Tokyo Subway

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Tokyo Subway
Locale Tokyo, Japan
Transit type Rapid transit
Began operation December 30, 1927
System length 293.1 km (182 mi)
No. of lines 13
No. of stations 282
Track gauge narrow gauge (standard gauge for the Ginza, Marunouchi, Toei Asakusa & Toei Ōedo Lines, 1,372 mm (4 ft 6 in) for the Toei Shinjuku Line)
Operator(s) Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd., Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei)
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line subway train departing Hiroo Station
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line subway train departing Hiroo Station
Toei Ōedo Line subway train arriving at Hikarigaoka Station
Toei Ōedo Line subway train arriving at Hikarigaoka Station
Tokyo Waterfront Railway 70-000 series train, heading towards Osaki Station
Tokyo Waterfront Railway 70-000 series train, heading towards Osaki Station

The Tokyo subway is an integral part of the world's most extensive rapid transit system in a single metropolitan area, Greater Tokyo. While the subway system itself is largely within the city center, the lines extend far out via extensive through services onto suburban railway lines.

Contents

[edit] Networks

Main articles: Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation

As of September 2005, the network including all Tokyo Metro, Toei and TWR lines has 282 subway stations and 14 subway lines in Tokyo. The Tokyo Metro and Toei networks together carry a combined average of 7.8 million passengers daily[1]. Despite being ranked first in worldwide subway usage, subways make up a small fraction of Greater Tokyo's heavy rail rapid transit, and only 282 out of 1,558 railway stations, as of 2003.[2]

There are two primary subway operators in Tokyo:

  • Tokyo Metro. Formerly Teito Rapid Transit Authority (Eidan), privatized in 2004 and presently operating 168 stations and 8 to 10 lines, depending on whether Line 13 and the Marunouchi Line branch are counted separately. The minimum price for one ride is 160 yen.

In addition, the Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit (TWR) operates a single mostly-underground line with eight stations.

The Yamanote Line is not a subway, but an above-ground commuter line operated by JR East. It acts as a key transportation artery in downtown Tokyo; therefore, it is often marked on Tokyo subway maps.

Many above-ground and underground lines in the Greater Tokyo Area operate through services with the Tokyo Metro and Toei lines so that in a broader meaning they consist a part of the Tokyo subway network.

The Yokohama Subway (and the planned Kawasaki Subway) also operate in the Greater Tokyo Area, but they are not directly linked to the Tokyo subway network. However, on special occasions (typically holiday weekends), the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and Namboku Line operate special Minato Mirai (みなとみらい号 Minatomirai-gō?) direct through services onto Yokohama's fully underground Minatomirai Line via the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line railway. From 2012, the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line will also have regular through service to the Minatomirai Line.

[edit] System administration

All three subway systems are closely integrated with a unified system of line colors, line codes and station numbers. However, the separate administration of metro systems has these ramifications:

  • For single rides, a special transfer ticket is required to cross from one system to another and an additional 90 or 100 yen is charged, regardless of the length of the ride. However, the Passnet system gets around such issues, by allowing one stored-fare card to be used on most of the rail operators in the Greater Tokyo Area (with the noticeable exception of JR East which uses its own Suica system). The PASMO system introduced in 2007 however is compatible with both Passnet and Suica, finally allowing for one unified stored fare system for most of the Tokyo transit system.
  • The systems represent the metro network differently in station, train and customer information diagrams. For example, the Toei map represents the Toei Ōedo Line as a circle in the centre; the Tokyo Metro's map saves the central ring line for the Marunouchi Line and the JR Yamanote Line.

[edit] 1995 Sarin Attack

In 1995, Aum Shinri Kyo, a doomsday cult, attacked the subway system with sarin nerve gas at Kasumigaseki Station and a few others, leading to 12 deaths and 1,034 people injured.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Japan Today: Subways keep Tokyo on the move. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
  2. ^ MiSoL ASP会員サービス・アプリケーション概要

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Mass transit in the Tokyo area (Number of lines indicated in parentheses)
JR lines
■Yamanote • ■Chūō • ■Chūō-Sōbu • ■Jōban • ■Keihin-Tōhoku • ■Keiyō • ■Saikyō •■Shōnan-Shinjuku • ■Sōbu Rapid • ■Tōkaidō • ■Utsunomiya • ■Yokosuka
Tokyo Metro lines
○Chiyoda (C) • ○Fukutoshin (F) • ○Ginza (G) • ○Hibiya (H) • ○Marunouchi (M) • ○Namboku (N) • ○Tōzai (T) • ○Yūrakuchō (Y) • ○Hanzōmon (Z)
Toei lines
Subway: ○Asakusa (A) • ○Ōedo (E) • ○Mita (I) • ○Shinjuku (S) • Guideway: Nippori-Toneri • Streetcar: Arakawa
Major / semi-major lines
Keikyū (5) • Keiō (7) • Keisei (7) • Odakyū (5) • Seibu (13) • Shin-Keisei • Sōtetsu (2) • Tōbu (12) • Tōkyū (8)
Other lines
Suburban, JR
■Hachikō • ■Kawagoe • ■Mito • ■Musashino • ■Nambu • ■Narita • ■Negishi • ■Ōme • ■Ryōmō • ■Sagami • ■Sōbu Main • ■Sotobō • ■Takasaki • ■Tōgane • ■Tsurumi • ■Uchibō • ■Yokohama
Suburban, Non-JR
Terminals
Miscellaneous