Temporary Ticket Gates Opened Only During Rush Hour: Since they’re called “temporary,” they aren’t open continuously from the first train to the last. There are various ways they’re operated. The most common type is a temporary ticket gate that opens only during the morning and evening rush hours to accommodate commuters and students. I used to live in Komae City, Tokyo, and Kitami Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line was my nearest station. While it’s now a grand elevated station, it used to be a face-to-face layout with two platforms and two tracks, and the station building was located at the Shinjuku end. As a result, passengers arriving from the west—from Komae City—had to make a wide detour all the way to the east side of the station. In fact, when Kitami Station was still at ground level, temporary ticket gates were set up on both the up and down platforms near the Odawara end. You might wonder, “On the down platform, which is in the opposite direction of the rush hour flow?” but this was likely due to the proximity of a school. Temporary ticket gates of this type are often set up in situations where “the station building is located at one end of the platform” and “facilities with heavy foot traffic are on the opposite side of the station building.” There are probably so many examples of this that it would be impossible to list them all.
Temporary Ticket Gates Opened Only for Major Events When a facility that attracts large crowds is located near a station, it’s convenient to have a ticket gate close to that facility. However, events aren’t necessarily held at that facility every day. It’s a waste to keep a ticket gate open when there are no events and little expected use. That’s why “temporary ticket gates that open only during major events” have emerged. The first place that immediately came to mind was Nigawa Station on the Hankyu Imazu Line, the station closest to Hanshin Racecourse. Incidentally, it’s pronounced “Nigawa.” It’s not “Incheon.” Hanshin Racecourse is located east of Nigawa Station, and the “East Ticket Gate” is normally in operation. However, on race days, a temporary ticket gate is also opened, significantly increasing the number of passageways. Another station with a similar operation is Fuchu Keiba Seimon-mae Station on the Keio Electric Railway. What’s interesting is a station where a temporary ticket gate appears just once a year. That station is Inariyama-Koen Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. Here, the Seibu Ikebukuro Line runs right through the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Iruma Base, and the station building and ticket gates are located at the western end, facing a public road. However, during the annual “Iruma Air Base Air Show,” 200,000 to 300,000 people flock to the area, causing massive congestion. To address this, a temporary ticket gate is set up on the upbound platform near the Ikebukuro end. This temporary gate faces the base grounds, making it much faster to pass through than exiting the base gate and heading to the regular ticket gates. Its purpose is to get people returning from the air show onto the trains as quickly as possible. To that end, not only are temporary ticket gates set up to allow entry, but temporary ticket counters even appear inside the base. That said, since IC cards are now the norm, it seems there’s often no need to go through the trouble of buying a ticket individually. As a side note, the railroad crossing on the east side of Inariyama Park Station does not cross a public road but rather a road within Iruma Air Base.
© Source travel watch