Tokyo subway

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Line network of the subway system

The Tokyo subway ( Japanese 東京 の 地下 鉄 , Tōkyō no chikatetsu ) is the most heavily used subway network in the world with around 3.1 billion passengers annually . The 13 lines of the Tokyo subway are used by an average of 8.5 million passengers every day (plus suburban and regional trains). Operators are two independent companies: the Tokyo Metro metropolitan state-owned company and the Toei city subway .

A special feature is the linking and shared use of the routes with a total of eleven railway companies, including a. JR East  and Keisei Dentetsu . Ten subway lines (all except Ginza, Marunouchi and Ōedo) connect suburban and regional trains to the subway network without having to change trains . Depending on the cooperating suburban railway, the individual underground lines have different track widths ( 1,067 mm , 1,372 mm, 1,435 mm ).

history

The first subway line opened on December 30, 1927, between Asakusa and Ueno (now part of the Ginza Line ). Their construction and planning go back to the Tokyo Mayor Gotō Shimpei (1920–1923).

operator

Passenger compartment on Line 13 (Tokyo Metro) in 2019

The Tokyo Metro was founded in 1941 as Teito Kōsokudo Kōtsū Eidan - Eidan for short - for the purpose of expanding the Ginza Line and building eight other lines (Marunouchi, Hibiya, Tōzai, Chiyoda, Yūrakuchō, Hanzōmon, Namboku and Fukutoshin). In 2008, the shares were still wholly owned by the State and Prefecture of Tokyo . In 2014 it served 6.8 million passengers a day with nine lines on a route length of 195.1 km and 179 stations. Tokyo Metro achieved a profit of 43.53 billion yen in fiscal year 2005, making it the world's only profitable subway operator alongside the Hong Kong subway .

The Toei subway was established in 1960 by Tokyo Prefecture . It transports 2 million passengers a day on four lines with a length of 109 km and 106 stations. Toei is the abbreviation for "operated by the capital city prefecture". The Tokyo Department of Transportation is responsible and operates most of the bus routes and the only tram line in Tokyo .

In addition, there are numerous other railway lines, some of which run underground, for example the TWR Rinkai Line , the Shinagawa - Ryogoku section of the JR Yokosuka Line and the JR Keiyō Line between Tokyo and Shin-Kiba . Structurally, they are subways, but since their routes are operated separately and independently of the actual subway network, they are not listed here as subways.

Lines

In this table, the shared sections Wakoshi - Kotake-Mukaihara on lines F and Y, and Shirokane-Takanawa - Meguro on lines N and I are recorded twice. In addition, the stations and routes of the other railways operated continuously are not taken into account in the length and number of stations.

