Narita Express Pestered by Popularity

So well did the Narita Express solve one of Japan’s worst travel problems, getting to and from the international airport 40 miles from Tokyo, that it became a problem in itself.

The train, known as the N’EX, is too popular.

Eighteen months after the debut of the first direct rail link between downtown Tokyo and Narita, the express has become a nightmare of sorts for Japan Railways, which runs it.

Trains leave only every half hour at peak travel times. The seats are reserved and sometimes are booked for a month ahead. Standing-room tickets went on sale this month.

“We’re already running every train we have and are building more to meet demand,” said Tomohiko Umekawa of Japan Railways. “We had no idea it would be this popular.”

Why they didn’t is a surprise, since the bus journey seems interminable and the N’EX costs only $23 for a regular ticket, compared to cab fares to Narita that can surpass $100.

It makes the trip in 53 minutes, in comfort and style, with roomy cars and free soft drinks in first-class.

The sleek exterior is red and black and the interior looks much like an airliner, complete with overhead luggage compartments and directional fans. “N’EX Ladies” guide riders to their seats.

Electric eyes do everything from opening doors to flushing toilets. News flashes on an overhead screen and an electronic map charts the train’s progress.

A company called Tokyo Time Slit even found a way to sell advertising on tunnel walls. It set up displays with hundreds of lights that blink in a pattern controlled by a computer, producing a short animation interspersed with commercials as a train whizzes by.

But not even the N’EX is perfect.

“The train itself is great, but I had to stand around on the platform for an hour holding my empty soda can because there are no benches or garbage cans,” said Cathy Atwood, 37, of Lincoln, Neb. “It sure seemed odd in a place where things are usually so well thought out.”

Getting there is far more pleasant than the crowded airport itself, which has just inaugurated a second terminal building.

Narita opened in 1978, several years behind schedule, with only one of the three runways that had been planned. Fierce opposition from local residents doomed the other two runways and a bullet train that would have made the trip from Tokyo in 30 minutes.

The train had been a primary justification for building an airport 40 miles away, nearly three times the distance between John F. Kennedy International Airport and to central New York.

Not until Japan Railways went private in 1986 and its colossal debt was restructured could it again consider developing a train link to the airport.

At that point, rising costs ruled out building a special line for a bullet train, so the N’EX was developed to run mainly on existing rails.

Its only competition is the Keisei Skyliner, which has served the airport since it opened but does not leave from the downtown area. The trains now share a station under the airport.