COPENHAGEN - Cityringen (M3)

This is a follow-up to my report from 2013 when I last visited Copenhagen. This time I came to join the celebrations for the opening of the Cityringen, or metro line M3, which happened on 29 September 2019, luckily without any last-minute delay as had occured in Aarhus two years ago.

Osterport station - trains largely identical to M1/M2 trains

As a metro enthusiast, I was quite excited about this inauguration as with its 15.5 km and 17 stations, the ring line can be considered a major metro project for European standards, and something like this doesn't happen too often nowadays (besides some extensions in Moscow, the last was Barcelona's L9-South with 20 km in 2016 and probably next will be Thessaloniki, which is likely to become the continent's last new metro at all, and new tangential lines in Paris).

The construction of the Cityringen went quite smoothly as it seems, without major problems or delays and within a reasonable time frame of some 6-7 years, when virtually the entire inner city had to suffer from the construction sites, of course. These were limited to station areas as all the tunnels were excavated as single-track tubes. They often run beneath built-up areas and thus the line would be difficult to follow on the surface unless you are very familiar with the city. Talking about tube construction, as with the "old" lines, the alignment is very good and trains run at a good speed and take all curves very smoothly. At times they shake a bit, but to an acceptable degree. Accelerating and braking is also quite prefectly programmed, so no complaints on that side from my part.

Gammel Strand station - Cityringen has just opened (29 Sept 2019)

With a friend from the U.S. who happened to be in town we managed to get down into Gammel Strand station with the first crowd at 16:00 on Sunday, when the skies had cleared a bit after heavy rainfall had delayed the speeches at Radhuspladsen (including the Queen of Denmark!). We were surprised how well Metro managed the crowds, so trains ran at an acceptable load, though the windows got steamy soon so you could hardly see anything out the front or rear windows. We got off at a few stations, but didn't venture to go outside because we saw that they kept people from entering to avoid overcrowding, but I think in the end all got their chance to take a first ride (by the way, all metro and S-tog lines were free to use on that day!). Later we met up with a local expert and continued our first-day explorations, and surprisingly, all went smoothly, I didn't observe any disruptions or major delays typical for such occasions.

The stations basically follow the design of the old lines, but with some differences. But I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when I saw the first stations as I had expected more colour, but in the end the use of coloured panels instead of the old concrete slabs is limited. There are several red stations, denoting interchange with S-tog services, one in green (Frederiksberg Allé) and a few with bricks rather than panels, but many have colourless plastic panels which are quite similar to the old stations:

Enghave Plads station - pleasant brick cladding

Frederiksberg Allé station - the only "green" station

Norrebros Runndel station

Norrebro station - all S-tog interchanges are red

Skjolds Plads station - similar to M1/M2 stations

Vibenshus Runddel station - decent colour, but hardly perceivable from platform level

Poul Henningsens Plads station - grey but with different pattern

Osterport station - busy S-tog interchange

Otherwise the station boxes are identical, with two flights of double escalators up and down - but unfortunately both up escalators still start at the same end position of each platform instead of having one at either end. I also found that the direction of the escalators is not well signed, especially on mezzanine level you basically have to look at the moving steps to see if they go up and down as there are no signs saying "to trains" or "ai treni" above the down escalators. Regular users will certainly get familiar and know that down is normally the escalator further away from the entrance. The issue I criticised in 2013 about the lack of escalators from the mezzanine to the surface has only been solved in a few places, notably in the richer municipality of Frederiksberg, where the entrances have therefore also been covered (in the case of Frederiksberg Allé built over with a new building) - by the way, the choice of the names Frederiksberg and Frederiksberg Allé for two adjacent stations is certainly not very ideal!

Frederiksberg station - covered escalators up to the surface

My major criticism is for the wayfinding system. Showing directions on circular metro lines is always a challenge, but there have been good solutions, notably on Madrid's L6. On Cityringen it is badly implemented, although the electronic next-train indicators handle it quite well by showing "via Frederiksberg" or "via Osterport" or whatever is the next major interchange in either direction. This is complemented by a running line of all stations served from that side of the platform:

Large screens show directions

There are accoustic announcements, in Danish and English, saying that the next train from "Spor/track 1" or "2" goes via so and so, but the track number is hardly visible, certainly not when you come down the escalator, and then you still have to search for it. What is completely missing, and not just on Cityringen but also on the old lines, is a partial strip map for each side of the platform. The funny thing is that this is a global convention from China to the USA, virtually on all metros of the world, but not in Copenhagen. So when you come down the escalators, there needs to be a strip map showing which stations can be reached most rapidly from the right side, and which stations from the left side. On most metro systems the stations of the line not served from that platform are shown in grey. 

Strip maps as displayed at end of platform, without indicating which side of the platform

There is a strip map even in Copenhagen, but it shows the entire line and not as a circle, but as a straight line, and does not hint to the respective side of the platform. This can easily be retrofitted and I hope it will be done soon. In fact those partial strip maps should also be added to the respective platform screen doors so people can be sure they are waiting at the correct side. Apart from that, all stations have a nice metro map with the Cityringen shown as a proper circle and future-proofed with M4, saying that the northern branch to Orientkaj is about to open in 2020:

Talking about maps and information, only at certain stations of the metro system, a "Welcome to Copenhagen" brochure is available and only in English and only about the metro, otherwise I'm still missing a proper customer service centre, I have not seen any although now many staff were still around on M3 to help passengers. Luckily I grabbed a few small metro maps on opening day, as later during normal service I didn't see them anywhere.

