Keikyu Shinagawa Station Lowering Project

An unusual railway restructuring that will lower Keikyu's Shinagawa Station platforms from the second floor to ground level as part of a continuous grade-separation project along 1.7 km between Sengakuji and Shimbamba stations. Led by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, targeting completion in fiscal year 2029.

A Rare Reversal: Bringing the Tracks Down

Railway grade-separation projects typically raise tracks to eliminate level crossings. At Keikyu Shinagawa, the opposite is happening. The station’s platforms — currently elevated on the second floor — are to be relocated to ground level as part of a major infrastructure project now under way along the Keikyu Main Line.

The project’s formal name is the Keihintōkyū Main Line Continuous Grade Separation Project (Sengakuji Station to Shimbamba Station). Tokyo Metropolitan Government is the implementing authority, and the scope covers approximately 1.7 kilometres of line. While Shinagawa Station’s platforms come down to street level, Kitashinagawa Station nearby is being raised on a new viaduct, and the remaining level crossings in the section are being eliminated entirely. The result will be smoother traffic flow across the area and better connectivity between neighbourhoods that the elevated tracks currently divide. The targeted completion date is the end of fiscal year 2029.

Construction is carried out in stages without interrupting train services. The process involves converting part of the existing viaduct to a temporary structure, building the new ground-level platforms beneath it while trains continue to run, then dismantling the temporary structure and completing the concourse. Running a full construction sequence directly below an operational railway calls for highly precise sequencing and structural management.

Part of a Broader Shinagawa Transformation

The area around Shinagawa Station is one of Tokyo’s most intensively redeveloping zones right now. On the site of a former JR rolling-stock depot to the northwest, Takanawa Gateway City is taking shape; further changes to the station’s western precinct are also in progress.

When the Keikyu lowering is complete, the interchange between the Keikyu platforms and JR Shinagawa Station could move closer to the same horizontal plane. How the station’s Takanawa-side forecourt is redesigned — and how pedestrian flows between the Takanawa and Konan sides of the station change — remains to be seen, but the potential for a substantially reordered ground-level environment is significant. As of 2025, construction is advancing steadily, with viaduct demolition and new structure assembly proceeding in parallel across the project section.

Summary

The Keikyu Shinagawa Station lowering is part of the Tokyo-led continuous grade-separation project covering roughly 1.7 kilometres between Sengakuji and Shimbamba stations. The project moves Shinagawa’s platforms from the second floor to ground level, eliminates level crossings, and targets completion by the end of fiscal year 2029. When the elevated structure that has defined this part of Shinagawa for decades is gone, the station forecourt and the sky above it will look entirely different — a change worth watching as it unfolds.

Related: Takanawa Gateway Station / Takanawa Gateway City / msb Tamachi (Tamachi Station Tower)

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