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The story
It’s been reported that the JR railroad crossing known as the “crossing that never opens,” near Namamugi in Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama, will be abolished, with the replacement pedestrian bridge not set to be completed for another seven years. Once the crossing closes, a detour of up to 1.6km will be needed, sparking anxiety and backlash from cyclists and local shopping-district merchants. On the 5ch News Flash+ forum, a thread raised questions about why the crossing can’t be closed at the same time the bridge is finished, while others pointed to local constraints — such as the Tokaido freight line running underground along the route, which makes going underground difficult — leading to a split in opinion.
Yokohama’s “never-opens” crossing to be abolished — detour up to 1.6km, pedestrian bridge not done for 7 years. “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Cyclists and shopping district voice backlash and anxiety
10/31 (Sat) 11:30 JST
FNN Prime Online (Fuji TV)
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Apparently it's packed down below too, so going up is the only option. Towns exist because there's a station. It's either scrap the railway or scrap the town…
Thing is, at Namamugi the Tokaido freight line runs underground all the way from Yokohama-Hazawa, and that's exactly where it comes back up to the surface… So there's a rail line just below ground level there, which means they can't dig an underpass.
Apparently the shopping district was against it — "don't go shop over there, buy here instead."
No — just have the trains stop there permanently. That's what a people-first society looks like.
You mean rebuilding the rail line itself? There was originally a much more famous "crossing that never opens" around here, and that one got sealed off ages ago — the wave of crossing closures in this area started way before this one. I really don't think there's any plan to elevate the tracks. The crossing being talked about now is just one of the last tiny, pathetic little crossings left over. It's almost surprising they're even bothering to close something this small.
They'll end up putting in an elevator anyway.
It's weird they didn't think to build the pedestrian bridge to line up with the closure.
There's already a pedestrian bridge right next to it.
It's a pedestrian bridge with steps partway up, so they're actually doing construction work right now to turn it into a slope.
Just pick up your bike and carry it over the pedestrian bridge, no problem?
Guess if you don't have a driver's license, it just doesn't occur to you that cars also have to cross the tracks.
No idea. All I know is some Satsuma samurai once cut down a foreigner there (the Namamugi Incident, 1862).
Probably JR being strict about it… I bet they just flatly say no construction while trains are running.
Isn't it under construction right now?
The railway company is pretty ridiculous too, honestly.
Crossings fall under the local government's jurisdiction — the railway company only manages the equipment.
Why does it even need to be removed in the first place?
There's already an old pedestrian bridge right next to it that's being upgraded, so this probably isn't high priority. On top of that, the city's compromise plan is to build a new one in addition to that — and residents are still complaining.
There are degrees of "never-opens" crossings though — if it's one that opens up at least once while you'd be detouring or climbing the bridge, waiting actually ends up being the smarter move. The problem is it closes again fast, which is brutal for elderly people.
There's also a JR crossing that never opens in Tachikawa — my sister moved there. Sounds like only the Chuo Line one actually got fixed.
You probably don't know the area, but it's not just a money problem — it's physically impossible. That's exactly the spot where the Keihin-Tohoku and Tokaido lines cross over each other.
This spot isn't just ground-level — right next to it the tracks go elevated and cross over, and underground there's also the Sotetsu through-line running, plus the Keikyu line right next door. You'd basically have to level every building in the area to pull it off — probably trillions of yen.
Background and Key Points of This Story
The crossing slated for closure here is a JR crossing near Namamugi in Yokohama. Because multiple trunk lines — the Tokaido Main Line, Keihin-Tohoku Line, and Sobu Line — all pass through it, train traffic is heavy, and it had become a chronic “never-opens” crossing. As pointed out in the thread, the Tokaido freight line runs underground through this section, making an underground route physically difficult, and with the Keikyu line and the Sotetsu through-line also nearby, elevating or burying the tracks would require large-scale land acquisition. As for why the pedestrian bridge will take seven years to finish, the background includes the fact that priority is being given to renovation work converting the existing old pedestrian bridge into a sloped one, plus restrictions limiting construction to nighttime hours because of JR’s train schedule. Where opinions in the thread split was the gap between the gut feeling that “they should be able to have the bridge ready by the time it closes” and the actual technical and budgetary constraints — along with the not-widely-known fact that crossings fall under local-government jurisdiction while the railway company only handles equipment maintenance.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Yokohama] ‘Never-opens’ crossing to be abolished — detour up to 1.6km, pedestrian bridge not done for 7 years. “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Cyclists and shopping district voice backlash and anxiety.”
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