JR East Chuo Line (Tokyo, orange trains) will partly shut down from around 4:10
PM September 27 2003 (Saturday) to around 7:00 AM September 28 (Sunday) between
Mitaka and Tachikawa due to construction work.  Traffic will thin down on the
rest of the line.

JR advises to avoid trips during these hours.

Long-distance limiteds for Kofu, Matsumoto and the once daily Narita Express
coming into this section will be affected.  (Other Narita Express trains to run
on schedule.  They don't take the Chuo Line between Tokyo-Shinjuku.)

Shuttle buses ("direct" and "local") will span disrupted sections.  They will
take more time than ordinary rail service.

In addition to JR lines, private-company rail lines will be made available to
those with JR Chuo Line tickets.  A JR ticket and 'furikae-hyou' ("detour slip",
available at manned JR gates) will allow you on parallel Keio and Seibu lines,
Tama Monorail, Tobu (Kawagoe-Ikebukuro), Odakyu (Machida-Shinjuku), and all Toei
& Eidan subway lines free of extra charge.  (Parallel lines are often cheaper. 
Check before purchasing your ticket.)

For more information contact these numbers:
JR East Info Line     03-2423-0111 (English 10AM-6PM)
JR East Chuo Line elevation work hotline  042-525-8993 (Japanese 9AM-5PM)
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e-info/index.htm (E text)

JR East webpage on maintenance oriented service suspensions: 
http://www.jreast.co.jp/suspend/index.html (J text)

Hyperdia is not programmed to handle the special timetable of the above dates
but it can help you examine detour routes:
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/

You can mail me for details: mailto:afu@wta.att.ne.jp

Take care,
Douso