Narita airport marks 30th anniversary

Tuesday 20th May, 04:45 PM JST

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9 Comments

capone at 05:41 PM JST - 20th May

congratulations for still being the crappiest airport in asia
noborito at 05:48 PM JST - 20th May

No 1 because everyone is forced to use it. What a stupid place for Japan's largest airport. nearly 2 hours from downtown Tokyo. Tokyo to Guam takes 3 hours. The trip to the airport almost doubles the time it takes. CRAZY! but look where we are. I am sure the Yakuza had a ton to do with it.

Also heard that the Narita express was designed to take you from Shinjuku to Narita in 45 minutes, but the bus companies got the goverment to pass a speed limit law for the train. Don't know if there is any truth to it. Maybe urban ledgend. But seems that 90 mins by bus and 90 mins by train sounds very very fishy.
capone at 05:52 PM JST - 20th May

noborito...yes that's exactly right...it was decided that having the train ride be faster than the bus ride would be unfair to the bus companies...and since japan always tries to stifle competition, that's the way it was settled
Honne at 06:56 PM JST - 20th May

Huh? The N'EX takes approximately 74 minutes from Narita to Shinjuku. That's a far cry from 2 hours. The 53 minute run from Narita to Tokyo Station shares the Sobu line so there was no need to for anyone to place any speed limits on the N'EX since it is just a regular line which includes section where the trains have to really slow down; no way could it even do the speed necessary to get to Tokyo Station in 25 minutes. That's how quick it would need to be there by since once within the city limits, the line will be speed limited just like how the shinkansen is and if it follows the same route (as opposed to cutting across the city like the Chuo kaisoku). it will still take 19-21 minutes between Tokyo Station and Shinjuku.

Maybe what you are thinking of is the initial plans to run an actual high-speed shinkansen line (Narita Shinkansen) but that idea was cancelled in the late 80's. The main reason for that was due to the same issues NRT had with expropriating land from farmers. This plan had nothing to do with the N'EX except the tracks were used to connect the JR Narita Line and Keisei Main Line directly to the terminal.

Some of the unused right-of-way portions of the Narita Shinkansen tracks will be used to connect the Hokuso Line to NRT resulting in Keisei's Narita New Rapid Line (New Skyliner). The express trains will run as a cat-2 with a max speed of 160km/h and will be able to do the Narita to Nippori run in 34-36 minutes when it is completed in 2010.
franz75 at 07:14 PM JST - 20th May

Farmers arround did celebrate by throwing some firebombs.
sarcasm123 at 08:14 PM JST - 20th May

Always funny to hear foreigenrs living between Tokyo and Yokohama - that's right, BETWEEN the two largest city of Japan AND on the OTHER SIDE of the largest city in the world - complain that it takes 2 hours to get to the airport. However, put the airport closer to Tokyo - as in: INSIDE it - and who will be here complaining about noise and traffic?

Yup, those exact same people.

Listen, mates, if you really have to use that airport every few weeks, fo live in the east side of Tokyo, will you?
Pukey2 at 10:14 PM JST - 20th May

sarcasm:

Sorry to disappoint you, but NOONE is complaining about Haneda Airport. In fact, I just tried Haneda (I went to Hong Kong) and getting there is so quick compared to getting to Narita Airport. The only problem is that Haneda won't get you much further than East Asia.

Yes, you said it, the two LARGEST cities in Japan! Many many other major cities have rail links which are quicker AND/OR cheaper. Just went to Shanghai and the Maglev was an experience - and cheaper to boot.

N'EX is nothing to brag about when it isn't going at full speed (Keikyu local trains go faster) and when it costs more than twice compared to the cheapest fares on the slower trains. I'm hoping that taking the new rail-link to Narita won't require a supplementary fee, but I'm not holding my breath.

I can tell you, it ain't only the foreigners who are complaining about the location of Narita Airport. As for living on the east side of Tokyo, many people don't have that choice. And it'll still take an hour from east Tokyo.
usaexpat at 12:39 AM JST - 21st May

30 years of the worst gate set up of any major international airport. Happy B-Day Narita, I loathe travelling through you only slightly less than Kimpo.
DenshaDeGO at 02:04 PM JST - 21st May

Not only is Nartia as boring as drying paint, but it's a pain in the rear to always have to fly through it. What's the point of building all these shiny new airports around Japan when you still have to fly through #$%&-ing Nartia all the time?