Toei Ōedo Line

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Ōedo Line 12-000 trainset
Ōedo Line 12-000 trainset

The Toei Ōedo Line (都営地下鉄大江戸線 Toei Chikatetsu Ōedo-sen?) is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation. It commenced full operations on December 12, 2000; using the Japanese calendar this reads "12/12/12" as the year 2000 equals Heisei 12. Formerly known as Line 12, its official line color is red-violet ▉. The line is completely underground, making it the second-longest railway tunnel in Japan after the Seikan Tunnel.

Contents

[edit] Route information

  • Length: 40.7 km
  • Gauge: 1,435 mm
  • Stations: 38 (including ends, Tochō-mae Station counted as one station)
  • Qudruple-track: Tochō-mae Station
  • Double-track: The Rest
  • Electric supply: 1500 VDC
  • Block system: Automatic (cab signal) (CS-ATC)

[edit] History

The Ōedo Line was first proposed in 1968 as an incomplete loop line from Shinjuku around northern and eastern Tokyo to Azabu. This plan was amended in 1972 to complete the loop back to Shinjuku, extend it to Hikarigaoka and add a spur to Mejiro from the northern side. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government undertook construction of the line, which was initially called Toei Line 12 (都営地下鉄12号線 Toei Chikatetsu Jūnigō-sen?).

The first segment from Hikarigaoka to Nerima began operations on December 10, 1991. The line was extended from Nerima to Shinjuku on December 19, 1997, and later to from Shinjuku to Kokuritsu-Kyōgijō on April 20, 2000.

With this extension, Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, named the line Toei Ōedo Line, where Ōedo literally means "Great Edo", a reference to Tokyo's former name. As was the case with earlier lines, the public was initially polled to select a name: however, Ishihara rejected the chosen name, Tokyo Loop Line (東京環状線 Tōkyō Kanjō-sen?), on the grounds that it would not initially form a complete loop, and that calling it such would cause confusion with the Yamanote Line and the Osaka Loop Line.

The full line began operation on December 12, 2000. An additional station (Shiodome Station) was opened on November 2, 2002 to connect to the Yurikamome guideway transit line. Following the addition of Shiodome, the automated announcements in the trains were changed to advertise businesses and facilities near each station, a first in Tokyo (although this was already the practice on the municipal subways of Osaka and Nagoya).

The Ōedo Line is Tokyo's first linear motor metro line (and the second in Japan after the Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line in Osaka), which allows it to use smaller cars and smaller tunnels. These putative cost savings were, however, offset by the need to build the line very deep (as low as 48 meters below ground at points) through central Tokyo, including three underground crossings of the Sumida River. Originally budgeted at ¥682.6 million and 6 years, the construction ended up taking nearly 10 years and estimates of the final cost of construction range from the official ¥988.6 billion to over ¥1,400 billion yen, making it the most expensive subway line ever built.[1] (Yokohama's Minato Mirai Line, however, was even costlier if measured per kilometer.)

Ridership projections originally estimated 1 million users daily, a figure scaled down to 820,000 before opening. At the end of 2006, the line was averaging 720,000 passengers/day. [2] However, its ridership has increased by about five percent each year since its opening, following new commercial and residential development around major stations such as Roppongi and Shiodome.

[edit] Future developments

There are plans to extend the Ōedo Line westward from its current western terminus at Hikarigaoka Station through Ōizumi-gakuen Station (on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line) to Higashi-Tokorozawa Station (on the Musashino Line). Construction of the first segment to Ōizumi-gakuen is tentatively scheduled for before 2015, although no concrete planning has yet been implemented.

[edit] Operation

Map of Ōedo line (pink)
Map of Ōedo line (pink)

The Ōedo Line runs in a loop around central Tokyo before branching out towards Nerima in the western suburbs, meaning the line is shaped like a figure of 6 lying on its side. It is not a true loop line: trains from the western Hikarigaoka terminus run anticlockwise around the loop and terminate at the intermediate Tochō-mae Station facing towards Hikarigaoka, and vice-versa.

The terminals and major stations include Hikarigaoka, Roppongi, Daimon, Ryogoku, Iidabashi, and Tocho-mae. Stations on the Toei Ōedo Line carry the letter E followed by a number.