operator line Surname route length Gauge Number of stations Passengers (daily) Connection to other lines
Tōkyō Metro G Ginza line Shibuya  - Akasaka-Mitsuke - Shimbashi - Ginza - Nihombashi - Ueno - Asakusa 14.3 km 1435 mm 19th 1,059,000 -
M. Marunouchi line Ikebukuro  - Korakuen - Otemachi - Tokyo  - Ginza - Akasaka-Mitsuke - Yotsuya - Shinjuku - Nakano-Sakaue - Ogikubo 24.2 km 1435 mm 25th 1,232,000 -
Mb Honancho 3.2 km 3 -
H Hibiya lineage Naka-meguro - Ebisu - Roppongi - Hibiya - Ginza - Hatchobori - Akihabara - Ueno - Minowa - Kita-senju 20.3 km 1067 mm 21st 1,133,000 Tōbu Skytree and Nikkō lines
T Tōzai line Nakano - Takadanobaba - Iidabashi - Otemachi - Nihombashi - Monzen-Nakacho - Kasai - Nishi-funabashi 30.8 km 1067 mm 23 1,365,000 JR Chūō-Sōbu Line , Tōyō Kōsoku Line
C. Chiyoda line Yoyogi-uehara - Meiji-Jingu-mae - Hibiya - Otemachi - Yushima - Nishi-Nippori - Kita-senju - Ayase - Kita-ayase 27 km 1067 mm 20th 1,180,000 JR Jōban Line , Odawara and Tama Lines
Y Yūrakuchō line Wakōshi - Chikatetsu-Akatsuka - Kotake-Mukaihara - Ikebukuro - Iidabashi - Ichigaya - Nagatacho - Yurakucho - Ginza-Itchome - Tsukishima - Toyosu - Shin-Kiba 28.3 km 1067 mm 24 1,028,000 Tōbu Tōjō main line , Yūrakuchō and Ikebukuro lines
Z Hanzōmon line Shibuya - - Nagatacho - Otemachi - Kiyosumi-Shirakawa - Kinshicho - Oshiage 16.9 km 1067 mm 14th 961,000 Tōkyū Den'entoshi Line , Tōbu Isesaki , Skytree  and Nikkō Lines
N Namboku line Akabane-iwabuchi - Oji - Korakuen - Iidabashi - Ichigaya - Yotsuya - Nagatacho - Shirokane-Takanawa - Meguro 21.3 km 1067 mm 19th 497,000 Tōkyū Meguro Line , Saitama Kōsoku Line
F. Fukutoshin line Wakōshi - Chikatetsu-Akatsuka - Kotake-Mukaihara - Ikebukuro - Shinjuku-Sanchome - Meiji-Jingu-mae - Shibuya 20.2 km 1067 mm 16 501,000 Tōbu Tōjō main line , Seibu Yūrakuchō and Ikebukuro lines , Tōkyu Tōyoko line , Yokohama Kōsoku Tetsudō
Toei subway A. Asakusa line Nishi-Magome - Togoshi - Gotanda - Mita - Shimbashi - Nihombashi - Asakusa - Oshiage 18.3 km 1435 mm 20th 670,000 Keikyū Main , Zushi , Airport , Kurihama Lines , Keisei Main , Narita Airport , Oshiage , Higashi-Narita Lines , Shibayama Railway
I. Mita line Nishi-Takashimadaira - Shin-Itabashi - Sugamo - Kasuga - Otemachi - Hibiya - Mita - Shirokane-Takanawa - Meguro 26.5 km 1067 mm 27 601,000 Tōkyū Meguro Line
S. Shinjuku line Shinjuku  - Ichigaya - Ogawamachi - Morishita - Sumiyoshi - Motoyawata 23.5 km 1372 mm 21st 702,000 Keiō Line , New Keiō Line , Keiō Takao Line , Keiō Sagamihara Line
E. Ōedo line Hikarigaoka - Nerima - Nakano-Sakaue - Tocho-mae (1st) - Shinjuku (1st) - Iidabashi - Kasuga - Shin-Okachimachi - Ryogoku - Morishita - Kiyosumi-Shirakawa - Monzen-Nakacho - Tsukishima - Shiodome - Azuba-Juban - Yoyogi - Shinjuku (2nd) - Tocho-mae (2nd) 40.7 km 1435 mm 38 879,000 -
total 315.5 km - 290 11,808,000 -

(As of November 2017)

Pricing system

Ticket machines ( Roppongi station )

Unit prices:

  • Tokyo Metro from 170 JPY for the first 6 km to 310 JPY from 28 km away
  • Toei Subway from 180 JPY for the first 4 km to 430 JPY from 28 km away

Discount on the transition between the networks of the two subway companies: JPY 70

Children up to and including 11 years of age (elementary school children up to and including 12 years of age) pay half, rounded up to JPY 10. Up to two toddlers up to and including 5 years of age (kindergarten children up to and including 6 years of age) travel free of charge when accompanied by an adult or child.

Both metro operators are connected to the Pasmo ticket system, which is compatible with the Suica network. With the same rechargeable prepaid card, you can use all underground lines as well as the trains and buses of 52 other companies (including the JR- S-Bahn). It is not necessary to buy a ticket, as the ticket price for a single journey is determined by the barriers when entering and leaving the stations and debited directly from the Pasmo card. Day tickets and multi-trip tickets must, however, be purchased separately from the machine. Pasmo can also act as a route time card; No credit will then be debited within the specified route section.

Pasmo is a common payment system, but not a tariff association as is common in German cities. When switching between different operators, an additional, albeit reduced, fee is due. This applies regardless of whether the passenger buys a single ticket or pays directly at the barrier with the Pasmo card.

A calculation example illustrates the problem: someone is driving from Meiji-Jingūmae station west to Shimo-Kitazawa. The distance is only four stations or 3.6 km. The line is operated by Tokyo Metro until Yoyogi-uehara station, then by Odakyū. The passenger does not necessarily have to change because many trains are tied through, but he pays JPY 280 for the journey. This is the minimum price of Tokyo Metro (170 JPY) plus the minimum price of Odakyū (130 JPY), minus a discount of 20 JPY. This is significantly more expensive than traveling the same distance with a single operator: Tokyo Metro charges JPY 170 up to 6 km, Odakyū charges JPY 160 for 4 to 6 km.

