Restoration of Tobu service to Nikko

Hi,

I've read that the Tobu Railways service to Nikko from Asakusa has been disrupted due to damage caused by the Typhoon. Japan Guide indicates it may take some time to restore service. Any idea how long that might be? Would it be days? Or weeks or more?

Thanks for your help.

You can check here:
http://tra-rep.tobu.jp/index.html

Their automatic English translation is quite crap, but you get the point that the service is still interrupted. Not sure if you saw the pictures, but a bridge did fall into the river... so it looks like it make take some time.

But as far as I know, JR trains are running to Nikko, so you should still be able to get to Nikko quite easily. Just not with a Tobu rail pass.

Enjoy your trip to Nikko!

Thanks for the link LikeBike. Looks like the service is now back to normal.

No, the service is not back to normal. There are substitute buses running along the interrupted sections, but there are likely going to be delays. I recommend to use JR trains to access Nikko in the meantime.

Tobu puts the recovery to take "a substantial number of days". I don't think an official announcement has been made, but I think it is going to take weeks.

Updates are summarized here:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html

Thanks Uji. We are not going to Nikko till 1 November. If the delay was going to be long I was considering changing accommodation. I'm currently booked to stay in Asakusa to be close to the Tobu station but might shift that to somewhere close to Tokyo Station.

Fyi. This link indicates that the Shinjuku JR service is also disrupted.
https://jprail.com/destinations/world-heritage-destinations/how-to-acc...

I don't know how typical this is, but we were able to take JR trains (Ueno - Utsunomiya - Nikko), using the Tobu 4 days All Nikko Pass (we went on 14th - when JR restored Nikko line and came back today)...

Interesting. I might email Tobu to see whether they are still doing that.

They announced today that the line will be fully recovered on October 25 at the earliest. Possibly later. I think there is a good chance that it will be recovered by early November. Alternatively, access by JR is also easy.

Thank you!

Service is back to normal. I just went to nikko using the nikko pass and the tobu rail from asakusa on the 24 and returned on the 27. Because we were on one of the first trains into tobu nikko station after the typhoon, we were greeted at the station by a taiko group and the bigwigs from the town or tobu or both. Anyway it was great. It was covered on the news (local only?) and we got to see ourselves on tv! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too good. We stayed overnight at Lake Chuzenji and the fog was so thick we couldn't even see Kegon Falls. The lake cruise was cancelled and there was no sense even trying the ropeway. We did get to see some momiji. The next day in Nikko, it rained all day. I'm hope when you go, the momiji will be in full splendor.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this information. We are in Nikko now. As you say trains all seem back to normal. It was very cloudy yesterday but today is nice and sunny. Not much colour on the trees in Nikko town, but hopefully more as we go travel up to Lake Chuzenji. Although I have read that trees were stripped bare by the typhoon.

No, the trees were fine. At Ryuzu falls (where the weather was okay), there were a few trees in color. There were a lot more I could see in between pockets of fog and rain on the winding road to and from Chuzenji. Enjoy!