Shin Akihabara Urban Mass Rail Transit

**Shin Akihabara Urban Mass Rail Transit**, locally know as **Shin Akihabara Metro** or **Akiba Metro** is an urban rail transit system serving the city of Shin Akihabara, the capital of Furriston. The system consists of 3 heavy capacity metro style lines, serving major parts of the city, with the outer cores and 4 medium to low capacity light rail system with mostly at grade running connecting major neighborhoods. It is the only urban rail transit system in Furland, and also making Shin-Akihabara the smallest city with a rapid transit in the world. Due to the mix of suburban connectivity with grade crossings at the outer ends of the heavy rails, the inner parts of the city is served through deep tunnels and also elevated sections, which has been the subject of a debate on whether to consider the system a rapid transit or not.

## **History**

Construction began in March 2020 and the first line, officially known as Murakami Line started commercial operations on December 2020, initially running from Heign Street to Nekopara Beach Station serving 7 stations. The first expansion saw the line reach Fix Reīyn on 25 January, and then up to Droen Falls on 6 June. The rollingstock bidding was won by Alstom and the first batch of 10 4-car Alstom Metropolis trainsets arrived on 8 June, with testing beginning by 1st of July. The line was further extended to the south to Hayao Miyazaki International Airport, and running beneath the Scaninia Bay on 14 June. This facilitated interchanges at Bayside Front and Hayao Miyazaki International Airport, with the Natsuki Line and terminating at Terminal 2 Station. A branch line was inaugurated on 27 September from Sharmila Nagar to Peninga Fountain and an initial stop at Nyama serving 8 stops in total.

Line 2, officially known as the Natsuki Line, was initially planned to connect Peninga Island with HMZ Airport via Demi Harbour, but feasibility studies showed the expensive tunneling it would require beneath the Scaninia Bay. With a change in plans, construction began on 3rd January - with the first segment opening for passenger services on 7 April connecting Hayao Miyazaki International Airport with Lapinbhumi Square. It was extended to Bayside Front on 18 July with an intermediate station on the Domestic terminal of the Airport. Plans were formulated to extend the line up to Penning Island, which were shelved in favour of the Downtown line. An extension to Drai Eck Tower was inaugurated on 23 November 2020. The final extension saw the line reach Uttara on 14 January 2021, serving 11 new stations. 10 additional rollingstock orders were placed and the bidding was won by Kinky Sharyo with new cars arriving by December of 2020 at Port-of-Fuse.

Another line was planned for direct connection between Akihabara Sud Train Terminus and the downtown areas of Demi Harbour. Construction for the Downtown line began on 17 May with the initial segment starting operations between Akihabara Sud and Shin-Akihabara Junction connecting the two major train terminus for the first time. It was also the longest segment to be inaugurated at once. It was further extended to Little Aussie via Nakajima on 5 July and a major extension was observed to the south with the extension to Ubanta on 9 August. 15 retired trainsets of the Mexico City Metro were purchased with orders for 5-car multiple units given to CRRC Dalian.

Plans for rail connectivity to busy neighborhoods like the Okairi Bazaar and Karkace Haveli had commenced as early as April 2020, but not much was conceived until July. Feasibility reports showed best possibilities for a low capacity transit system with options for Monorail, Automated guideway transit, and light rail - with the former being considered seriously. Pink Line connecting the affluent districts of Nekopara with the downtown commenced operations on 13 May initially with 26 Škoda ForCity low floor trams. The Orange line began operations on 30 July from Furland Place to Mandihy Square operating 31 sets of low floor trams of the Hitachi Sirio class. A monorail was proposed to connect the wards of the busy streets of Doñn Ferzi and Cinsîyet but plans were changed to another light rail which came to be known as the Purple Line. Construction started on September 2020 with the first commercial services from Chinatown to Liberty Square beginning on 5 February.

## **Operations**

The 3 heavy capacity lines operates like a mix of commuter railway connecting far of towns with far of stations, and rapid transit like system at the core with frequent halts mostly underground and elevated. The Murakami Line operates from 0700 to 2200 from Terminal 9 station to Droen Falls. Services from Terminal 9 to Peninga Fountain operates from 0700 to 2000. This line is completely underground with an elevated section stretching from Laputa to Droen Falls. On weekdays however, the Peninga Branch line operates distinct service from Peninga Fountain to Sharmila Nagar thus not continuing south to the Airport. It operates a mix of 4-car Alstom Metropolis Trainsets accommodating roughly 500 passengers and 3-car Siemens Insipiro.

The Natsuki line being of the more busier and longer line operates from 0530 to 2230 on weekdays. On weekends the service operates from 0700 to 2100 from the Airport to Drai Eck Tower. It operates 5 car multiple unit trains built by Kinky Sharyo which are coupled to form 10 car pairs during rush hours and runs at a mix of underground, elevated and at grade portions. The downtown line operates 3 types of services with the Express Service running between Akihabara Junction and Akihabara Sud with halting only at Chinatown, Peninga Fountain, Bush Industrial Park, Furland Place and Lavender Woods. It runs from 0700 to 2100 on weekdays using 5-car multiple units constructed by CRRC Dalian.

The Rapid Service operates from Ubanta to Shin Akihabara stopping only at China Town, Millionaires Curve, Peninga Fountain, Peninga Bridge, Tuna Technopark, Zlatopan, Furland Place, Demi Harbour, Lavender Woods, Scaninia, Akihabara Sud, Lapinbhumi Square and Sonna from 0630 to 2300 on weekdays. The local service calls at every station running from 0630 to 2300 daily. Both the local and Rapid service utilizes retired FE-10 trainsets purchased from the Mexico City Metro and operates at a frequency of 5-10 minutes.

The 3 light rail lines operates from 0630 to 2230 using a variety of rollingstock. It operates mostly at grade, sharing with street traffic with exceptions found in the purple line from Mitsuka Hall to Little Deco where it is underground and the stretch from Tutturu to Sukima is elevated. The elevated section from Irkumas to Brikpur is also shared by the Pink line which extends to Q Bazaar to the north and Torimodosu to the south. The stretch from Matsyapur to Aitisal is also underground serving the Shin-Akihabara junction from beneath. The orange line runs fully at grade except for the Esplanade branch with an elevated stretch from Pradeeptaburg to Edolas