East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) gave the media a preview Saturday of platforms and other facilities at Takanawa Gateway, a new Yamanote Line station under construction in Tokyo that is slated to open next spring.
Work to build the station, located between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations on the busy loop line, started in February 2017, and construction of the station’s building is nearly complete.
“About 90 percent of the construction work has already been done,” JR East official Shunji Makino said. “Over the nearly three years, about 100 workers have been engaged in construction work each day,” he said.
According to JR East, work to switch tracks of the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines was conducted Saturday in line with the construction of Takanawa Gateway Station.
Due to the work, services were suspended from the day’s first trains to around 4 p.m. on the section connecting Osaki and Ueno stations via Tokyo Station on the Yamanote Line. Train operations were halted all day on Saturday between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations on the Keihin-Tohoku Line.
The suspensions affected an estimated 560,000 people.
With three stories above ground and one below, the new station in Minato Ward will serve trains on both the Keihin-Tohoku and Yamanote lines. The station building is about 30 meters high and features a 4,000-square-meter white origami-inspired roof.
Escalators and platform screen doors have already been installed on the station’s platforms, and an area in which events will be held will be constructed on the second floor of the building.
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