[edit] Stations

Note: the stations are listed following the clockwise route starting from Tocho-mae station

Station number Station name Connecting lines
E-28 Tochō-mae Station (transfer to Hikarigaoka-bound train; transfer to Yoyogi bound (anticlockwise route) train)
E-01 Shinjuku-Nishiguchi Station Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (Shinjuku Station), Chūō Main Line, Yamanote Line, Saikyō Line, Shōnan-Shinjuku Line (Shinjuku Station), Seibu Shinjuku Line (Seibu Shinjuku Station), Odakyu Odawara Line (Shinjuku Station), Keiō Line (Shinjuku Station)
E-02 Higashi-Shinjuku Station ○Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line
E-03 Wakamatsu-kawada Station
E-04 Ushigome Yanagichō Station
E-05 Ushigome Kagurazaka Station
E-06 Iidabashi Station Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line, Tokyo Metro Yūrakuchō Line, Tokyo Metro Namboku Line, Chūō-Sōbu Line
E-07 Kasuga Station Toei Mita Line, Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (Kōrakuen Station), Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (Kōrakuen Station)
E-08 Hongō-Sanchōme Station Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line
E-09 Ueno Okachimachi Station Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Ueno Hirokoji Station), Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (Naka-Nakachimachi Station), Yamanote Line (Okachimachi Station), Keihin-Tōhoku Line (Okachimachi Station)
E-10 Shin-Okachimachi Station Tsukuba Express
E-11 Kuramae Station Toei Asakusa Line
E-12 Ryōgoku Station Sōbu Main Line
E-13 Morishita Station Toei Shinjuku Line
E-14 Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line
E-15 Monzen Nakachō Station Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line
E-16 Tsukishima Station Tokyo Metro Yūrakuchō Line
E-17 Kachidoki Station
E-18 Tsukijishijō Station
E-19 Shiodome Station Yurikamome
E-20 Daimon Station Toei Asakusa Line, Yamanote Line (Hamamatsuchō Station), Keihin-Tōhoku Line (Hamamatsuchō Station), Tokyo Monorail (Hamamatsuchō Station)
E-21 Akabanebashi Station
E-22 Azabu Juban Station Tokyo Metro Namboku Line
E-23 Roppongi Station Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line
E-24 Aoyama-itchōme Station Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Hanzomon Line
E-25 Kokuritsu Kyōgijo Station Sendagaya Station on Chūō-Sōbu Line is at exit A4 and A5
E-26 Yoyogi Station Chūō-Sōbu Line, Yamanote Line
E-27 Shinjuku Station Toei Shinjuku Line, Chūō Main Line, Yamanote Line, Saikyō Line, Shōnan-Shinjuku Line, Odakyū Odawara Line, Keiō Line, Keio New Line
E-28 Tochō-mae Station (transfer to Iidabashi bound (clockwise route) train)
E-29 Nishi-Shinjuku-gochōme Station
E-30 Nakano Sakaue Station Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line
E-31 Higashi-Nakano Station Chūō-Sōbu Line
E-32 Nakai Station Seibu Shinjuku Line
E-33 Ochiai Minami Nagasaki Station
E-34 Shin-Egota Station
E-35 Nerima Station Seibu Ikebukuro Line, Seibu Yurakucho Line, Seibu Toshima Line
E-36 Toshimaen Station Seibu Toshima Line
E-37 Nerima Kasugachō Station
E-38 Hikarigaoka Station

[edit] Gallery

Shinjuku Station, E-27

Hikarigaoka Station, E-38

Nerima Station, E-35

Interior of a car

Roppongi Station, E-23

[edit] Rolling stock

  • 12-000 series 8-car sets

[edit] References

  1. ^ 都営12号線（大江戸線）環状部事業の評価（総括表）, Toei
  2. ^ 各駅乗降人員一覧 ｜ 東京都交通局
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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)
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Suburban, JR
■Hachikō • ■Kawagoe • ■Mito • ■Musashino • ■Nambu • ■Narita • ■Negishi • ■Ōme • ■Ryōmō • ■Sagami • ■Sōbu Main • ■Sotobō • ■Takasaki • ■Tōgane • ■Tsurumi • ■Uchibō • ■Yokohama
Suburban, Non-JR
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