Large depot redevelopment project in central Tokyo

Abstract Old and large railway facilities tend to lose their efficiency as the years pass. Shinagawa depot, located 6 km from Tokyo Station, is one of the largest depots in Japan (approximately 22 ha), with a history of over 90 years. Due to the increase in the number of carriages on passenger train sets and the decline of sleeper trains, Shinagawa depot has not been used effectively for recent few decades. By the opening of the Ueno-Tokyo Line in 2015, it had been necessary to redevelop the depot to accommodate the new transportation system. However, it is very difficult to carry out such large depot renewal project in the Tokyo metropolitan area while continuing train operation. Therefore, it was required to plan renewal project by utilizing experience from past track improvement work in a station. For Shinagawa depot, we were unable to transfer all of its functions to other depots. The depot is surrounded by densely built-up area, so we could not acquire other land easily. Therefore, it was inevitable to plan redevelopment project in the same location while continuing train operation. An investigation was conducted to figure out necessary functions and capacity for Shinagawa depot. The minimum necessary functions remain in Shinagawa depot and the other functions transferred to other depots. Thus Shinagawa depot was reduced in area, and improvement construction work carried out parallel with current train operation. We proceeded investigation on track layouts that enable improvement work to be completed over 3 separate track changeovers without interrupting depot operation. We achieved a redevelopment plan which can be conducted under the various constraints by utilizing experience from past large station renewal works. We made Shinagawa depot to be better adapted to the new transport system after the opening of the Ueno-Tokyo line, and also optimized the inspection and repair of JR-East trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area. As a result, over 10ha of newly vacant land has been created in central Tokyo.