International Railroad Discussion > Skyliner and Rapit (Japan's Airport Access)

Narita International Airport is one of two major airports that serve the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Keisei Electric Railway runs the Skyliner service to and from the airport, which competes with East Japan Railway's (JR East) Narita Express. Keisei Skyliner service has evolved over the years, starting service in 1978 to coincide with the opening of Narita Airport. Even though they had no rail competition at the time, the Skyliner required a short 1 km bus connection to reach the airport terminals - the government-run JNR (Japan National Railway) had plans for the Narita Shinkansen and did not allow Keisei to build a station with direct connection to the terminals. In those early years, the Skyliner without the one seat ride had to compete with buses, namely the Airport Limousine buses that ran (and still run) between Narita Airport and many points in the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

In the 1980s, several events occurred that favored Keisei Railway and the Skyliner service. Narita Shinkansen project was canceled, and JNR got privatized into groups of 7 companies. In 1991, train stations were built directly underneath the airport terminals, and access to them were shared by both Keisei and the newly-formed JR East, thus giving more advantage to rail access over the Airport Limousine buses, which had begun to suffer delays due to highway congestion between Narita and Tokyo. The era of Keisei Skyliner vs. Narita Express had begun.

In 2006, a subsidiary corporation was formed by Keisei Railway to begin construction of the new "Sky Access Line" using the abandoned Narita Shinkansen ROW and the already existing Hokuso Railway tracks (another Keisei Railway subsidiary) for a shorter route between the suburbs of Tokyo at Takasago to the Narita Airport. The construction took about 4 years, and the new Skyliner service commenced in 2010, with a new train set that upgraded the top speed from 68 mph (110 km/h) to 100 mph (160 km/h). Quickest travel time between Nippori (JR connecting station in Tokyo) and Narita Airport was shortened from 51 minutes to 36 minutes.

During my recent trip to Japan in October of 2015, I made plans to document the new 100 mph Skyliner service on the day I landed at Narita Airport. However, I made the mistake of choosing United Airlines, where the flight suffered a 2 hour delay at San Francisco (paperwork and fuel) even before we took off. By the time I cleared customs at Narita, the sun had already set, so that ruined my plans, but I improvised and made changes. I delayed the activation of my JR Rail Pass one day, in exchange for a ride on the Skyliner (non-JR, so Rail Pass is not valid) instead of the Narita Express. That gave me an extra JR Rail Pass day at end of my trip, in case I needed to do some unplanned last minute foaming.

- Skyliner at Narita Airport Terminal 1 station, my ride to Nippori (Tokyo).
- Nice seats inside the Skyliner.
- Video, to be described below.

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NICE,CLEAN,MODERN,BEAUTIFUL!!!
Makes Amtrak and American rail look
like the 1800's.That is how far behind
we,as a major country are.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/15 10:06 by retcsxcfm.

I finished the chases of JR Freight trains according to plan on my second day in Japan and had some extra time. This was a good time to document the 100 mph running of the Keisei Skyliners, so I returned to Narita Airport using the JR Rail Pass and the Narita Express, then paid a small fare to go to Narita-Yukawa (成田湯川) station on Keisei's Sky Access Line.

Eastbound Airport Limited Express arrives at Narita-Yukawa in the first clip. This train came from the other airport in Tokyo, the Haneda Airport using Keikyu Corporation's 1000 Series train set. Keisei Railway and Keikyu Corporation allow sharing of each other's train sets, but as I mentioned in another thread, Keisei Railway converted their entire network from 1372 mm to 1435 mm gauge in 1959, just so they can do this sort of thing. I'll say it again that the Japanese take the concept of one seat ride VERY seriously, and in this case, a one seat airport-to-airport connection.

FYI, Keikyu Corporation's main line covers the corridor between Shinagawa (southern Tokyo) to the port city of Yokohama. That includes access to the Haneda Airport, and they compete with the Tokyo Monorail. So by chance, I included another airport access discussion in this thread.

The Tokyo-bound Skyliner blasts by at ~100 mph in the second clip. The Keikyu 1000 Series is waiting for a signal because several kilometers ahead, the old Keisei main line merges with the Sky Access Line AND the JR East's 1067 mm ROW - it's double single track territory into the airport terminal.

I had some time before my next ride showed up to take me back to Narita Airport, so I stayed at Narita-Yukawa to document the Skyliners some more. The Narita Airport-bound Skyliner is next, third clip, doing more 100 mph running through the station. I went to the opposing platform to wait for the same train set to return to Tokyo, fourth clip, where the ROW arches for a nice effect.

The Keikyu 1000 Series returns in the fifth clip (heading back to Haneda Airport), and I guessed correctly (interpolating from the schedules) that it might meet the next Narita Airport-bound Skyliner.

- Doors just opened on the Skyliner at Narita Airport Terminal 1 (my first day in Japan).
- Control stand and the cab view of the Skyliner.
- I found the outward facing camera, brought to you by Toshiba. No Orwellian inward facing camera was found.

(More next, on Nankai Electric Railway's "Rapit" Airport Limited Express to Kansai International Airport (KIX) )

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Nankai Electric Railway is currently the oldest private railroad in Japan. It was the third private railway to go into business back in 1884, and began service in the Kansai region (関西), what is now the Osaka Metropolitan area. The word Nankai (南海) means "South Sea" translated literally, but came from the word Nankaido (南海道, or Nankai Road) which describes the route from the Kansai region to the southern tip of Kii Peninsula and beyond, which includes the city of Wakayama (和歌山).

