Tōkyō Station

Tōkyō Station 東京駅
Tōkyō Station
Location
Prefecture	Tokyo (See other stations in Tokyo)
City	Chiyoda
History
Opened	1914
Rail services
Line(s)	JR East Chūō Main Line Keihin-Tōhoku Line Keiyō Line Sōbu Main Line Tōkaidō Main Line Yamanote Line Yokosuka Line Tōhoku Shinkansen Yamagata Shinkansen Akita Shinkansen Jōetsu Shinkansen Nagano Shinkansen JR Central Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line

Tōkyō Station (東京駅, Tōkyō-eki^?) is a train station located in the Marunouchi business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, near the Imperial Palace grounds and the Ginza commercial district.

It is the main intercity rail terminal in Tokyo, the busiest station in Japan in terms of number of trains per day (over 3,000), and the fifth-busiest in Eastern Japan in terms of passenger throughput.^[1] It is the starting point and terminus for most of Japan's Shinkansen (high-speed rail lines), and is served by many local and regional commuter lines of Japan Railways, as well as the Tokyo Metro network.

Lines

The following lines pass through or terminate at Tōkyō Station:

• East Japan Railway Company
  • Chūō Line
  • Keihin-Tōhoku Line
  • Keiyō Line
  • Sōbu Line (Rapid) (including Narita Express service)
  • Tōkaidō Main Line
  • Yamanote Line
  • Yokosuka Line
  • Tōhoku Shinkansen
  • Yamagata Shinkansen
  • Akita Shinkansen
  • Jōetsu Shinkansen
  • Nagano Shinkansen
• Central Japan Railway Company
  • Tōkaidō Shinkansen
• Tokyo Metro
  • Marunouchi Line

The station is linked by underground passageways to the Ōtemachi underground (subway) station complex served by the Tōzai, Chiyoda, Hanzōmon and Mita lines.

Tōkyō Station is also a major intercity bus terminal, with regular midday service to several cities in the Kantō region and overnight service to the Kansai and Tōhoku regions.

Layout

Tōkyō Station from above (2004)

The main station facade on the western side of the station is brick-built, surviving from the time when the station opened in 1914. The main station consists of 10 island platforms serving 20 tracks, raised above street level running in a north-south direction. The main concourse runs east-west below the platforms.

The Shinkansen lines are on the east (or Yaesu) side of the station, along with a multi-story Daimaru department store.

Underground are the two Sōbu/Yokosuka line platforms serving four tracks (five stories below ground level) to the west of the station; the two Keiyō line platforms serving four tracks are four stories below ground some hundreds of meters to the south of the main station with moving sidewalks to serve connecting passengers.

The whole complex is linked by an extensive system of underground passageways which merge with surrounding commercial buildings and shopping centres.

Ground platforms

Shinkansen platforms

Yokosuka/Sōbu platforms

Keiyō platforms

Tokyo Metro platforms

History

Tōkyō Station in December 1914 shortly after completion

An undated view of Tōkyō Station showing its pre-war appearance

Japanese crowds welcoming Hitlerjugend in front of Tōkyō Station in 1938

Tōkyō Station Marunouchi Side undergoing renovation, November 2009

In 1889, a Tokyo municipal committee drew up plans for an elevated railway line connecting the Tōkaidō Main Line terminal at Shinbashi to the Nippon Railway (now Tōhoku Main Line) terminal at Ueno. The Imperial Diet resolved in 1896 to construct a new station on this line called Central Station (中央停車場, Chūō Teishajō^?), located directly in front of the gardens of the Imperial Palace.

Construction was delayed due to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, but finally commenced in 1908. The three-story station building was designed by architect Tatsuno Kingo (who also designed Manseibashi Station and the nearby Bank of Japan building) as a restrained celebration of Japan's costly victory in the Russo-Japanese War. The building is often rumored to be fashioned after Amsterdam's main station, although there is little evidence to support the opinion. Terunobu Fujimori, a scholar of Western architecture, denies the rumor, having studied Tatsuno's styles as well as the building itself.^[2]

Tōkyō Station opened on December 18, 1914 with four platforms—two serving electric trains (current Yamanote/Keihin-Tohoku Line platforms) and two serving non-electric trains (current Tōkaidō Line platforms). The Chūō Main Line extension to the station was completed in 1919 and originally stopped at the platform now used by northbound Yamanote/Keihin-Tōhoku trains. During this early era, the station only had gates on the Marunouchi side, with the north side serving as an exit and the south side serving as an entrance.

In 1921, Prime Minister Hara Takashi was assassinated at the south gates. The Yaesu side of the station opened in 1929.

Much of the station was destroyed in two B-29 firebombings on May 25 and June 25, 1945. These bombings shattered the impressive glass domes. The station was quickly rebuilt within the year, but simple angular roofs were built in place of the domes, and the restored building was only two stories tall instead of three.

Tōkyō Station Yaesu Side, with the new GranTokyo South Tower completed in 2007.

The Yaesu side was also rebuilt following the war, but the rebuilt structure was damaged by fire in 1949, and the Yaesu side was then significantly upgraded with a contemporary exterior and large Daimaru department store. The new Yaesu side facilities opened in 1953, including two new platforms for Tokaido Main Line services (now used by Shinkansen trains). Two more platforms opened in 1964 to accommodate the first Shinkansen services. The Yaesu side was partially rebuilt again in 1991 to accommodate the Shinkansen extension from Ueno.

The station complex is presently being redeveloped. The Marunouchi side will be restored to pre-war condition and the surrounding area converted into a broad plaza extending into a walkway toward the Imperial Palace, with space for bus and taxi ranks: this construction is scheduled for completion in fiscal 2011. On the Yaesu side, the current multi-story exterior will be replaced by a much lower structure with a large canopy covering outdoor waiting and loading areas, and twin high-rise towers at each end. This project is due for completion in 2013.

Proposed developments

There are plans to build a spur from the nearby Toei Asakusa Line, which would provide Tokyo Station a second direct connection to the subway network, and also possibly provide faster connections from the station to Tokyo's airports, Haneda and Narita.

A JR East project will extend the services of the Utsunomiya Line, the Takasaki Line, and the Jōban Line to Tōkyō Station by constructing the Tōhoku Jūkan Line^[3]

Adjacent stations

See also

• Media related to Tokyo Station at Wikimedia Commons
• Transportation in Greater Tokyo

References

External links

• JR East map of Tōkyō Station (English)
• Tōkyō Station (JR East) (Japanese)
• Tōkyō Station (JR Central) (Japanese)
• Tokyo Station (Tokyo Metro) (Japanese)