Strip map inside trains (with line M3 "starting" at Trianglen), not future-proof for southern M4 branch

To improve orientation for passengers on the train, additional station name signs would be useful on the otherwise empty inner walls, so passengers can see through the train window easily where they are as the signs on the platform are hardly visible from the train, most of the obstructed by the escalators. This could easily be done by adding simple stickers as the area is quite vandalism-safe.

As said before, the stations are largely identical to the older ones, but now have two lifts to guarantee their availability. Some stations have secondary entrances, but only via a bicycle storage room, even the centrally located Radhuspladsen station! These bike rooms are colourful and are mostly painted in a strong orange.

Two lifts at each station, and most with skylights

Lovely logo, here at Nuuks Plads

A much brighter logo sits now next to all stations, which has also been implemented at some older stations. The only station with a significantly different layout is Marmorkirken where the platforms are on different levels on top of each other due to the limited space available:

Marmorkirken - bi-level station

There are two lifts, one at either end of the platforms, plus numerous sets of escalators, two in each direction, and connecting 4 levels, so that adds up to at least 16 escalators if I have counted correctly.

The interchanges with other lines only deserve an "ok". Cityringen crosses the old lines twice: at Frederiksberg this is quite ok, you walk up one level from M1/M2 and walk around the corner and down a few levels to M3 - what's weird here is that all escalators, up and down, point away from you instead of resulting in a logical flow from one line to the other. I doubt that the southern exit at that station is more important than the interchange.

At Kongens Nytorv the situation is not ideal either but "ok". Unfortunately, it was a historic mistake to not make this station future-proof as an interchange from the start. The old station is pretty deep, so the new station had to be placed almost at sub-surface level, but of course, the tube tunnels require a certain depth. So from the old line you also have to come up all the way to the mezzanine (two long escalators), then walk a bit longer than at Frederiksberg through a vast mezzanine and then down one level (for which three sets of escalators have been installed). 

Kongens Nytorv - mezzanine and transfer corridor

Kongens Nytorv - wider platform than usual

There are no direct lifts from the surface to the Cityringen platform, you need to change lifts at mezzanine level. But what I found more disappointing at the most central station is the lack of other entrances and the bad layout of the only one existing. When I arrived at Kongens Nytorv on foot from Marmorkirken via Store Kongensgade, I was expecting an entrance at that corner of this large square, but none in sight, so you have to cross a major road to get to the entrance and then walk back to the platform. Once down on the platform I realised that there was actually a rear exit (the sign only said "Exit" - funnily they only use the English word on this line and not "Udgang"), but no indication to where this exit leads. 

Kongens Nytorv - corridor leading to secondary exit

So I walked out that way, up one level where it suddenly turned direction and after some 100m of granite-clad tunnel, it leads to an exit next to the opera house, well, more or less across the street from the main entrance! So many questions starting with "why" came to my mind! Why is there no proper second mezzanine on the north side of the Cityringen station with an exit towards Store Kongensgade and another one towards Nyhavn, the busy restaurant area, and instead a misleading exit towards Tordenskjoldsgade - misleading because if you enter the station complex here and actually want to take an M1/M2 train, it will take you on a long detour. This entrance should lead into the large mezzanine directly! This is really weird as Kongens Nytorv has been a contruction site for the last 25 years and now it is badly done! At least the fixed stairs from the mezzanine to the surface have been completely rebuilt and are now much less steep than they used to be - so maybe my criticism has helped...

As for interchanges between M1/M2 and M3, these options are not announced accoustically like "Change here for lines M1 and M2!", neither are there any announcements like "Change here for the S-tog/S-train".

Norrebro - open-air interchange with elevated S-tog

At Norrebro the interchange between metro and S-Tog will be as good as is possible in that situation, with two sets of escalators as well as lifts being added to the elevated S-tog side platforms, and here also escalators have been installed between the surface and the mezzanine in the metro station. As with the other S-tog/metro interchanges, the facility has not been finished yet.

At Osterport, a connecting pedestrian tunnel is still under construcion, but in the meantime, metro passengers have to use a set of temporary stairs to come to the surface and walk around the construction site to get to the railway station. To comfort them, metro staff are handing out vouchers for free coffee at 7-Eleven... Just as we will see at the Central Station, the lifts are located at the "wrong" end of the station for people changing to S-tog or other trains services.

