Tokyo Metropolitan Area Railroads to Change at the Tokyo Olympics New Stations Open One after Another 17:09 on January 4

The railroad industry is expected to be in a year of change with the opening of new stations, mainly on conventional lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area, following the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics starting in July.

Of these, the Yamanote line has two major changes in March.

The first is Takanawa Gateway Station, which opens on March 14.

This is the first new station in the Yamanote Line for the first time in about half a century, and is located in the depot space between JR Shinagawa Station and Tamachi Station.

The station building of the new station is almost completed, and the premises are open, with a stairwell from the platform and the ticket gate floor to the ceiling.

The second is a new station building at Harajuku Station that will open on March 21.

Currently, Harajuku Station is the oldest existing wooden station building in Tokyo, and a new station building is being constructed adjacent to the current station building for reasons such as fire resistance and aging.

The current station building will be demolished after the Tokyo Games, but we will build a new building that reproduces the current design as much as possible using materials suitable for fire resistance standards.

In addition, the JR Saikyo Line platform will be relocated to Shibuya Station at the JR station, and will be set up alongside the Yamanote Line platform from this spring.

At Sendagaya Station, which is close to the New National Stadium, the use of the new platform will begin on March 22 to accommodate many customers.

In the case of private railways, a new station, Toranomon Hills, will open in June on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line.

Takanawa Gateway Station Introduction of various robots

At Takanawa Gateway Station, several robots are being tested and installed in cleaning and stalls, and an attempt to be called a “future station” is being made.

There are roughly five robots to be introduced for testing.

The first is a “movement guidance / advertising robot” that displays station facilities such as toilets and platforms on the LCD screen.

The robot is 1 meter 50 cm high, 1 meter wide, and 60 cm deep. The robot goes around a predetermined course while detecting people using five sensors and cameras.

It also works with the laser sensor installed in the station premises, so if there are many people, it will wait and change course automatically.

In addition, the robots to be introduced are "security robots" that notify you when you find suspicious objects, "cleaning robots" that clean the station premises, "mobility support robots" that assist wheelchair users in moving, event information performed in front of the station, etc. There are four types of "guidance robots" that guide you.

JR East has decided to investigate the most appropriate robot type and operation method while investigating user reactions.

Unmanned store is also permanent

At Takanawa Gateway Station, an unmanned store, for which demonstration experiments have been conducted, will be permanently established for the first time.

The unmanned store is located in the ticket gate on the second floor of the station, and users will need to enter a machine installed at the entrance with a transportation IC card such as JR East's electronic money "Suica".

Multiple cameras installed on the ceiling and display shelves are connected to AI = artificial intelligence. Payment is complete.

Atrium and glass

Takanawa Gateway Station also features a distinctive station building.

The first thing that gets a lot of looks is the stairwell from the platform and ticket gate floor to the ceiling, which is unusual for a railway station.

The walls are "glazed" and light from the outside is easy to enter, and combined with the atrium, it is a very open space.

The large white roof has a Japanese paper sliding door as a motif, and the beams are decorated with wood.