News Yamanote Line: new single platform in Shibuya completed

Last weekend, Yamanote Line was suspended between Osaki and Ikebukuro stations on the so-called "outer loop" (clockwise service) due to track relocation work. The partial suspension was the most extended disruption to the Yamanote Line service since JR East was established in 1987 and about the same as the suspension of the inner loop in October. On Monday, a public holiday, operations normally resumed from the first train.

Roughly 530,000 passengers were believed to have been impacted by the suspension, which included major stations such as Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya. On Monday, many passengers and railway fans were seen on the new platform, which is up to 3 meters wider, with trains arriving on both sides. A sign was put up in the closed area formerly used for the outer loop showing JR East workers' appreciation for the platform, which had been used for 82 years.

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Track switching construction underway at Tokyo's Shibuya Station:

Looks like they haven't put up those door systems to keep people from falling or getting pushed onto the tracks. Is that only the subways that do that?

They are also introduced on JR lines.


Yamanote Line:



Kyoto:



Here's an interesting platform gate used by JR West at Takatsuki Station:

I'm glad that when my son goes to Japan by himself he won't face the prospect of severe death and injury riding the train like I used to almost every day.