Kobenhavn H - metro entrance at rear side of railway station, with tiny logo

Kobenhavn H - on the left, future interchange tunnel to S-tog and other trains

The location of the metro station at Kobenhavn H is far from ideal. It is certainly at the back side of the station, and maybe not the best side either. From a logical point of view, it should really have been located on the eastern side where there is a main entrance to the railway station, possibly with an access directly within the station concourse as any world traveller would it expect to be. To serve the area west of the station, possibly an additional station would have been needed. But complaining about this now doesn't help us anyway. When the later planned direct transfer tunnel is completed, interchange between metro and trains will be quite ok, though through a very narrow tunnel. Until then you have to leave the metro station and hope that many people head for the railway station, because from where you surface you don't see any sign at all where the railway station is or where to access it. The rear entrance is very small for a major railway station and has no sign whatsoever, just the usual crowd of people thrown out of the station by the police hanging around there... What's also surprising at this location is the tiny logo indicating the metro station, only denoting secondary bicycle entrances at other stations. And again, the lifts are at the other end of the station, so for passengers coming to the surface with their luggage using the lifts, the orientation will even be less easy.

All in all, Copenhagen has certainly grown up with the opening of this line. I still remember that Copenhagen was something like the largest non-metro city in Western Europe when I started in the mid-1990s, and now it is very well covered by a swift system. And it seems to be very popular among the local population, forgotten are the initial troubles and it is perceived as a very reliable system. Maybe even victim of its own success, the Metro company now has increased fares, i.e. to use the metro you have to pay a surcharge on certain tickets, and monthly pass holders have to decide whether the metro is included or not. This is certainly a wrong step as Copenhagen has always had good fare integration and breaking this is a step backwards. But maybe the Metro company actually wants to dissuade people from using their trains to avoid overcrowding as trains do get pretty full during rush hour. The next logical step would therefore be to increase capacity, this could maybe be done by adding a fourth car, but possibly some stations wouldn't be able to handle the crowds anyway. Notably Kongens Nytorv which has always been a busy station as it serves the Old Town, and now as a transfer station it will even have to handle more people. Now a train arrives about every 90 to 120 seconds during peak hours in either direction, not really enough time to empty the platform before the next train discharges its passengers. Norreport station may be relieved a bit as many passengers will now change to Cityringen instead of the S-tog.

Carlsberg S-tog station replaced Enghave station in 2016

While the metro is now the popular means of transport in Copenhagen, the S-tog is losing terrain as it is aging. Many trains carry graffiti and also stations are not always in good shape. The system is currently being upgraded with CBTC which may ultimately lead to driverless operation, which would be a first on a suburban rail system derived from a mainline railway (like the Berlin S-Bahn, the Copenhagen S-tog is completely separate from the rest of the Danish rail system and has a different voltage). The super-wide trains are still fun to ride, but the bundled route along the central corridor is a bottleneck. So the CBTC system is supposed to allow a more stable timetable. At Copenhagen Central Station, the S-tog has two tracks in each direction, but at the other stations just one. Norreport is a special problem, as it is supposed to be the busiest station in Denmark, but with just two S-tog and two regional train platforms. It is also the ugliest and most neglected station, I'm afraid, and for such a busy station, there is no customer service centre anywhere, although new buildings were added at surface level. At the Central Station, DSB maintains a rather small traditional ticket office, and as for some reason I couldn't buy my return ticket online (DB said it was too late) I had to queue there to get my ticket to Berlin - I felt like in a Renfe station back in the 1980s... As the S-tog is run by DSB, I imagine that they also handle questions about the S-tog. There is someone at the door who in most cases sends you to the self-service ticket machines, though. These are easy to use and also sell City Pass tickets, the day passes for all means of transport, available as a "small" or "large" City Pass, not a very intuitive distinction. The "small" one is the real City Pass as it covers the city as such plus the airport, while the "large" one should really be called "Region Pass" instead, or "City+Region Pass" or so. Both passes are available for from 24 hours to up to 120 hours!

As for my complaint about a non-existing face to the integrated transport system, there is one now, though only to a limited extent! It is called DOT which stands for Din Offentlige Transport (Your Public Transport). They have a website with some useful info and their logo is everywhere on all vehicles, also metro and S-tog trains, but it's not really a transport authority nor does it have an information office.

LINKS

Copenhagen at UrbanRail.Net

Copenhagen Metro (Official Website)

DOT

PRAGUE - Metro & Tram

 
Newest tram type in Prague, a ForCity from Skoda

Postponed again and again, I finally returned to Prague in early December 2016 after 15 years! My last trip to Prague was also the last trip I made without a digital camera, we are talking about 2001. I had travelled the Czech Republic extensively and intensively during the last summer in preparation for my forthcoming Tram Atlas Central Europe, a bit delayed but now hopefully out on sale in March 2017. I left Prague for a separate trip to finish off these journeys, but ever since September I had been waiting for a nice weather forecast, but it was not until December, already in winter, that a few mild days with a bit of sun were annouced. So I got on an EC train directly from Berlin to Prague, a calm journey of 4 1/2 hours. I stayed in Prague from 8 to 11 Dec 2016.

The purpose of the trip was mainly to get a good selection of metro station photos, as tram photos are much easier to get from other people. In the end, in three days I managed to take photos in all the stations, so my files are filled for the next decades [Visit my Praha Metro Gallery at UrbanRail.Net]. Though not the usual harvest, I still got a few nice tram shots, too, and with early sundown, some useable night shots, of course:

Older tram type, a Tatra T3

Let's start with tickets, a very easy and cheap issue in Prague. A day pass (24 hours in fact) is just 110 Czech crowns, which is something like €3.50, a 72-hours pass is 310 CZK. As the Metro is an open system, you just stamp it the first time and then pack it away until some ticket inspection happens, which I didn't have in three day, though I once saw a couple checking tickets inside a metro train.

