Tsukuba Express

Overview
The Tsukuba Express (つくばエクスプレス, Tsukuba Ekusupuresu), or TX, is a Japanese railway line of the Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company which links Akihabara Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and Tsukuba Station in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. The route was inaugurated on August 24, 2005.

Speed Limit
The speed on the whole line is 130 km/h. Reduced the time needed to go from akihabara to Tsukuba from 1h 30 mins to 45 mins. The whole network has no railway crossings and fully one man operation.

Electrification
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.

Rolling stock
TX-1000 series, operate between Akihabara and moriya Only.

TX2000, the entire network.

TX3000, new rolling stock produced by hitachi. Sheduled to enter service in first quarter of 2020.

Train Leveling

 * Local (普通, Futsū)
 * Semi-Rapid (区間快速, Kukan Kaisoku)
 * Commuter-Rapid (通勤快速, Tsūkin Kaisoku)
 * Rapid (快速, Kaisoku)

History
The Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company (首都圏新都市鉄道株式会社, Shuto-ken Shin Toshi Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) was founded on 15 March 1991 to construct the Tsukuba Express, which was initially going to be called the New Joban Line (常磐新線, Jōban Shinsen). The reason for the line was to relieve crowding on the Jōban Line operated by 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 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" (通勤快速, tsūkin kaisoku) services were introduced in the morning (inbound services) and evening (outbound services) peak periods.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5]