Why Is the "Worst Congestion in Japan" Unresolved Despite More Trains? — The Cause and a Practical Solution Hidden in Nishi-Nippori Station's Down Escalator

During the morning rush hour, the

Nippori-Toneri Liner reaches a

congestion rate of 176%, ranking as

the worst in Japan for six consecutive

years. To address this, operators have

taken aggressive measures, including

introducing the new Series 330 cars

to increase capacity and expanding

the fleet significantly from 12 to 20

trains. Yet, despite these major

hardware upgrades, passenger

congestion remains unresolved.

Why does adding state-of-the-art

trains fail to solve this problem?

The root cause lies in the extreme

imbalance of congestion,

concentrated heavily in the front three

cars of the five-car trains. During the

morning rush, passenger alighting is

concentrated at two stops: Nippori

Station (the terminal, where about

60% of passengers get off) and

Nishi-Nippori Station (accounting for

about 40%). While crowding at the

front of the train is inevitable at Nippori

because the ticket gates are located

at the end of the platform, Nishi

-Nippori presents a different issue.

Here, the down escalator, the primary

pathway off the platform, is positioned

between the second and third cars.

Consequently, a vast number of

passengers alighting at Nishi-Nippori

pack into the front three cars to be

close to this escalator.

　　　　　　(Photo 1)

　　　　　　(Photo 2)

Physically relocating this bottleneck

escalator is no simple task. Instead,

we propose a highly practical,

operational solution: deactivating the

down escalator during peak morning

rush hours. By stopping the escalator

and directing passengers to use the

stairs located near the rear end of the

platform (on the Minumadai-shinsui

-koen side) to reach the concourse,

the extreme crowding in the front three

cars could be significantly alleviated.

No matter how many advanced Series

330 trains are deployed, physical

station layouts dictate passenger

behavior and can neutralize train-side

congestion countermeasures. Facing

this challenging reality of infrastructure

design with clever operational

adjustments holds immense value.

An indispensable perspective in urban

transit planning is not merely increasing

train capacity to "transport" people,

but designing flows—how to "guide"

passengers through station structures,

equipment placement, and smart

operations. The evolution of vehicles

to carry people, and the design of

stations to guide their flow. Only when

these two elements work in harmony

can we fully utilize the true transport

capacity of our urban infrastructure.

I hope you look forward to the next

AGT Blog!