The Narita Sky Access Line (成田空港線, nicknamed 成田スカイアクセス線) is a railway run for passengers by Keisei Electric Railway (京成電鉄). It links Keisei Takasago Station in Katsushika, Tokyo, with Narita Airport Station in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, by way of Chiba New Town. Several companies own the track.
History
Planning began in 1982. A government committee studying fast rail links to New Tokyo International Airport gave the transport ministry options A, B and C on 31 May 1982. Option A rebuilt the old Narita Shinkansen route. Option B extended the Hokuso Line (北総線) to the airport, and Option C split off the Narita Line to link Narita Airport directly. On 1 November 1984 the ministry announced it would push Route B. On 11 July 1985 Route B was placed in Transport Policy Council report No. 7. The separate Option C plan reached the airport first, in 1991, as the airport branch of the Narita Line and the section of the Keisei Main Line from Komaino Junction to Narita Airport.
In 1999 a committee to promote the Narita new high-speed railway was set up. On 27 January 2000 the Transport Policy Council's report No. 18 said the line should open by 2015. On 28 August 2001 the project was treated as one of the urban regeneration projects of the Koizumi administration. In 2002 the company that would own the facilities, Narita High-Speed Railway Access Co., Ltd. (成田高速鉄道アクセス株式会社), was founded on 25 April. Applications to run railway services were made on 31 May 2002 by that company, as the infrastructure operator, and by Keisei Electric Railway, as the passenger operator. Both were approved on 5 July 2002. On 21 December 2005 the national transport minister approved the construction work, and on 27 December 2005 the Chiba governor announced the city planning decision.
Ground-breaking was held on 4 February 2006 at Narita International Cultural Hall. On 1 June 2007 the project received approval as a city planning project. On 1 April 2008 buying the land at Oshibata in Narita had become difficult, so the company applied to the Chiba Land Expropriation Committee. On 30 July 2008 the committee decided that the company could take the land and that the owners must hand it over, which settled the land problem. On 1 September 2008 all the land needed for construction was secured. The project was called the Narita New High-Speed Railway until a nickname was chosen. A public call for names ran from 20 December 2008 to 15 January 2009. On 28 April 2009 the new station between Inba Nihon Ika and Airport Terminal 2 was named Narita Yugawa from the public call. On 16 December 2009 the formal line name, the nickname Narita Sky Access, and the express stops and fares were announced.
The work upgraded the existing Keisei Takasago to Komoro to Inba Nihon Ika section. A new line was built from Inba Nihon Ika to Narita Airport. Narita International Airport Co. improved the stations at Narita Airport and Airport Terminal 2 and added platforms. The new line crosses Lake Inba on a bridge. The area is a rich habitat for wild birds, so nature groups asked for some changes to the plan. The environmental report included measures to protect the environment, and the design took the scenery into account. Construction was completed in March 2010. Crew training runs began on 25 March 2010 and lasted about four months. The line opened on 17 July 2010, and Skyliner services began on the same day. The fastest journey from Nippori to Airport Terminal 2 fell from 51 minutes to 36 minutes, which was 15 minutes shorter. Parts of the line allow the Skyliner to run at up to 160 km/h. Special turnouts near Narita Yugawa let trains pass at full speed without slowing.
On 11 March 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake (東日本大震災) struck. Through running with the Toei Asakusa Line and the Keikyu Line, and Skyliner services, were suspended. Because the Keikyu Line was closed between Sengakuji and Shinagawa, some Keisei trains were stranded on the Keikyu Line, and some Keikyu trains were stranded on the Keisei Line. On 14 March Tokyo Electric Power Company ran rolling blackouts because of the power shortage after the earthquake, and through services and the Skyliner were suspended again. Through running with the Toei Asakusa Line resumed on 15 March. Through running with the Keikyu Line and the Skyliner resumed on 16 March, on a special timetable based on the holiday timetable. A timetable change for the new fiscal year was made on 4 April. On 11 April an aftershock of magnitude 7.1 struck Hamadori in Fukushima Prefecture. Parts of the line area recorded seismic intensity 4, so the Skyliner did not run that day and resumed the next day.
On 21 October 2012 a timetable change, linked to the elevation of the down line at Keikyu Kamata, shortened journey times for the Access Express and the Airport Kaisoku trains. Connections at Shin-Kamagaya with the Hokuso Line trains also improved. On 5 December 2015 the last up Access Express was moved 15 minutes later, to leave Narita Airport at 22:49. On 21 October 2017 the last up Access Express was moved 11 minutes later, to leave Narita Airport at 23:00. On weekdays it ran to Kanazawa-Bunko, and on weekends and holidays to Nishi-Magome. On 26 October 2019 more up Skyliner trains were added, and the last train from Narita Airport became a Skyliner leaving at 23:20.
On 1 October 2020 a temporary Liner service began on weekday mornings, running from Inba Nihon Ika to Keisei Ueno with AE-type trains. Passengers could board only at Inba Nihon Ika and Chiba New Town Central. At Aoto, Nippori and Keisei Ueno the trains were for alighting only. On 17 April 2021 the line began using digital radio. On 26 February 2022 a timetable change made the Skyliner stop at Aoto every 60 minutes during the day, changed the daytime and night train patterns, and moved the last Skyliner from Narita Airport 20 minutes earlier, to 23:00. On 26 November 2022 Shin-Kamagaya was added as a Skyliner stop at Aoto. On 23 and 25 November 2024 a timetable change added Skyliner trains 179 and 181, which stop at Aoto and Shin-Kamagaya. From 21:00 to 23:00 trains run every 20 minutes. On weekdays only, a train that left Kanagawa-Shinmachi at 5:19 for Aoto was changed to run to Narita Airport.
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Written by an AI from the line's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.