History
Initially, the line was to be called Jōban Shinsen (New Jōban Line). The reason for the line was to relieve crowding on the Jōban Line of East Japan Railway Company (JR East), 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 to Moriya, but expenses forced the planners to start the line at Akihabara instead of Tokyo, 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 resulted in a 2005 start.
From the start of the revised timetable on 15 October 2012, new "Commuter rapid" (通勤快速, tsūkin kaisoku?) services are due to be introduced in the morning (up services) and evening (down services) peak periods.
Read more about this topic: Tsukuba Express
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)