With Haneda Airport having resumed regular international flights on Oct. 31 and Narita Airport deciding to expand the number of flights it serves, competition between the railroad companies that provide access to the two airports is heating up.
On one side of the competition are the Keikyu and Keisei railway companies, and on the other are East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) and its subsidiary, the Tokyo Monorail Co. The Keikyu and Keisei lines offer transit between Haneda and Narita, using travel on the Tokyo subways in-between, while JR East runs the “Narita Express,” which connects directly to major stations.
The construction of new train lines to connect the two airports is even being considered, as the competition shows no sign of abating.
The first round of the battle began in July, when Keisei Electric Railway Co. began running a new, faster version of its Narita-bound “Skyliner” train, called “Narita Sky Access.” The new train is said to have a top-speed of 160 kilometers-per-hour, which allows it to connect Nippori and Narita Airport stations in 36 minutes — 15 minutes faster than the old train.
JR East, meanwhile, has been trying to compete by improving the comfort and convenience of its “Narita Express” line, which takes 50 minutes to travel between Narita and Tokyo stations. Starting in October of last year, the company replaced the trains on the line with newer models, and since March of this year it has been increasing the number of Narita Express trains that run directly to Shinjuku, Yokohama, and other major stations.
The second round of the battle began with the opening of Haneda Airport’s new international terminal on Oct. 21. Keikyu Corporation moved its new underground station for the airport 60 meters closer to the terminal than it had originally planned and equipped it with seven large elevators for the convenience of customers. Furthermore, in order to shave off a single minute from the travel time, the corporation, despite protest from residents in Haneda’s Ota Ward, reorganized its train schedule to include a new limited express line that runs from Shinagawa Station and passes through Keikyu Kamata Station without stopping to arrive at the new Haneda station.
The Tokyo Monorail Co., meanwhile, spent 8.5 billion yen relocating 900-meters of rail line to better accommodate Haneda’s new international terminal. The company says it has made real a vision of “a one minute walk from the station ticket-gate to the check-in counter.”
“If we hadn’t moved the rail, customers would have had to walk 250 meters (between the station ticket-gate and the airport check-in counter),” said a company spokesperson proudly.
With the new developments, the shortest times between the new stations at Haneda’s international terminal and Shinagawa Station, if you use Keikyu’s line, or Hamamatsucho Station, if you use the Tokyo Monorail, are both 13 minutes.
Now, a third round in the competition between the rail companies is beginning, centered on travel through the inner-Tokyo area to connect to the airports. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has begun seriously considering building a new underground tunnel to shorten the travel time between the Keikyu station Sengakuji, and the Keisei station Oshiage. The only station that would be situated between Sengakuji and Oshiage on the new tunnel would be Tokyo Station, from which Haneda could be reached in around 22 minutes and Narita could be reached in around 37 minutes. The new plan would therefore allow travel between the two airports in only 59 minutes.
Should the new tunnel be constructed, it will deal a blow to JR East and the Tokyo Monorail Co., but with over 350 billion yen in construction costs projected as well as technological challenges, the plan faces many hurdles.
Tokyo Monorail Co., meanwhile, has also for some time been considering extending its railway from Hamamatsucho Station toward Shimbashi and Tokyo stations, but it, too, faces many problems, such as securing the necessary funds to buy the land for the extension.