A JR Yamanote Line train is seen in Tokyo's Minato Ward on May 23, 2019. (Mainichi/Kenji Yoneda)

       TOKYO -- Part of the JR Yamanote Line looping around the center of Tokyo will be closed all day Oct. 23 and 24 for track switching work at Shibuya Station.

       Including Shibuya Station, the areas to be affected are the Yamanote Line's inner loop route from Ikebukuro Station to Osaki Station, while train services on other parts of the inner loop and those running on the outer loop will also be reduced.

       To avoid crowding, the East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) is calling on passengers to use alternative transport or diverted routes. According to JR East, only around 30% of the usual frequency of services will be provided on the inner loop's non-suspended section between Ikebukuro and Osaki stations. On the outer loop, about 60% of normal services will be made available between those two stations. It expects about 540,000 people to be affected by the work.

       The company says its response includes using the Yamanote Line's freight tracks to run a temporary service between Shinagawa and Shinjuku, and there will be more trains running on the JR Saikyo Line and the Rinkai Line between Shin-Kiba and Akabane stations.

       Work at Shibuya Station will continue for about 52 hours, starting after the last train at the station on Oct. 22 and ending before the first service on Oct. 25. The work includes making the Yamanote Line inner loop platform at Shibuya Station larger by a maximum of about 5 meters, and shifting the tracks.

       Moving equipment such as tracks and overhead lines takes time, and the work can't be done while maintaining the standard timetable. The company opted to use a weekend schedule to avoid crowded times for the work. The service suspension will be the longest time for the Yamanote Line to be closed for track switching work since JR East's 1987 launch.

       The work is part of improvements to JR Shibuya Station that first began in 2015. In the future the separated inner loop and outer loop platforms will be made into one. The whole project, including improved barrier-free provisions, is expected to end in fiscal 2027. As part of Shibuya Station improvement work in May 2020, about 54 hours were taken to move the Saikyo Line platform and also switch the tracks. During this work, trains on parts of the Saikyo Line and elsewhere were out of service for two days.

       (Japanese original by Shotaro Kinoshita, Tokyo City News Department)

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