The line has a top speed of 130 km/h. Rapid service has reduced the time required for the trip from Akihabara to Tsukuba from the previous 1 hour 30 minutes or 70 minutes to 45 minutes; from Tokyo, the trip requires 50 - 55 minutes. The line has no grade crossings. An automatic train operation system allows a single individual to operate the train.
To prevent interference with the geomagnetic measurements of the Japan Meteorological Agency at its laboratory in Ishioka, the portion of the line from Moriya to Tsukuba operates on alternating current. For this reason, the trains include TX-1000 series DC-only trains, which can operate only between Akihabara and Moriya, and TX-2000 series dual-voltage AC/DC trains, which can operate over the entire line. Volume production of the rolling stock began in January 2004, following the completion in March 2003 of two six-car trains for trial operation and training. The full fleet of 84 TX-1000s and 96 TX-2000s was delivered by January 2005. New TX-3000 series trains built by Hitachi Rail are scheduled to enter service in March 2020.
Stations
: Local
: Semi-Rapid
: Commuter-Rapid
: Rapid
Trains stop at stations marked "●" and pass stations marked "|".
History
The Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company was founded on 15 March 1991 to construct the Tsukuba Express, which was then provisionally called the Jōban New Line. The new line was planned to relieve crowding on the Jōban Lineoperated byEast Japan Railway Company, which had reached the limit of its capacity. However, with the economic downturn in Japan, the goal shifted to development along the line. Also, the initial plan called for a line from Tokyo Station to Moriya, but expenses forced the planners to start the line at Akihabara instead of Tokyo Station, and pressure from the government of Ibaraki Prefecture resulted in moving the extension from Moriya to Tsukuba into Phase I of the construction. The original schedule called for the line to begin operating in 2000, but delays in construction pushed the opening date to summer 2005. The line eventually opened on 24 August 2005. From the start of the revised timetable on 15 October 2012, new "Commuter rapid" services were introduced in the morning and evening peak periods. In September 2013, a number of municipalities along the Tsukuba Express line in Ibaraki Prefecture submitted a proposal to complete the extension of the line to Tokyo Station at the same time as a new airport-to-airport line proposed as part of infrastructure improvements for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The line made worldwide news in November 2017 when an apology was issued by Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company due to a train departing 20 seconds earlier than scheduled.
