwanted pyroclastic flows.

 

Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have been so dismissive of Keio6000's idea, looks like it's been floated by Fujikyu.

 

And apparently there used to be a horse-powered railway along that route.

Edited October 11, 2014 by railsquid

[westfalen]

I was forgetting Fuji was a volcano.  How about a funicular railway up the side?

[Densha]

A tunnel under Mt Fuji with an elevator to the summit. :)

Reminds me of some tube train thingy I read about years ago that would go straight through the earth core to the other side of the planet. :P

[Guest keio6000]

I was forgetting Fuji was a volcano.  How about a funicular railway up the side?

 

in my opinion fuji can do without additional human development.  what fuji actually needs is an end to the idiotic system where they close the perfectly good road in the name of "safety", thus forcing off-season climbers to climb all the way from town, a much more dangerous proposition.   that policy that they have there is idiotic and dangerous.  i was once at fuji in a storm where they closed the road after the 4th station "for safety" which meant that i and the rest of the climbers had to walk an extra 16 km in the storm rather than drive on the perfectly good, but closed, road.  insanity.

 

squid: thanks for the good info!  amazing!     seriously, i think it's a pretty good choice for a route and would plausibly turn the kawaguchiko-gotemba area into a plausible day outing like hakone is now for tokyo-ites.

[Mudkip Orange]

Does the NEX have priority over the Evangelion train?