Railway companies are calling for confirmation of the timetables of the routes they use before the last trains of most railways in the Tokyo metropolitan area will be advanced from the 20th due to the state of emergency of the new coronavirus.
Twenty-three railway companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area, such as JR East and major private railways, and the subways of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation and the Yokohama City Transportation Bureau will advance the last train for up to 30 minutes from the 20th.
Of these, at JR East, on the morning of the 19th, eight station staff members stood at the concourse of Shinjuku Station with placards to inform them of the advancement of the last train and called for confirmation of the timetable.
In addition, a poster with a new last train time written in large red letters was posted on the platform of each line along with a timetable near the last train to alert the users.
At JR, the last train will be advanced for about 10 to 30 minutes on 11 lines, including local trains on the Yamanote Line, Keihin Tohoku Line, Chuo Line, and Sobu Line.
There is no advance of the Shinkansen.
Hidehiko Moriyama, the stationmaster of JR East, said, "Before the last train, you may not be able to transfer to another company's train, so please check the timetable on the website."
This advance was made in response to a request from the national government and one metropolitan area and three prefectures accompanying the declaration of emergency, and is expected to continue as long as the declaration is issued.