International Railroad Discussion > Synchronized Arrival (Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan)

Mitaka Station is located 24.1 railroad kilometers (15 miles) from Tokyo Station, or more importantly, 13.8 km (8.6 miles) west from Shinjuku Station, the busiest station in the world. Mitaka is on the Chuo Line, served by all Rapid and Special Rapid trains. Some limited express trains stop there also.

It's also the terminus for the local stop Sobu Line and Tokyo Metro Tozai (subway) Line trains. The 4 track main (2 double tracks) from Tokyo ends here at Mitaka and there's a yard just to the west of the station, as well as a wel-known pedestrian walkway over the yard to oversee the action.

The walkway will likely be dimantled in the near future, based on railfan gossip. I posted a photo using that location in 2006:

https://cdn.trainorders.com/attachments/fullsize/934000/115a.jpg

When I took this video, I didn't plan on "foaming" at this location. I was on my way west to Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture, to attend the wine festival. For the oenophile (wine enthusiast) TO members, Koshu grapes are grown in the region. A good Koshu grape white wine has a hint of "peach" to its fruitiness.

I was waiting to transfer to a limited express train at Mitaka, when my ears and eyes told me to get the camcorder rolling, as I was about to document trains running on all 4 mains at once. The Tozai Line subway train shows up first, heading east toward Nakano, then a limited express train, also eastbound, heading toward Shinjuku.

Little did I realize that the engineers for the Chuo Line (red stripes) and Sobu Line (yellow stripes) decided to arrive at Mitaka, perfectly synchronized.

The video ends with a rare Sobu Line originating Limited Express "Chiba Kaiji." E257 EMU is painted in yellow and blue Sobu Line colors. I rode the next "Kaiji" Limited Express since I went through the trouble of reserving a seat using the JR Rail Pass.

That's it for another report from 2016.

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