Tozai Line Action @ Nishi-Kasai Station [西葛西駅]

Описание: Here we are in Tokyo, one of many cities in Japan to have a subway line titled "Tozai," (東西) which simply means "east-west," note its kanji symbols for higashi (east) and nishi (west). The Tokyo Metro's line is 19 miles long, colored light blue, and the eastern leg gets quite interesting. Beyond Minami-Sunamachi station (南砂町, T-15), it runs on an elevated viaduct for the remainder of the journey to Nishi-Funabashi (西船橋, T-23), which is past the Tokyo city limits in the municipality of Chiba. It crosses multiple bridges and has express services. In addition to the locals, which make every stop, there are "Rapid" services going nonstop from Toyocho (東陽町, T-14) to Urayasu (浦安, T-18) followed by Nishi-Funabashi terminus. They drastically cut the journey time by skipping the many stations. In the morning, there are also a few westbound peak-hour "Commuter Rapid" trains that run express from Nishi-Funabashi to Urayasu but then make every stop.

This footage takes place at Nishi-Kasai Station (西葛西駅, T-16) in the Edogawa Ward of eastern Tokyo. It's the first outdoor stop and when going outbound is immediately after the bridges across the Arakawa and Naka Rivers. The station serves Local and Commuter Rapid trains, meaning ordinary Rapids bypass it. Here there are only two tracks, so one must be sure to stand back when a train is breezing through (there are warning signals). Some local stops such as Baraki-Nakayama (原木中山駅, T-22) have four tracks like in New York so trains can pass each other according to a strict schedule. While railfanning this line I picked Nishi-Kasai to get footage because of its location by the bridge.

The trains seen here are as follows:

1. In the beginning, the one I got off was a local eastbound service for Nishi-Funabashi using JR-branded E231-800 series

2. A Tokyo Metro 05 Series (built late 1980s) westbound local service stopping en route to Mitaka (三鷹), through-running beyond the Tozai Line via the JR Chuo-Sobu Line.

3. A 2004-built Toyo 2000 Series speeding by on an eastbound rapid service traveling beyond Nishi-Funabashi to Toyo-Katsutadai (東葉勝田台) via the private Toyo Rapid Railway Line (東葉高速線). These models are the only ones on the Tozai Line not to have the obvious blue stripe.

4. A westbound 05N series Rapid train on a bypass destined for Nakano (中野, T-01), the official west end of the Tozai Line therefore not through-running.

5. Westbound local 05N for Mitaka

6. Finally, the train I got on was an eastbound local 05N series for Toyo-Katsutadai

I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (   / editor  )