For tourists, 72-hour tickets , which are available at airports, in tourist information offices and in selected shops and hotels, and which entitle you to use the entire metro routes in Tokyo, are therefore recommended. Adults pay 1500 yen for this.

Technology and equipment

Trains

Compact subway of the Ōedo line with metal rail for the linear motor in the middle of the track

In contrast to the subways of other cities, vehicles with three different gauges , different pantograph systems and voltages are used on the different lines of the Tokyo network , so that these vehicles can only run on their lines.

The drive technology of the Ōedo line is exceptional. Due to the route at great depths and therefore very high construction costs (the construction costs per meter at the 42.3 meters deepest point at Roppongi station were up to 30 million yen), the tunnel cross-section and thus the car height had to be kept as low as possible. In order to minimize the overall height, the trains do not have conventional motors, but linear motors - the trains “pull” their way through the tunnel with the help of magnets on metal plates.

Tunnel systems

A major earthquake is expected; statistically it is overdue. The subway systems are designed to withstand an earthquake the size of the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923. With 31 seismometers installed in the network, the trains in the affected sections can be stopped immediately if a quake occurs.

Train stations

As usual in Japan, the platform area is cordoned off at all subway stations . Access is only granted to passengers with a valid ticket, which they have to keep until they leave the station, because they can only leave the destination station with a block. At the exits, the ticket readers collect the single tickets used, of course not season tickets.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the stations of the subway and suburban railways are numbered consecutively for each line, for example the Ōtemachi station has the numbers C-11 (Chiyoda line), M-18 (Marunmouchi line), T-09 (Tōzai line), Z -08 (Hanzōmon Line) and I-09 (Mita Line).

As a rule, each platform is only served by one underground line, as the individual lines are largely separated from each other. The distance from one platform to the next within an underground station can be several hundred meters.

A few train stations, e.g. B. the Ōtemachi station , have separate access barriers for the individual platforms. If you don't want to get off here, but rather to change, you should only leave the platform area through specially marked barriers. Exceptionally, the ticket readers do not retain the single ticket there. The passengers take their used ticket with them and have 30 minutes to change trains. During this time, the ticket will be accepted by the ticket readers at the entrance of the desired line.

Access barriers (Kokkaigijidōmae Station)

Almost 90 percent of the train stations are air-conditioned. All train stations have mobile phone reception and a large number of the train stations are equipped with WiFi . (As a rule, cell phones have no reception between the stations, especially since phone calls are undesirable on the trains.) As part of the privatization activities, more and more stations are being equipped with kiosks as well as other shops.

Many underground stations have numerous entrances and exits, which are usually numbered with a letter and a number (e.g. A1, A2, A3,…, E5,…). This number can also be found on the signposts in the train stations. In contrast, exits in JR stations are not numbered, but have names (north exit, west exit, Hachikō exit, etc.)

During rush hour , there are staff at various subway stations who serve to push passengers into the overcrowded trains. These are known locally as Oshiya .

Accidents and crime

The Tokyo subway is considered to be very well maintained and safe. The only fatal accident in history was the derailment of a train on the Hibiya line near Naka-Meguro station, with five fatalities and 60 injured.

Probably the worst event in the history of the Tokyo subway were the five coordinated sarin - gas attacks by the Omu Shinrikyo sect on 20 March 1995 on lines that run through the government district. 13 people died and more than 6,000 were injured, some seriously.

There are around 10 to 20 suicides per year.

With only 736 reported crimes, international crime is at a very low level. Sexual assaults on women are a problem (see also Chikan ).

Web links

Commons : Tokyo Subway  Album with Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. Jacek Wesołowski: Powiązania kolei regionalnych i metra w Tokyo / Regional Rail-Subway Links in Tokyo ( Memento from July 14, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. Business situation. Tokyo Metro , accessed November 9, 2017 .
  3. Andrew Phipps, Robert Schwandl: Metro & trams in Japan . Robert Schwandl Verlag, Berlin, London 2016, p. 21-57 .
  4. Tokyo Metro | Regular Tickets / Coupon Tickets. Accessed July 7, 2019 .
  5. 東京 都 交通局, 都 営 地下 鉄, 運 賃 ・ 乗車 券 ・ 定期 券. Retrieved July 7, 2019 (Japanese).
  6. Tokyo Metro | Tokyo Subway Ticket. Accessed July 7, 2019 .
  7. n-tv news: sect founder Asahara executed . In: n-tv.de . ( n-tv.de [accessed on July 6, 2018]).