A new type of platform door is to be installed on the Shinkansen platforms at Tokyo Station. The first platform doors of their kind, the new doors can automatically open at a location that suits the different door positions of each type of Shinkansen train.
A design image of the new platform doors at Tokyo Station
Several different types of Shinkansen train stop at Tokyo Station which range in length between 7-car and 17-car trains and they also have doors in different positions. Platform doors will be installed in a layout that corresponds to all of these different Shinkansen train formations. JR East is currently developing a system that can use QR codes to identify each of these train formations.
An illustration of how the platform doors will respond to different train formations
Currently Shinkansen platform doors are opened and closed by station staff, but JR East are considering the introduction of a new system in which platform doors open and close automatically as the train doors open and close.
The new platform doors will also have 3D sensors to detect if people are standing too close to the platform doors as trains approach.
The new platform doors are scheduled to be introduced to Platforms 20 and 21 at Tokyo Station by the end 0f 2028 and Platforms 22 and 23 by the end of 2029.
JR East also plans to install platform screen doors on 758 platforms at 330 stations on major Tokyo metropolitan line routes by the end of 2031, and will continue to add platform doors at Shinkansen stations along JR East’s Shinkansen network.
Article by Michael Lambe. Images courtesy of JR East. All rights reserved.
