Sanuki-Fuchū Station

Transcription

Touring Various Stations Series No.61 Tabata station, located at Kita Ward in Tokyo, Japan, belongs to the JR Yamanote loop line, which is a main artery of heart of Tokyo, and the Keihin-Tohoku line, which takes 81.2 km and about 2 hours from south to north. This station was opened on 1st April, 1896 as a station of Nippon Railway (Japan’s first private railway company). This station has a daily ridership of 43,129 passengers in 2012 I took the scenery of station, environs, and trains at the station, which has a long history but relatively small ridership (26th of 29 stations on the JR Yamanote line). Tabata station has 2 station building. The north station building is major one. The north station building was rebuilt in 2008. The commerce facility “atre vie”, which has 3 stories and many glasses, neighbors the station building. There are no large bustling shopping and entertainment districts around Tabata station. Instead, there are sparsely-distributed mid-to-high-rise buildings such as “TABATA ASUKA TOWER”. The local buses connecting such as Komagome and Kita-Senju come at the bus stop in front of the station. The elevated railway tracks of Tohoku shinkansen is on the just east side of the station. There are JR’s buildings on the east of elevated tracks. This northeastern 10-storied building is JR EAST Tokyo Branch. The southeastern building is JR East’s hotel group “HOTEL METS TABATA” and JR Freight’s Tabata signal station building. The rail yard between Shinkansen’s elevated track and JR’s buildings is Tokyo Shinkansen Car Center with 18 placement tracks and 3 inspection tracks. We can see trains of Tohoku, Joetsu, Yamagata, Akita and Nagano shinkansen operated by JR East from the bridge over the rail yard. The rail yard tracks connect the shinkansen main track on the side of Ueno. With any luck, we can watch entering or leaving of shinkansen trains. This time, I could watch leaving of shinaknsen cara composed of E5 series combined with E3 series (former Akita shinkansen KOMACHI units). Most passenger of Tabata use the north station building. There is a ticket office on the right. The office opens between 8:00 and 20:00 on weekdays and 8:00 and 19:00 on Saturdays, Sundays, and holydays. There are 4 automatic ticket machines. There are 6 automatic ticket gates. The convenience-store “NEWDAYS” and entrance of commerce facility “atre vie” is on the left side of ticket wicket. There are many facilities inside of the north building. On the side of platform No.1 and 2, there are coffee house “BECK'S COFFEE SHOP”, … and fresh juice stand “HONEY’S BAR”. On the side of platform No.3 and 4, there are station shop “KIOSK”, public phone, … and relatively clean lavatory with a multifunctional restroom for challenged. Looking at the ceiling, we can see video rental and shop store “TSUTAYA”, … and cafe “Starbucks” on the 2nd floor of commercial facility through glass. On the side of platform No.1 and 2 near the wicket, there are a coin-operated locker corresponding to Suica (JR East’s rechargeable contactless smart card) service. On the side of platform No.1 and 2 near the wicket, there are a ATM box corresponding multi bank system, … udon restaurant “REAL SANUKI UDON BIG BUDDY’s NOODLE”, … and barber “QB HOUSE”. The north station building has a high ceiling. This gives passengers an open feeling. Passengers can command a panoramic view of platform No.1 to 4 on the JR Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines. This is south station building. It seems too small for main railway artery of the heart of Tokyo. There are a burial hall “TABATA STATION HALL” and quiet residential area around the south exit. The south station building has bare facilities while the north building has fulfilling facilities. There are 2 automatic ticket gates. There are 2 automatic ticket machines. Besides these machines, there are only pamphlet display rack and trash boxes. There is no station staff at the south ticket wicket. If passengers need to talk with staff, they can use this intercom. Tabata station has 2 platforms with 4 tracks. From Tabata to Tamachi, there are quadruple tracks. On this section, same direction trains on the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines share same platform. There is no lavatory on the south exit. The platform No.1 is used by northbound trains for Akabane and Omiya on the Keihin-Tohoku line. The platform No.2 is used by inner circle trains for Ikebukuro and Shinjuku on the Yamanote line. Old rails are reused as the platform poles. The platform No.3 is used by outer circle trains for Ueno and Tokyo on the Yamanote line. The platform No.4 is used by southbound trains for Kamata and Yokohama on the Keihin-Tohoku line. There are scissors crossings on the south side track. If inner track or outer track is unusable, trains can keep being operated on another tracks.