There have been many proposals for Tokyo commuter routes in this forum. But I feel this proposal offers by far the most potential. I am proposing a slice of the standard gauge network formed by the Keikyu Railway, the Keisei Railway, and the Toei Asakusa Line. In Tokyo most metro lines are connected to other railways at their ends to offer through-running S-bahn-esque service, and the Asakusa line is no exception, linking to the Keikyu Railway in the south and the Keisei Railway in the northwest. Of course there are many similar lines in Tokyo, but these specific lines make for a particularly good subject. This is in large part due to them linking Tokyo's two main airports. Not only does this mean there is a wide variety of service types, but the Keisei Railway also runs the fastest non-Shinkansen train in Japan, the Skyliner, which reaches speeds of 160km/h on its route between Ueno and Narita Airport. No other Japanese route offers quite so much variety, from metro operations in the city centre to blasting along viaducts at high speed. The route would be a little under 100 kilometres long, a managable length for a TSW route. The route would have to be ambitious in its selection of rolling stock however. To fully represent services on the route, five different classes would be needed: the Keisei AE series used for Skyliner services, a Keisei commuter train (the 3000 series is the most numerous), a Toei train (the 5500 series is the only class used on the Asakusa line), a Keikyu train (the N1000 series is the most numerous), and a Hokuso train (the 7300 series is the most numerous). However due to the degree of through-running involved on the network some of these could be cut from the base route and added later as DLC without affecting the timetable. Here is a map of the proposed route: Here is a cab view of the full line from Haneda Airport to Narita Airport, showing how much variety the route contains:
Only group that even has a remote chance of doing this would be Union workshop, but I doubt they'll do it off the bat. Not to mention their TSC routes barely offer more than 1 piece of rolling stock.
Let me see the Tokyo region version of the Haruka Airport train Kyoto to Osaka Kansai Airport and excellent idea overall. Looks like one of the scenarios might involve a commuter running HND to NRT transfer during Rush Hour. Both airports have aeroplane connections on Lufthansa to Linke Rheinstrecke Flughafen Frankfurt Station NEC Trenton to Boston EWR Railway station
Love the suggestion. I've done Asakusa to Narita Airport, but the long way around (it's very long!). I think the Sky Access line would make for a far more interesting drive.
A Japanese route would be pretty awesome, It'd also be a very interesting challenge to see how close to schedule someone could get since they are quite strict about punctuality.
You are correct as a matter of fact my Mum used JR West Kyoto and Osaka Kansai airport regional/commuter lines. A Japanese Railway guard needs to have the scanner detect a smart card in the case of Tokyo Kitaca card although the Osaka Icoca card works on them if there's a guard mode scenario/mp implemented. N1000 Emu propulsion is exactly the same as 182 1016/1116 locos.
Kitaca is from Hokkaido. Do you mean Suica or Pasmo? N1000s have new traction kit now. It was only ever the first couple of batches that had the melody. They've now been refitted to match the later batches
Spot on about the Tokyo and Sapporo Cards and I only knew the Kansai Region version Icoca Card because my Mum and Aunt in Kyoto used it heavily 7 months ago. For the N1000 first batch motor it's the 182 propulsion which means DTG Union Workshop take existing audio from 182 and make a new train around it.
