The Skyliner

Skyliner train to make Tokyo-Narita run in 36 minutes

Friday 22nd May, 07:22 AM JST

TOKYO —

A sleek new high-speed train will from next year cut the travel time between Tokyo and Narita International Airport to 36 minutes, down from the current 51 minutes, the rail company said Thursday.

The Skyliner, in metallic blue and white, was designed by Japanese fashion leader Kansai Yamamoto. It will travel at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour on the 64-kilometer route, the company said.

The train, set to start operations some time in 2010, will connect Nippori Station near Ueno in northern Tokyo with the Terminal 2 building at Narita Airport, Keisei Electric Railway said.

Wire reports

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Latest 15 of 36 Total Comments Show All

elbudamexicano at 09:34 PM JST - 22nd May

WoW! I am so excited! How much will it cost??
ca1ic0cat at 03:14 AM JST - 23rd May

Nippori Station? Nuts. How about something in Yokohama or at least Shinjuku?
sk4ek at 05:05 AM JST - 23rd May

Well it looks like I picked the right time to move to Okachimachi--this will be much more convenient (and faster) than going to Hakozaki and taking the bus.
sydenham at 07:35 AM JST - 23rd May

Okachimachi? I spent a week there one night.
GenkiDesuKa at 11:35 AM JST - 23rd May

The best way to get to Narita for most people is by bus.
Badge213 at 01:12 PM JST - 23rd May

This is the "new" Skyliner, current skyliner services already serve those areas.

This is great if you live near Ueno, but the rest of us can look forward to doubling that travel time schlepping through the depths of Tokyo.

Yes but still faster then current methods.

> Nippori Station? Nuts. How about something in Yokohama or at least Shinjuku?

JR trains connect those areas. Keisei services one portion of the population usually northern, north eastern areas, JR services other areas, both only have a small part of the market combined with direct airport limousine buses.

Nippori station isn't that bad, it's gotten bigger over the years, and it entirely depends on where your final destination is.

Shinjuku is + 20 minutes from Nippori, so the trip will be 20-30 minutes faster then any current mode of transportation currently available, to any point in Central Tokyo.
NeoJamal at 01:31 PM JST - 23rd May

Nippori Station? Nuts. How about something in Yokohama or at least Shinjuku?

With existing standard gauge networks on no matter what train company mate, the possibilities are endless!
noborito at 03:20 PM JST - 23rd May

It's only taken them 20 years to figure a way to get people to the airport in a reasonable time. Why any major country would create an international airport so far away is insane, or just Japanese. Osaka has much smarter people. must be in the water.
Badge213 at 07:49 PM JST - 23rd May

JFK to downtown manhattan = takes up to an hour or more depending on traffic and transportation used.

Dulles to downtown DC - 45mins to one hour again depending on traffic conditions

Many international airports in other cities are similarly not well positioned. At least Japan has the up of having more reliable transportation.
UnagiDon at 08:57 PM JST - 23rd May

Badge123;

Agree - at least with Narita there are options like actually having rail lines to get there. For most North American airports (and all Canadian ones), the road is the only way to get there and during rush hour it takes me about 45 minutes to get to the airport (
Kwaabish at 10:51 PM JST - 23rd May

Badge, Unagi,

Don't forget ORD (Chicago). The Kennedy Expressway during the rush hour can make you spend up to 1.25 hours to get to/from downtown and the CTA Blue Line (all-stops only) is a urine-stenched, rickety, cramped ride that can take close to 50 minutes also.

The N'EX or Skyliner is first class compared to that poor excuse... transportation...
JeffLee at 01:57 PM JST - 26th May

Badge 213: Skyliner and Nex only leave once an hour. Thus, it's taken me up to 3 hours to get home in central Tokyo, "depending on traffic conditions."
Crokk at 03:35 AM JST - 27th May

Nipporti station turned from an old station to a modern one (2008 compared to 2007) but Keisei area was still on work, I really don't remember an escalator... anyway, I used it twice to reach Narita, it was a good train and if speed will increase, surely better. As someone told, Nippori is on Yamanote Line, 10 minutes (or 12, can't remember) from Tokyo station...
TheHamburgler at 11:26 AM JST - 29th May

noborito at 03:20 PM JST - 23rd May

It's only taken them 20 years to figure a way to get people to the airport in a reasonable time. Why any major country would create an international airport so far away is insane, or just Japanese. Osaka has much smarter people. must be in the water.

Are you serious? Have you ever been to Kansai airport? They created an island far from the city, and built the airport on that(which started sinking quite soon afterwards). Getting too/from Kansai is just as much of a hassle as it is for Narita.
Mittsu at 12:54 PM JST - 29th May

Most airport sare awful to get to because they were designed and built so long ago. Recent good ones like BKK, HKG and Singapore are the exception. Fact is if they ran NEX every 15 minutes it is pretty good - Nippori doesn't seem like much of an improvement to me. What happened to all the hot air from LDP etc on making Tokyo more "business friendly"?