Narita Shinkansen

The Narita Shinkansen (成田新幹線^?) was a planned high-speed Shinkansen ("bullet train") line proposed to connect Narita International Airport with Tokyo Station. The project was abandoned, although parts of the planned route are used by the Keisei Narita Airport Line (Narita Sky Access).

Planning of the Narita Shinkansen started in 1966 and permission to build was granted in 1972, with completion initially scheduled for 1976, in time for the airport's opening. Construction started 1974, but was significantly hampered due to resistance from local residents protesting against the expropriation of their land for a project that would bring no benefit to them. (Similar issues have afflicted Narita Airport itself.) Construction was frozen in 1983, and the Basic Plan granting construction rights was cancelled by a special law in 1987 — the only Shinkansen line ever to meet this fate.

Due to the opposition, only a 9 km stretch of trackbed and the airport station shell had been constructed before the project was halted. While the Shinkansen link was stalled, the private Keisei Electric Railway had constructed an ordinary rail link to the airport. However, Keisei services had to terminate outside airport grounds and transfer passengers by bus, as the station inside the airport and the track connecting to it was owned by then state operator Japanese National Railways.

After the passage of the groundbreaking Railway Business Act in 1986, Keisei acquired the rights to operate as a "third type" (第3種) railway company that leases tracks from JR, and starting in 1991 both Keisei and JR have operated direct airport services to the terminal built for the Shinkansen. The culvert connecting to the airport station was also designed for Shinkansen use.

The line was to originate at underground platforms located roughly equidistant from Tokyo Station and Yūrakuchō Station in central Tokyo. From there, it was to run underground to Etchūjima in Kōtō Ward, then above ground, following the Tōzai Line route across the Ara River to Funabashi. In Funabashi, the line was to again run underground, emerging in Shiroi, then following a smooth curve through Chiba New Town and central Narita, and finally running underground again to terminate beneath the passenger terminal at Narita Airport. Originally, the Tokyo-Narita trains were to make no station stops: JNR later added one additional station to the planned line to serve Chiba New Town.

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