Generally, the Prague Metro is a very relaxed system, everybody seems to behave pretty well, no loud people, no vandalism (visible) and hardly any security people around which made me think they are not needed (in Berlin you hardly see any but people believe we should have more!). No one hassles you when taking pictures, neither staff nor passengers. Just the concourse level at Muzeum seems to be a dodgy place with weird people hanging around. There are signs like "Beware of pickpockets" which is not surprising with the amount of tourists Prague gets at any time of the year. Now with Christmas markets all around, the city was packed, of course.

The Prague Metro is also a rather tidy place, not as polished as Moscow's, but quite clean. The platform level is usually a rather pleasant space, but some entrance areas appear a bit too dark. In some stations on line C, the lights and ceilings were renewed, making a much brighter space as some of the older stations tend to be a bit dark. I'm glad they kept some of the really fast escalators, though you have to watch out if you are not used to these. Where they have been renewed they tend to be slower. One morning I found one of the two up escalators at the A-to-C interchange at Muzeum out of service, but a few hours later when I went to catch my train back home it had already been fixed, despite being a Sunday. Some of the deep-level tube stations in the centre have already been equipped with lifts, but for those depending on lifts, it may still be a challenge to use the Metro. Of course, these lifts may be hidden somewhere on the surface, but there are signs indicating their location.

Talking about signs, what I do miss in Prague is a nice metro logo. They do use two kinds of symbols, but none is used on what would be an easily spottable totem pole in the street. Often the metro sign is only identifiable once you are at the stairs leading down underground, like at Námestí Míru, where the entrances are somewhat hidden behind the church at the eastern end of the square, so unless you know, you will not be able to see the entrances. Some entrances are covered and are thus more visible. Interchanges with tram lines are generally good, and inside the stations there are signs indicating which exit to take for which tram direction - they don't show line numbers as these have changed again and again.

Prague's Metro has always had its own style, especially in those early years, when the Soviets helped to build the Metro but did not impose a Moscow-style station design. Instead, Prague chose a very specific 1970s look, standardised though in varied colours on line A, and with a bit more variety on line B:

  

Line C, however, looks rather plain as it was originally designed as a subsurface tram, and most of the older cut-and-cover stations are not worth mentioning. 

Hlavni nadrazi on Line C, a subsurface station with wide side platforms

One may not like the colours and shapes used on the newer sections of lines A and C so much, somehow they appear a bit tacky, but seeing them in real life, I found all of them very pleasant spaces, and each with an individual note:

  

Strizkov is, of course, a different thing altogether, not for its plain platform level, but for its huge spanned roof structure. I guess the Metro wanted to build something nice in an otherwise dull neighbourhood, but from a budget point of view, it seems almost too much:

And the terminus at Letnany, though a lovely station, is in the middle of nowhere, still after some years of being open. Even the huge bus interchange seemed quite deserted when I was there on Friday afternoon compared to, e.g., Cerny Most or Zlicin. Looking on the Google satellite image, I would say that the line is short by one station as a large housing estate is just about one km further north. And if those people need to take a bus anyway to catch the metro they should rather go to Strizkov or even Ladví, both at a similar distance.

The new stations on the western line A extension have similar designs except the terminus Nemocnice Motol, of course, which is only half underground and serves one of the biggest hospital complexes in the city. During day time, every second train turns back at Petriny, but I think this is not so much to save a train, but due to the fact that Nemocnice Motol was not meant to remain the terminus for a long time as the line was supposed to be extended to the airport in a next phase. But this was shelved and a rail link is to be built there instead. But construction on this link which should be done together with a major upgrade of the Kladno rail line, has not started yet. So, Nemocnice Motol only has two sidings beyond the station, and one was occupied by a stabled train, leaving just one track for reversing: 

Refurbished Russian train reversing at Nemocnice Motol on Line A

At the other end, these trains turn around at Skalka instead of going the short distance to the terminus built inside Depo Hostivar, a rather plain encased station, though I was actually positively surprised after having seen pictures of it before; also surprised how many people were actually using it on a Sunday morning.

The trains are generally also in good shape, the newer CKD/Siemens trains on line C still look quite modern with their large front window. What makes them appear old-style is the fact that you cannot walk from car to car:

Prague started quite early to refurbish all older Russian trains which now run on lines A and B. Among all different modernised versions around Russian and other cities, I have always found the Prague version the best achieved.Giving trains a new front or livery often results in ugly distorted vehicles (see Cologne's modernised B cars or Frankfurt's ex U2 cars in latest livery), but in the case of Prague, the new front seems to fit. Also the interior looks pleasant, although I find the seats to be a bit too L-shaped, i.e. not really comfortable for me:

As with all Russian-style metros, the accoustic announcements are quite good, I mean well-timed when the car noise is the lowest. The "Ukoncite vystup a nastup, dvere se zaviraji" message could be a bit shorter, so that doors could close faster. Here the problem is like on the Berlin S-Bahn that people still jump on the train because they know it still takes a while until the doors really close. I prefer those metros where a simple yelling signal is enough and doors close. It may save a few seconds, but above all, it gives you a feeling of high speed of travel. But generally, station dwelling time is reasonable in Prague. On some trains the doors opened autmatically, while on others you had to push the button. Or does that depend on the station? Or on the driver? Train frequencies are quite adequate for the demand, every few minutes during rush hours and every 10 minutes on a Sunday morning (although for a few platform photographs, 10 minutes seemed sometimes long that morning...).

