Tsukuba Express

The Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company (首都圏新都市鉄道株式会社, Shuto-ken Shin Toshi Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) was founded on 15 March 1991 to construct the Tsukuba Express, which was then provisionally called the Jōban New Line (常磐新線, Jōban Shinsen). The new line was planned to relieve crowding on the Jōban Line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), which had reached the limit of its capacity. However, with the economic downturn in Japan, the goal shifted to development along the line. This was facilitated by the enactment of the Special Measures Law in September 1989 which allowed the expedition of large housing projects as well as the expansion and construction of new and existing railway lines.^[2]

During the early stages of construction, the construction company (Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, or JRTT) as well as associated keiretsu and associates in the public sector purchased land situated on the alignment of the route. Eventually, all the lots would be joined continuously, completed or not, and their ownership transferred to the eventual railway operator, MIRC.^[2] Construction of all stations were centered around the theme of universal design.^[2]

Also, the initial plan called for a line from Tokyo Station to Moriya, but expenses forced the planners to start the line at Akihabara instead of Tokyo Station, and pressure from the government of Ibaraki Prefecture resulted in moving the extension from Moriya to Tsukuba into Phase I of the construction.

The original schedule called for the line to begin operating in 2000, but delays in construction pushed the opening date to summer 2005. The line eventually opened on 24 August 2005.^[3]

From the start of the revised timetable on 15 October 2012, new "Commuter rapid" (通勤快速, tsūkin kaisoku) services were introduced in the morning (inbound services) and evening (outbound services) peak periods.^[4]

Future plans

In September 2013, a number of municipalities along the Tsukuba Express line in Ibaraki Prefecture submitted a proposal to complete the extension of the line to Tokyo Station at the same time as a new airport-to-airport line proposed as part of infrastructure improvements for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[5]

On 31 March 2023, four proposals for possible northern extensions were submitted to Ibaraki Prefecture governor Kazuhiko Ōigawa.^[6] The proposals included plans to extend the line to either:

• Tsuchiura Station on the Joban Line
• Ibaraki Airport
• Mito (via Ishioka Station) on the Joban Line
• Mount Tsukuba

According to the proposals, the plan for the extension to Tsuchiura Station produced the most favourable cost-benefit analysis.

The Tsukuba Express is operated as a one-man train. The driver opens and closes the doors manually, but operation of the train is done automatically. The line has a top speed of 130 km/h (81 mph). The Rapid service reduced the time required for the trip from Akihabara to Tsukuba from the previous 1 hour 30 minutes (by the Jōban Line, arriving in Tsuchiura, about 15 km (9.3 mi) from Tsukuba) or 70 minutes (by bus, under optimal traffic conditions) to 45 minutes. From Tokyo, the trip takes 50–55 minutes. The line features no level crossings.

To prevent interference with the geomagnetic measurements of the Japan Meteorological Agency at its laboratory in Ishioka, the portion of the line from Moriya to Tsukuba operates on alternating current. As a result, three train models are used on the line; TX-1000 series DC-only trains, which can operate only between Akihabara and Moriya, TX-2000 series and TX-3000 series dual-voltage AC/DC trains, both of which can operate over the entire line.^[7]

Volume production of the line's initial rolling stock began in January 2004, following the completion in March 2003 of two (TX-1000 and TX-2000 series) six-car trains for trial operation and training. The full fleet of 84 TX-1000s (14 six-car trains) and 96 TX-2000s (16 six-car trains) was delivered by January 2005. New TX-3000 series trains built by Hitachi Rail entered service on 14 March 2020.

Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company offers four types of train services on the Tsukuba Express:

•   : Local (普通, Futsū)
•   : Semi Rapid (区間快速, Kukan Kaisoku)
•   : Commuter Rapid (通勤快速, Tsūkin Kaisoku)
•   : Rapid (快速, Kaisoku)

Station list

Trains stop at stations marked "●" and skip stations marked "|".

During the morning rush hour on weekdays, Semi Rapid trains bound for Akihabara make an additional stop at Rokuchō (marked "▲").

No.	Station name		Distance	Elec.	Local	Semi-Rapid	Commuter Rapid	Rapid	Transfers	Location
	Japanese	English								Ward / City	Prefecture
TX01	秋葉原	Akihabara	0.0 km (0 mi)	DC	●	●	●	●	JB Chuo-Sobu Line JK Keihin-Tohoku Line JY Yamanote Line Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-16)	Chiyoda	Tokyo
TX02	新御徒町	Shin-Okachimachi	1.6 km (0.99 mi)		●	●	●	●	Toei Oedo Line (E-10)	Taitō
TX03	浅草	Asakusa	3.1 km (1.9 mi)		●	●	●	●	Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (at Tawaramachi (G-18))
TX04	南千住	Minami-Senju	5.6 km (3.5 mi)		●	●	●	●	JJ Joban Line (Rapid) Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-21)	Arakawa
TX05	北千住	Kita-Senju	7.5 km (4.7 mi)		●	●	●	●	JJ Joban Line (Rapid) TS Tobu Skytree Line Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line (C-18) Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-22)	Adachi
TX06	青井	Aoi	10.6 km (6.6 mi)		●	|	|	|
TX07	六町	Rokuchō	12.0 km (7.5 mi)		●	▲	●	|
TX08	八潮	Yashio	15.6 km (9.7 mi)		●	●	●	●		Yashio	Saitama
TX09	三郷中央	Misato-chūō	19.3 km (12.0 mi)		●	●	|	|		Misato
TX10	南流山	Minami-Nagareyama	22.1 km (13.7 mi)		●	●	●	●	JM Musashino Line	Nagareyama	Chiba
TX11	流山セントラルパーク	Nagareyama-centralpark	24.3 km (15.1 mi)		●	|	|	|
TX12	流山おおたかの森	Nagareyama-ōtakanomori	26.5 km (16.5 mi)		●	●	●	●	TD Tobu Urban Park Line
TX13	柏の葉キャンパス	Kashiwanoha-campus	30.0 km (18.6 mi)		●	●	●	|		Kashiwa
TX14	柏たなか	Kashiwa-Tanaka	32.0 km (19.9 mi)		●	|	|	|
TX15	守谷	Moriya	37.7 km (23.4 mi)		●	●	●	●	■ Jōsō Line	Moriya	Ibaraki
TX16	みらい平	Miraidaira	44.3 km (27.5 mi)	AC	●	●	|	|		Tsukubamirai
TX17	みどりの	Midorino	48.6 km (30.2 mi)		●	●	|	|		Tsukuba
TX18	万博記念公園	Bampaku-kinenkōen	51.8 km (32.2 mi)		●	●	|	|
TX19	研究学園	Kenkyū-gakuen	55.6 km (34.5 mi)		●	●	●	|
TX20	つくば	Tsukuba	58.3 km (36.2 mi)		●	●	●	●

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