FYI, Tokaido (東海道, East Sea Road) is the more famous counterpart to Nankaido, the route that connects the Kansai region to the Kanto region (関東). Kanto region, of course includes the Tokyo Metropolitan area, and Tokaido is the heaviest-travelled corridor in Japan.

Currently, Nankai Railway has two main lines: the Nankai Line which runs along the west coast of Kii Peninsula to Wakayama; and the Koya Line which goes inland toward Mount Koya. Kansai International Airport (KIX) is located almost in the middle between Osaka and Wakayama near the Nankai Line. The airport was built entirely on top of a man-made island, and opened for service in 1994. As with Haneda and Narita Airports in Tokyo, there are competing rail services, JR West's Haruka Limited Express, and Nankai Railway's Rapit Limited Express.

I visited the Kansai area on my third and fourth days in Japan, and foamed Nankai's unique 50000 Series train sets used for the Rapit Limited Express. First three clips are at Takojizo Station, where I got the Rapit in each direction, northbound then southbound. I got the locals meeting in third clip, and ended up taking the northbound local.

Fourth clip is at Tengachaya Station, which is located much closer to Osaka, I got the Kansai Airport bound (southbound) Rapit here.

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Great stuff!
 Those Rapit sets look like they were designed by Capt. Nemo.

jonjonjonjon Wrote:
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> Great stuff!
>  Those Rapit sets look like they were designed by
> Capt. Nemo.

Yeah, Captain Nemo is an appropriate comparison - Nankai Railway claims the Rapit design is based on the concept of "retrofuturism."

After nabbing the Rapit trains, I took the next available local and detrained at Shin-Imamiya (新今宮), where I was about to tranfer to JR West's Osaka Loop Line train. I saw Rapit's competition, the Limited Express Haruka pass by while coming down the stairs, but was too late to get my camcorder out to record a video. I decided to stay on the platform for the next Haruka, and in the meantime, decided to foam the Showa Era 103 Series EMUs which still run in this territory after more than 40 years or service.

I'll post a separate report for the 103 series, but here are some video clips of JR West's (West Japan Railway Company) own Kansai Airport train, the Limited Express Haruka. In the first clip, Nara-bound local is coming to a stop when Limited Express Kuroshio shows up. The green train set is a 283 Series EMU, nicknamed "Ocean Arrow." Kuroshio runs along the Kii Peninsula coast line.

In the second clip, I catch a Kansai Airport-bound Limited Express Haruka, but a Rapid train that's departing Shin-Imamiya blocks my view. I get a clean shot of the Haruka in the third clip, a Kyoto-bound train.

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jonjonjonjon Wrote:
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> Great stuff!
>  Those Rapit sets look like they were designed by
> Capt. Nemo.

Wow funny you said Capt. Nemo. First thing that came to mind for me was Ultra Man, which I enjoyed as a child.

Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/15 03:15 by ChrisCampi.

I thought the Rapit set looked like the original Spanish Talgos.

Brian Ehni

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cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nankai Electric Railway is currently the oldest
> private railroad in Japan. It was the third
> private railway to go into business back in 1884,
> and began service in the Kansai region (関西),
> what is now the Osaka Metropolitan area. The word
> Nankai (南海) means "South Sea" translated
> literally, but came from the word Nankaido
> (南海道, or Nankai Road) which describes the
> route from the Kansai region to the southern tip
> of Kii Peninsula and beyond, which includes the
> city of Wakayama (和歌山).
>
> FYI, Tokaido (東海道, East Sea Road) is the
> more famous counterpart to Nankaido, the route
> that connects the Kansai region to the Kanto
> region (関東). Kanto region, of course includes
> the Tokyo Metropolitan area, and Tokaido is the
> heaviest-travelled corridor in Japan.
>
> Currently, Nankai Railway has two main lines: the
> Nankai Line which runs along the west coast of Kii
> Peninsula to Wakayama; and the Koya Line which
> goes inland toward Mount Koya. Kansai
> International Airport (KIX) is located almost in
> the middle between Osaka and Wakayama near the
> Nankai Line. The airport was built entirely on top
> of a man-made island, and opened for service in
> 1994. As with Haneda and Narita Airports in Tokyo,
> there are competing rail services, JR West's
> Haruka Limited Express, and Nankai Railway's Rapit
> Limited Express.
>
> I visited the Kansai area on my third and fourth
> days in Japan, and foamed Nankai's unique 50000
> Series train sets used for the Rapit Limited
> Express. First three clips are at Takojizo
> Station, where I got the Rapit in each direction,
> northbound then southbound. I got the locals
> meeting in third clip, and ended up taking the
> northbound local.
>
> Fourth clip is at Tengachaya Station, which is
> located much closer to Osaka, I got the Kansai
> Airport bound (southbound) Rapit here.

Say didn't Flash Gorden ride one of these when he was with the Clay people on planet Mongo back in the thirties .

Solid blue with giant portholes throughout the trainset.  Interesting...

Thanks for sharing!
- Jeff Carlson

Funny, I thought about Ultra Man also.  :)

Maybe Retik the menace from the moon!