Construction of $2bn Tokyo airport rail line to start in June

Tokyo International Airport (Image: MaedaAkihiko, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

East Japan Railway (JR East) is to start construction of a new rail line connecting Tokyo station with Haneda Airport in June this year.

The project is worth an estimated ¥280 billion (US$2 billion).

Passengers will be able to travel from Tokyo station to the capital’s airport in around 18 minutes on the new line, without having to change trains.

Construction will involve a 12.4km section of tunnel between the airport and an area near Tamachi station. It will also make use of existing elevated tracks currently used as a freight line, which will be upgraded.

Meanwhile the project involves the construction of a new underground station between the airport’s Terminals 1 and 2.

But completion is now expected to come in 2031, two years later than originally planned.