On March 15, 2013, the Shibuya Station Toyoko Line
above-ground train quietly shut down for good, to be
replaced with a new section of subway track connecting
Shibuya Station and the nearby Daikanyama Station.
Converting the line from above-ground to underground
was a massive operation, requiring a grand total of
1,200 engineers and countless man-hours.
But, even if you’d been living in Tokyo at the time, you
probably wouldn’t have noticed the construction,
because it all occurred during the train line’s off-hours…
over the course of one single night.
In just one night, Tokyu Railways put their proprietary,
somewhat clunkily named STRUM (Shifting Track Right
Under Method) tech to the test, mobilizing all 1,200
engineers at once to slowly lower the existing tracks
along a pre-built incline to connect it with the subway
tracks below.
Building the incline required holding the tracks up on
temporary scaffolding as the company dug out the earth
below, which kind of makes us doubly glad the method
held up.
In all, with the Tokyu railway’s last train arriving at the
Shibuya Station at 1:00 am, and the first train the
following morning departing at around 5:00 am, the
army of engineers had a vanishingly short four hours to
put everything in place and send a few trains on a test
run before morning commuters arrived.
It’s almost a miracle that everything went smoothly, as
with so many boots on the ground and such a short time
to accomplish the task, it must have been a logistical
nightmare; each engineer required to know exactly
which bolt they were in charge of turning.
Thanks to Tokyu’s incredible organization and the
commendable teamwork of the engineers, the new
section of track from Shibuya to Daikanyama was ready
to roll overnight, giving us a renewed respect for
Japanese engineering.