Osaka: Metro Station Instrument Shelters Set for Removal; Devices Measured Temperature, Humidity for 90 Years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:09 JST, February 8, 2025

OSAKA — Osaka Metro Co. will remove all the instrument shelters, which are installed at its station platforms to measure temperature and humidity, by early March. Their white triangular roofs have been familiar to passengers, but they have been used less and less in recent years, with their more than 90-year history soon coming to an end.

An instrument shelter standing 1.8 meters high was placed at Yodoyabashi Station in 1934, the year after the subway began operation in Osaka. To prevent the wind caused by passing trains from affecting the measuring instruments, they were put into the instrument shelters.

Instrument shelters were installed at as many as 21 stations, but now remain at only eight, including Umeda Station and Yodoyabashi Station, on the Midosuji Line.

In 1956, Umeda Station became the first subway station in Japan to have air conditioning installed, which was operated based on data collected by the sheltered instruments. Now the company has been collecting data with sensors installed in the ceilings above platforms in more recent years, with data from the instrument shelters used as a reference record.

On a past occasion when the company decided to remove the instrument shelters, it reversed itself in deference to voices of regret from the people, but they will be removed this time in consideration of safety concerns.

After the removal, an instrument shelter will go on display in a new space at Morinomiya Station on the Chuo Line, which will showcase the history of the subway.