Signage in the stations is o.k. but not abundant. From the train, station signs are hard to read. On the outer walls, they are in large metal letters, which looks nice. On the platform itself, there are a few signs in the line's colour, but not as many as in other metros. What I observed repeately is that many people had problems reading the line diagram and which platform was the one they needed:

Badly visible arrows next to "Staromestska"

 In other cities you would find the strip map divided with clear arrows indicating the platform edge. Here those arrows are now quite clear. So in this case, Prague should follow the global design and have standing strip maps on the side walls as you come down the escalators. On the platforms there are information windows with fares and a large nice geograhic map with trams and buses, but I did not see any neighbourhood maps. Various generations of ticket machines can be found in entrance areas, older ones just take coins, but newer ones also accept international bank cards. Some stations also have manned ticket windows.

A few words about Prague's tram system, which is among the largest in Europe and for tourists, also an excellent way of exploring the city especially when you're tired after doing long walks. Several lines take you across one of the many bridges and always provide an excellent view, always from a different angle depending on the line you take. With 24 lines, the system may appear a bit complicated for outsiders as there are no clear trunk routes. But to find your way round, leaflets called "Prague Transport in 10 Languages" are available in many metro stations and include a good metro/tram map. Like the Metro, trams get very packed in the central area, and punctuality can vary as especially in the centre there are some sections where trams share space with cars and do get stuck. Tram drivers are, however, always rather offensive people, and I was surprised that I didn't witness any accidents, particularly as many tourists may never have seen trams in their own hometowns. They drive rather fast even in narrow streets and pedestrians are not given priority at zebra crossings. I don't know whether this is the rule, at least it is the reality. So, as a pedestrian or a car driver, always watch out for trams!

Many of the routes have been upgraded in recent years, but they lack the modern stop equipment you would expect from a modern tramway. There is the old-style sign with a timetable sheet and that's it. Next-tram indicators are very scarce, modern ones can only be found on the relatively new route to Barrandov, older ones on the route to Repy and in very few other places. The important stops in the city centre don't have any kind of next-tram indicators:

 

Most stops have some sort of platform, although a few still require boarding from street level. What I appreciate a lot in Prague is that not only the next stop is announced, but also the following. In fact when the tram arrives at the stop, they just say the name of the stop and then "pristi stanice" (next stop) plus the name of the next stop. On new trams, the next stop is even displayed on the outside of the tram next to the tram's destination, also a useful detail, although I only discovered this on my last tram journey! Another little detail that helps passengers is an arrow at the tram stop to indicate whether a line continues straight or turns left or right after that stop.

Refurbished T3 with centre low-floor access

In the tram fleet there are still lots of old Tatra T3 cars. Many people love them, but they are, of course, rather outdated when it comes to accessibility. Prague hasn't modernised too many of them with a low-floor centre access, but fortunately, the new Skoda ForCity trams are becoming very frequent. All in all, these are quite nice, run smoothly as long as the track is good, but despite those heavy bogies they have this uncomfortable lateral kick in curves (in this respect nothing beats the T3s). I think I was not the only one to find the wooden seats in the first batch of ForCity trams a bit too hard because the newer trams now have plastic seats, not too soft either, but better than the wooden ones. Probably determined by the front bogie, which actually sits under the driver's cab, the front looks rather massive for an urban tramway, with many slimmer designs being available in other cities.

Front and rear of newest ForCity generation

All in all, Prague has an excellent urban rail system and shows that metro and tram are two systems that complement each other. Seeing the masses the metro carries every day, it is impossible to imagine that trams alone would be capable of coping as some tramway advocates try to suggest. The trams themselves are quite busy and putting on more trams would just create real tram jams. Prague is also a good example for those who think that parallel metro/tram operation as such is something very bad. Prague has many routes doubled by trams and metro, and both carry enough passengers. Especially for trips across the city centre, of course, the Metro is much faster, but for shorter trips, the tram is certainly the winner as the deep-level stations require some extra time too.

I haven't used the Esko trains, a kind of S-Bahn service. I wonder whether people perceive it as part of the urban rail system or just a rebranded regional rail service. The double-deck trains on major routes look quite o.k., but those diesel units look rather pathetic, especially in combination with the railway stations I saw. At the end of the tram route to Sidliste Repy, there is actually an interchange to the winding S65 at the station called Zlicin, but this was not very inviting, with not even a timetable posted anywhere. A similar impression left the station next to the brand new Nadrazi Veleslavin metro station. I guess Prague could do with the "big solution" by creating a major underground trunk route shared by all lines. The present Masarykovo nadrazi could be replaced by a deep-level underground station which also serves Hlavni nadrazi and then a cross-city tunnel to Smichov with a branch to Vrsovice.

