節約感覚にあふれる名古屋。それを体現しているのが、名鉄名古屋駅。
Nagoya is the place full of sense of frugality. Meitetsu Nagoya Station embodies it.
See Meitetsu Nagoya Station. Some of the Meitetsu trains have uneven fronts that look like faces, which is cute. It's called the 6500 series.
名古屋を初めて訪れたとき感心したのは、JR名古屋駅から地下街へ降りる階段。階段降り口の頭上サイン下端から、階段最下段までの高さが224センチで、住宅のスケール感覚。地下街のメインゲートに見栄を張らないのが名古屋らしさ。最近、地下鉄で見付けたサインは、ビニールテープで、無造作に天井に貼り付けた紙製。サイン下端まで190センチで、182センチの僕には絶妙な高さ。どちらも、地下の浅さに起因し、利用しやすさの裏返しですが、１センチも無駄にしない。
その極みが、名鉄名古屋駅の地下駅。1日21万人が利用し、８方面に発着する日本有数の駅なのに、線路２本にホーム３面。交通の集中する一等地で場所がない上に、地下街などを避けると、これ以上、スペースを確保できなかったのでしょう。
線路２本でのやり繰りとして、日中も２分間隔の過密運行ですが、ラッシュ時には、行先の違う２つの列車が、同じ線路に、間隔を開けて、ほぼ同時に入り、ほぼ同時に出発して行きました。少ない線路を高度に利用するテクニック。８路線の乗客を効率的に捌くため、ホームには路線ごとの乗車位置を、色違いのビニールテープで、ずれながら表示。次々と入る電車は、自分の路線の乗車位置に合わせて、ずれて停車し、乗降もスムーズ。同郷のトヨタの「カイゼン」思想の鉄道での具現化の好例。
そして、一部で有名な夕刊配送。上階のトラックヤードから滑り台経由で、ホームに夕刊の束が落ちて来ます。それを、スタッフが電車に積み、各方面の新聞販売店に最速で配達するシステムで、新聞は、客の乗る車両のドア脇に、付き添いなしで置かれます。最近始まった新幹線の配送サービスとは違い、名鉄は昭和30年代初めからの筋金入り。スペースを無駄にせず、省力化も図った見事な経済感覚。
ということで、名古屋に行くたび、入場券買って、名鉄名古屋駅を見に行ってしまう。
The first time I visited Nagoya, I was impressed by the stairs leading down from Japan Railways' Nagoya Station to the underground mall. The height from the overhead sign on the stairway ceiling to the bottom step of the stairs is 224 cm, giving it a sense of scale in a house. It's Nagoya style that doesn't look pretentious at the main gate of the underground mall. Recently, I found a sign on the subway entrance. The bottom of the sign is 190 cm, which is a perfect height for me of 182 cm. Both cases must be due to the shallowness of the underground. It also means ease of use. Nagoya does not waste a 1 cm
The ultimate is Meitetsu Nagoya Station. 210000 passengers use it every day, and although it is one of Japan's leading stations, it has 2 tracks and 3 platforms.The ultimate is Meitetsu Nagoya Station. 210000 passengers use it every day, and although it is one of Japan's leading stations, it has 2 tracks and 3 platforms. The station couldn't secure more space due to a prime location where traffic was concentrated and avoiding from underground shopping mall and infrastructure.
By the two tracks, the train schedule is over-scheduled at intervals of 2 minutes even during the daytime. During rush hours, two trains with different destinations enter the same track at the same time with a gap of 5 to 6 m and depart at the same time. It is a technique that makes advanced use of fewer tracks. To efficiently handle passengers in the 8 directions, the boarding position for each line is indicated on the platform with vinyl tape of different colors. The trains that come one after another stop at different positions according to the boarding position of each line, to make boarding and alighting smooth. It is a good example of Toyota's "Kaizen" philosophy, which is from the same region, in a railway.
The evening paper delivery is famous among some people. Bundles of evening papers fall onto the platform from the truck yard on the upper floor via the slide. The newspapers are loaded onto the train and delivered to newsagents in various areas as quickly as possible. Unlike the delivery service that the high-speed train started recently, the evening paper delivery by Meitetsu railways has been a traditional service since the early 1950s. It is a splendid sense of frugality without wasting space and labor.
So, every time I go to Nagoya, I buy an admission ticket to see Meitetsu Nagoya Station.
Meitetsu Nagoya Station consists of three platforms and two tracks. The central platform is used for getting off local trains and for boarding limited express trains, while the platforms on both sides are for boarding local trains only.
On the platform of local trains, vinyl tapes of several colors separate boarding positions according to destinations, improving the efficiency of boarding and alighting.
The door of a train is aligned with the vinyl tape for each destination, but more precisely, the train stops so that the door is slightly offset from the position of the vinyl tape to make boarding and alighting smoother. There are many destinations, and the lines of the vinyl tape are separated by destination, so due to space constraints, passengers don't line up on both sides of the door like that in Tokyo but only on one side. It is the ultimate in "kaizen" thought, which Toyota company has practiced. This train is bound for Chubu Centrair International Airport, and it stops at the green tape indicating the destination of Chubu Centrair International Airport.
Above the central platform are destination display signs with the same color as the vinyl tape that indicates the boarding position on the front platform. When the passengers on the platform on this side look at the color of the sign in front of them, they can understand the color of the vinyl tape they should line up.
See destination display signs with the same color as the vinyl tape that indicates the boarding position on the front platform.
See the platform of the trains bound for Eastern direction in the evening.
Despite the central station of Meitetsu, the concourse on the underground is dull.
Newspapers are dropped from the truck yard on the ground level to the central platform on the underground via a slide. The staff is transshipping the newspapers onto a trolley.
See newspapers sorted by destination on the trolley of the central platform on the underground.
See newspapers placed by the door inside a Meitetsu train. No staff is there, but the passengers don't mind.
See a sign at Nagoya Subway Station. The paper sign that was casually attached to the ceiling with vinyl tape is 190 centimeters from the floor to the bottom of the sign, which is an exquisite height.
ご感想はこちらへ / Click here for your impressions
参考文献 / reference
Wikipedia
写真の無断使用、転用はご遠慮下さい。/ Please do not use or upload our photos without permission.
