Yamanote Line to get 1st new station since 1971

The Yomiuri Shimbun

An aerial view of JR East's rolling stock yard and the surrounding area between Shinagawa Station (foreground) and Tamachi Station. The photo was taken from a Yomiuri Shimbun helicopter.

East Japan Railway Co. plans to construct a new station between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations on the Yamanote Line, the first new stop in more than 40 years on the loop line in central Tokyo, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Wednesday.

JR East intends to start an urban redevelopment project, including construction of the new station and commercial facilities, in fiscal 2013.

The planned station will be the 30th on the Yamanote Line. The last station to open on the line was Nishi-Nippori in Arakawa Ward in 1971.

Because the area to be developed is close to Haneda Airport, which is handling an increasing number of international flights, it was last month designated by the government as "a comprehensive special zone for international strategy."

The central government plans to ease immigration regulations for foreigners who work at companies in the zone, and the Tokyo metropolitan government will try to attract foreign companies by reducing or eliminating the corporate enterprise tax imposed on firms establishing offices there.

The new station, which will be the centerpiece of efforts to make the area more convenient, will be built near the Konan and Shibaura districts about one kilometer north of Shinagawa Station. The distance between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations is 2.2 kilometers, the longest on the Yamanote Line.

Trains on the Keihin-Tohoku Line, a section of which runs alongside the Yamanote Line, also will stop at the new station.

Bullet trains of the Tokaido Shinkansen line stop at Shinagawa Station, which is a 15-minute ride from Haneda Airport via the Keikyu Line.

Shinagawa Station will be the Tokyo terminal for the maglev Chuo Shinkansen line that Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) plans to start operating in 2027. This line will link Tokyo and Nagoya in just 40 minutes.

The new station will be the closest to Shinagawa Station, which will be just a two-minute train ride away.

The site eyed for urban redevelopment lies on a 15-hectare plot that is part of the 20 hectares of land where JR's rolling stock yard is located between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations.

Large office buildings and other commercial facilities are planned for the area.

JR East plans to extend the Utsunomiya, Joban and Takasaki lines--whose current central Tokyo terminal stations are at Ueno--to Tokyo Station.

JR East plans to complete within fiscal 2013 the construction of its Tohoku Jukan Line, which will directly link--thanks to the extension of the three lines running from the northern Kanto region to Tokyo--with the Tokaido Line in the south.

With the completion of this new line, the rolling stock yard near Shinagawa Station that is used for trains including those of the Tokaido Line, can be greatly scaled back.

The redevelopment project will utilize land made available due to the new line.

A study panel on the redevelopment project, comprised of officials from JR East, the metropolitan government and the Minato Ward Office, will decide on details of the plan within fiscal 2012. The opening date of the new station will be worked out after the plan has been finalized.

This will be the first major urban redevelopment project using JR land in central Tokyo since one built in the Shiodome district in Minato Ward and another on the east side of Shinagawa Station.

"We expect the new station will attract many people and push up land prices in the area," a JR East executive said.