Can Tokyo’s efficient rail system handle Olympic strain?

Tokyo Olympic fans will have to find scarce tickets and pay the price. Then there’s the quandary of landing a hotel room with rates that are being inflated due to unprecedented demand. And the summer heat and humidity will be off-putting for some.

Then there’s one more hurdle: getting around, or even finding a tiny space to stand on Tokyo’s famously efficient but over-stressed rail system.

Japanese professor Azuma Taguchi at Chuo University has researched Tokyo’s system for years and says it’s already running at double its capacity and the Olympic crunch could push it to the breaking point.

“When peak capacity is twice or three times above normal, it’s possible some people could be killed,” Taguchi told The Associated Press.

Tokyo transport officials characterize train cars at 200% capacity as giving passengers just enough space to read a magazine. This probably represents a normal commuting weekday in Tokyo.

At 250%, they “cannot even move a hand.”

Taguchi’s study predicts 15 stations will experience greater than 200% capacity, with several reaching nearly 400% at their peak.

Since Tokyo last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, railways have designated special oshiya, or “pushers,” to pack commuters into rush hour cars— often wearing white gloves. Locals are accustomed to the treatment, but visitors may not be.

Tokyo’s Olympic organizing committee question Taguchi’s dire predictions. They acknowledge the railways will be packed with 800,000 added passengers daily. They also anticipate that Tokyo expressway congestion will double.

“We’re used to having one game per day at the stadium, but at the Olympics we have a tight schedule and we have 3-4 games in one day,” he said. “We have to exchange the audience two or three times. That’s where we don’t have experience.”

Source and Details:

Japan today

https://japantoday.com/category/national/can-tokyo’s-efficient-rail-system-handle-olympic-strain

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