LINKS

Dopravni Podnik Prahy (Official Website)

Prague at UrbanRail.Net

JAPAN - Conclusions & Travel Tips

JR rail network in Tokyo area

What you may have read in this blog during the past four weeks were just my personal impressions and, by no means, a full analysis. Hardly ever had I had the same feeling of rushing through a country, covering so many metro and metro-like systems in just one month. So while I have dealt with some in more detail, some other posts are just fragments resulting from a hurried visit. Still, I'm happy I have done this trip, and it has long been overdue for a real metro enthusiast, but in the end it was Andrew Phipps' serious proposal for a series of books about Japan which eventually made me decide to finally visit this country myself. And thanks to everybody who has been clicking into this blog and even read bits or everything. I'm glad I managed to get all posts online before being back home, as you can imagine there is still a lot of other things waiting to be done (not least the annual tax declaration).

So, here I am, finally sitting on board a British Airways Boing 777 flying to London Heathrow with a delayed departure of three hours and a missed connecting flight to Berlin.... who could imagine a better return to good old Europe after a month of all trains running exactly on time? Time for a few general conclusions after my trip and the country I have finally known. These conclusions and travel tips may be helpful to those considering a trip to Japan in the future.

Your humble author on the job in Sapporo

SAFETY

Travelling in Japan is probably safer than in any other country in the world, I mean crime-wise. And everybody had confirmed that to me before the trip, as I'm usually worried about which places one can go without risking any problems as an obvious foreigner. Doing metro exploration, I often get to areas other visitors may not get to, and often I feel uncomfortable taking pictures in an environment where I may not be supposed to be. But these places do not exist in Japan, you never feel a strange atmosphere in certain areas, and despite looking different and doing a weird job, no one bothers you. Most people ignored me, some looked a bit curious or astonished, but never really worried. Staff or the few security people I saw also leave you alone. The last few days in Tokyo, there were many announcements on the screens that police were on increased alert and suddenly also more vigilants were visible, but all with the typical Japanese calmness. So from the safety point-of-view, it is a paradise. Even in Berlin, I have to watch out when taking pictures in the U-Bahn stations, because there are a lot of aggressive people around, and drug dealers who don't want you to take pictures on their terrain, of course. Nothing like this occurs in Japan, at least not in their Subways, neither is vandalism or graffiti any issue.

TOILETS

What I had already mentioned in the first blogs (later it became normal) is that Japan is a toilet paradise. An issue one should not underestimate when male and over 50. I guess that there is a law that any station by default has to have proper toilets, just like nowadays it has to be fully accessible or requires a fire protection plan. In this respect in Europe we are third world. In Berlin, I think about none out of 190 U-Bahn stations has a toilet, and if it had one, it would be in a state you wouldn't want to use it. So on a full day of rail exploration, you'd spend several euros just on toilets you may find in major railway stations or department stores, while in Japan they are all free, clean and plenty.

RAIL TRAVEL BETWEEN CITIES

I had a 3-week JR Rail Pass for some 450 EUR and that's just fantastic. You have to buy it at home, well, you order it from some online shop and you get a voucher which in major railway stations in Japan can be exchanged for the real pass. I did that in Fukuoka where I started my first intercity trip and used it all the way up to Sapporo, which with normal tickets would have cost more. But besides the intercity trips it is also good for all JR S-Bahn-type services, as JR only distinguishes between conventional lines (usually signed as "JR Line" at transfer points) and "Shinkansen", the high-speed network. But with a JR Pass you can enter both systems as often as you like, you just show your pass to the person at the manned window next to the ticket gates and walk through. The only restriction is that you can't use Nozomi and Mizuho (I have never encountered the latter category anyway), which are the fastest because they only stop in major cities. But the Nozomis only operate on the Tokyo to Osaka line and maybe beyond, where there are so many other trains to choose from, you may actually find it more relaxed to travel on a Hikari or Sakura or whatever they may be called. In fact, I never took a reserved seat (which you can without paying any extra fare), just showed up and got into the non-reserved cars without any problems (mostly cars 1-3), often they were even half empty. They have plenty of legroom, a bit like U.S. Amtrak trains, because they also turn the seats around so everybody faces forward, which, of course, needs some room, so I could mostly place my big bag next to me and still had place enough to get out of my seat. Between Osaka and Tokyo it seems that the Shinkansen headways are denser than typical Osaka Subway headways! As described in the Kyoto post, sometimes it may even be worthwhile to catch a Shinkansen on short trips as those Rapids which connect these cities on the conventional network do get very crowded at times. Things are a bit different on the Tohoku Shinkansen, north of Tokyo (surprisingly the southern and northern networks are not properly connected at Tokyo Station - maybe there is a track link - but all trains terminate on stub tracks), this route is not served so frequently and without realising I found myself on a train with all cars "reserved", although there were plenty of free seats and the conductor also assigned me a seat without any problems. From Sendai to Shin-Hakodate I took a reservation, as there was a gap of two hours between trains in the morning, and indeed, it was very full and "All-reserved" anyway. After Aomori, however, it also got half empty, on the stretch with had only opened a few weeks earlier. This includes the 53 km Seikan underwater tunnel (well, the undersea section is about half of that), which had already been in service since 1988 by conventional trains, but was now converted to dual-gauge, though no conventional passenger trains run through it anymore. The speed is therefore reduced drastically to some 150 km, but given the endless tunnels all along the Shinkansen routes, this is just another tunnel.

