Japan’s Deepest Train Station is Now Harder to Access
How a hard-to-fix foreign elevator is forcing some passengers at this Tokyo Station to take the stairs (assuming they can).
By Jay Allen
The deepest train station in Tokyo — indeed, in all of Japan — is now a little harder to navigate. And it’ll be that way for the foreseeable future.
The station in question is Roppongi station and the related Oedo line. With seven basement floors and a depth of 42 meters under the surface, it’s Japan’s most buried train station. Its height almost rivals that of Kumamoto Castle, which stands at 44 meters. Traversing the levels by stairs will take you close to five minutes (going down, of course).
The accessibility issue started last month when the elevator between floors B1 and B5 broke. Given that the elevator spanned five floors, officials knew they had to fix it quickly.
There was only one problem: the elevator’s made by a non-Japanese that has since left Japan. That means a long wait for parts.
The Tokyo Transportation Bureau scrambled to fix the pivotal elevator by using parts from the elevator connecting floors B5 to B7. That worked — but now the elevator between B5 and B7 is out of order. And officials say they don’t know when replacement parts will arrive.
Fuji News Network interviewed a mom who called the situation “inconvenient” for anyone with a small child and a stroller.
The Tokyo Transportation Bureau is recommending that people who require elevator service to these floors take detour routes until the station can fix the elevator. Whenever that is.
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Sources
“日本一深い地下鉄駅”六本木駅で“故障”長引くワケ エレベーター直せず…困惑. FNN News
