On March 14th, a new railway station was inaugurated in the city center of Tokyo. The station name is Takanawa Gateway. It's located between Tamachi and Shinagawa stations on the JR East Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines.
As its name suggests, Takanawa Gateway is an entrance to the Takanawa area, which is one of the high-class residential sections with fashionable shops and restaurants. The station layout is two island platforms serving four tracks. The southern two tracks are used by the Keihin-Tohoku line trains. On the other hands, the northern two tracks are used by the Yamanote line trains. Its roof open ceiling is trendy like Osaka station. There is a kiosk with an unmanned AI payment system named TOUCH TO GO in the station yard.
Incidentally, I wonder why recent railway stations often use foreign words for their names. They are Resort Gateway, Telecom Center, Universal City, Tennozu Isle, Koshigaya Lake Town, Keio Tama Center, Center Minami and so on. The beginning of this tendency can be traced back to the Tama Plaza station, which was inaugurated in 1966, on the Tokyu-Denentoshi line. Tama Plaza is a new town area developed by Tokyu Electric Railway Company. Tokyu probably needed a unique and attractive station name for selling lands and houses on the newly constructed railway line. To be honest, I'm not fond of these kinds of station names as they look like foreign places, but OK. We can learn foreign languages from these names at least.
As its name suggests, Takanawa Gateway is an entrance to the Takanawa area, which is one of the high-class residential sections with fashionable shops and restaurants. The station layout is two island platforms serving four tracks. The southern two tracks are used by the Keihin-Tohoku line trains. On the other hands, the northern two tracks are used by the Yamanote line trains. Its roof open ceiling is trendy like Osaka station. There is a kiosk with an unmanned AI payment system named TOUCH TO GO in the station yard.
Incidentally, I wonder why recent railway stations often use foreign words for their names. They are Resort Gateway, Telecom Center, Universal City, Tennozu Isle, Koshigaya Lake Town, Keio Tama Center, Center Minami and so on. The beginning of this tendency can be traced back to the Tama Plaza station, which was inaugurated in 1966, on the Tokyu-Denentoshi line. Tama Plaza is a new town area developed by Tokyu Electric Railway Company. Tokyu probably needed a unique and attractive station name for selling lands and houses on the newly constructed railway line. To be honest, I'm not fond of these kinds of station names as they look like foreign places, but OK. We can learn foreign languages from these names at least.
Official promotion movie, TOUCH TO GO in Takanawa Gateway station