Rather primitive new terminus at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto for the new JR Hokkaido Shinkansen

Talking of which, I would not recommend the Shinkansen to see the countryside. Especially on the southern routes between Fukuoka and Osaka, you can hardly see anything because of the large amount of tunnels, and many other sections have noise barriers. The best views, if you're lucky, are actually between Kyoto and Tokyo, the oldest stretch, which has fewer tunnels and even a Mt. Fuji panorama ready for you (sit on the left side) if the weather is nice. For whatever reason, the windows in the Shinkansen are rather small, you really need a window seat to see anything at all. On the other hand, it would require a lot of time if you want to cover the same distances with conventional trains, including many transfers as these trains only serve certain sections. Generally, the Shinkansen is not faster than what we know in Europe in several countries now, around 250 km/h, but as it is an isolated system, it keeps high speeds even on approaches to most stations, whereas our ICE or the French TGV mix with normal trains at least on their approaches to major stations and thus slow down much earlier. They mostly have an impressive length and even platform egde gates! Like other trains too, they always stop very accurately and station platforms therefore have clear signs indicating where which car is supposed to be.

Super Hokuto Express ready to depart from Hakodate

Except for the Super Hokuto Express from Hakodate to Sapporo (no idea why it deserves the super and express adjectives?) I haven't taken any of these regional trains, so can't say much about them. That train was o.k., as o.k. as diesel-powered trains can be. I actually had taken a reservation, but then sat in a non-reserved car because I could sit on the right side which is nicer along the long coastal route.

RAIL SYSTEMS

The mainline rail network is actually divided into various regional JR companies, but for passenger purposes all these different JR networks appear as a single network, the same is true for the Shinkansen network. No matter whether a train is operated by JR East or JR Central or whatever. In fact, the regional subdivisions are not visible in passenger information, just in Sapporo I heard something like "JR Hokkaido says thank you for travelling with us" or so. There are, however, numerous private railways, and especially in metropolitan areas also "third-sector" companies of which you never understand who is actually behind them, could be a city, a prefecture, a private railway, even JR, but generally a mix of some of these. So, while on the one hand you'll find a very dense rail network, you'll also find that this is very fragmented and something like a European "Verkehrsverbund" or joint fare system is a concept unknown and probably uncomprehended in Japan. In Europe, these fare systems were developed partly because something like the Japanese concept would be considered unfair, as a passenger generally cannot choose which rail line runs near his home and where he has to go for work. So we came up with the idea of "journeys" which can imply multiple means of transport and different operators within a certain area. Of course, it is still not all fair, because most European cities operate a zone-based system, but one could argue that nowadays you can't choose how far you need to travel to your job, so only proper global systems like that in Stockholm get close to "fair" (up there, people riding just short distances don't find this so fair because in the end many people pay a higher fare than what they might have to pay in Japan). Anyway, the Japanese systems are extremely fragmented in this respect, and if you do a bit of travel beyond the daily trip to work and back home again, it gets quite expensive, because even minimum fares of 150 Yen add up quickly. This fragmentation reaches some ridiculous extremes, from the two separate subway systems in Tokyo, to the silly 2-station "subway" in Nagoya (Kami-iida Line" or third-sector company's extensions of what are normal metro extensions in the rest of the world. Resulting from this, day passes available in most places can only be used on a rather limited network, or even just on a single line. There is no city which offers something comparable to a London Travelcard or a German Tageskarte (but don't get me wrong - I'm NOT saying that our zonal systems are ideal, in fact they are the main reason why potential occasional riders do NOT use public transport!).

So, while fares are a complete mess in Japan, paying those fares is easier than anywhere else now. You just have to get a so-called IC Card, add some value to it and you can use the same card in virtually all cities all over Japan. In this respect, we are decades behind Japan. This is especially ideal for occasional riders, because you don't have to worry anymore about fares and tickets. Just tap in and out as you travel and you should be fine. For the intensive metro enthusiat-type of user, the limited day passes are still recommended as they are cheaper in the end and won't cause trouble in case of weird travel behaviour (always remembering how I messed up my Oyster Card account in London, resulting in lots of "unresolved journeys" - in Japan, however, this wouldn't happen too often as the gates are everywhere, so you're unlikely not to tap out accordingly). If you decide to get paper tickets (of the tiny Paris RATP size), instead, and if you want to keep them, exit through a manned gate and ask to have it stamped (validated), otherwise the ticket gate will swallow single tickets. And what's also very good, if you don't understand what fare you should buy, just get the cheapest and pay the rest at the "fare adjustment" machines before you exit at your destination. And in case of problems, almost all metro entrances are staffed with very friendly people willing to assist. I think just in Nagoya I saw a few stations which had certain secondary entrances which were not manned, but this is indicated at surface level.

Standardised ticket machines, here on Hiroshima's Astram Line

Ticket machines generally have an "English" button, just on the Skyrail (the kind of cable car near Hiroshima) and on the Yurikagaoka shuttle in North Chiba I did not find any. Getting day tickets from the machines is usually no hassle, but in some cities like Kyoto they were just available from the ticket window. But as they are used to tourists they will understand easily what you wish (although here you have to say "Subway only" or "Subway and Bus, please"). Generally, the use of ticket machines is easier than in Europe, because all across the country they are very similar, so once you have used one you know how they all work.

LANGUAGE

The language is a problem to some extent. On the one hand, the Japanese have made a strong effort to sign almost anything in the transport environment in English, too, and except for some weird word like "wickets" for ticket barriers in Nagoya, it is generally correct English. I wish in Germany we would provide the same service to our visitors. On the other hand, spoken English is hard to find. Even at hotel receptions, their knowledge is limited to a few sentences learned by heart, and if you ask something you are never sure whether they understand you properly as they will always respond with a smile and probably a "Thank you" or "OK". Station staff generally does not speak any English either, but if you ask for a "map" they usually understand the word and try everything to let you go with something map-like in your hands. The lack of sufficient English knowledge is the more surprising to me as we grew up in the 1970s listening to all sorts of British pop and rock music and so acquired a certain love for that language. And we knew that Japan at that time was a very important destination also for our rock stars and that Japanese kids got crazy in concerts. In fact, I couldn't help having a look at the Budokan which was then one of the major venues where many of our heroes recorded their live albums.

MAPS

Availability of take-away maps very much depends on the city, the best being Tokyo and Fukuoka with plenty of special English material stocked for self-service at ticket gates; a nice brochure with a take-out map, though the text in Japanese only, can be found in most stations in Sapporo; all other cities were rather disappointing. Upon asking you may be given an A4 colour print (Osaka), a pathetic lovely photocopy in b/w in Yokohama, or nothing at all in other cities. I found a few large bus maps which include Subways, too. So it is not exactly a map collector's paradise, but my suitcase got heavy enough with the items I did collect along the way for myself and some co-collectors.

PRICES ETC.

The lack of fluent verbal conversation does not, however, result in a risk of being ripped off when buying things. In fact, they are very correct and always say aloud "I take 10,000 Yen" or so in Japanese (sometimes they do it in English, so that's how I know). and count your change for you very accurately.

This brings us to general price levels: I would say, overall they are similar to those in Germany, which means visiting Japan must be quite cheap for British, Swiss or Skandinavian people. Many things are actually cheaper, like a bottle of Coca Cola from the numerous vending machines on the streets just costs 160 Yen (1.30 EUR). Many of the dishes advertised in full colour and 3D in restaurant windows are below 1000 Yen.

Typical Japanese restaurant window

Hotels in the medium category have a good standard, in fact they are so standardised that rooms are almost identical. In the 70 EUR price segment you generally get a better equipped hotel than in Germany, though without breakfast. Useless to say that for the same room in London you would probably pay 200 EUR. Maybe Tokyo and Osaka are slightly more expensive but usually there is a big choice of similar hotels around railway stations, I just wouldn't go back to the one I had in Hiroshima (Ark Hotel; quality maybe worse due to important tourism) and Nagoya (Toyoko Inn), although they were still much better than what I had for 120 EUR in London Earl's Court last year! For me, who prefers firm beds, the quality of the beds was very good compared to many hotels around the world. Free WiFi works perfectly in all hotels. With a 24-hour convencience store around everywhere you can always get some easy food or make your own breakfast if you (like me) don't fancy Japanese breakfast buffets with their (for us) rather unusual and often unidentifyable delicacies. Rooms always have kettles, though coffee and tea supply is often limited. And major cities also offer quite a few Starbucks or other coffee shops, and French-style bakeries are also quite popular. For those who don't care about hotels, there are many cheaper options too, like the Japanese box hotels, but I didn't try those.

Railway stations and even most metro stations have lockers, for a big suitcase they are 600-700 Yen (5-6 EUR) a day. Normally there seem to be plenty, but in Nagoya I had difficulties finding one as holiday season had just started. Anyone planning a trip in spring should take this into account: The first week of May is Golden Week in Japan, many people are on holiday. This may be good for big cities as overcrowding on urban trains may be less of a problem, but certain tourist destinations may get packed instead. If you go for cherry blossom, forget it, the chances to be in the right place in the right moment are low, you'd have to be in the same place over a longer period, or book last minute when it is clearly predictable how the season will go in that year. And then, I was told, the best places can get quite expensive suddenly. But still, spring and autumn are the best times to visit, and Tokyo was quite summer-like in early May, which was very nice!

Final view from Sapporo's TV Tower looking west along Odori

Final Stop: SAPPORO | Tour start: TOKYO 

Resulting from this trip, our first book will be available from late June 2016:

METROS & TRAMS IN JAPAN - Vol. 1: Tokyo Region