Tokyo Metro

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This office tower, above Tokyo Metro Ueno Station, houses the headquarters of the Tokyo Metro.
This office tower, above Tokyo Metro Ueno Station, houses the headquarters of the Tokyo Metro.
Tokyo Metro lines. Toei lines and the JR Yamanote Line are shown in faint colours.
Tokyo Metro lines. Toei lines and the JR Yamanote Line are shown in faint colours.

Tokyo Metro (東京メトロ Tōkyō Metoro?) is one of two metro systems making up the Tokyo subway system, the other being Toei.

Contents

[edit] Organization

Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd. (東京地下鉄株式会社 Tōkyō Chikatetsu Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a private company jointly owned by the Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government.

It replaced the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (帝都高速度交通営団 Teito Kōsokudo Kōtsū Eidan?), commonly Eidan or TRTA, on April 1, 2004. TRTA was administered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and jointly funded by the national and metropolitan governments. It was formed in 1941, although its oldest lines date back to 1927.

The other metro operator in Tokyo is the government of Tokyo, through the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, which operates the Toei system. Metro and Toei trains form completely separate networks. While users of prepaid rail passes can freely interchange between the two networks, regular ticket holders must purchase a second ticket, or a special transfer ticket, to change from a Toei line to a Metro line and vice versa.

Much effort is made to make the system accessible to non-Japanese speaking users:

  • Many train stops are announced in both English and Japanese. Announcements also provide connecting line information.
  • Ticketing machines can switch between English and Japanese user interfaces.
  • Train stations are signposted in English and Japanese (in kanji and hiragana). There are also numerous signs in Chinese (in simplified characters) and Korean.
  • Train stations are now also consecutively numbered on each color-coded line, allowing even non-English speakers to be able to commute without necessarily knowing the name of the station. For example, Shinjuku Station on the Marunouchi Line is also signposted as M-08 with the familiar red colored circle surrounding it; even if a commuter could not read the English or Japanese station names on signs or maps, he or she could simply look for the red line and then find the appropriately numbered station on said line.

Many stations are also designed to help blind people as railings often have Braille at their base.

Although ticket machines are plentiful at every station, many regular Tokyo Metro commuters purchase Tokyo Metro SF Cards for convenience. These SF (Stored Fare) Cards can be purchased in pre-paid amounts of ¥1000, ¥3000 and ¥5000. These cards can currently be used on most private railways in the Kantō region as well through PASSNET. Tokyo Metro stations began accepting PASMO contactless cards in March 2007.

The Tokyo Metro is extremely punctual and has regular trains arriving less than five minutes apart most of the day and night. It does not however run 24 hours a day. Lines tend to stop service between midnight and 1:00am and commence again approximately 5:00am.

Tokyo Metro indicated in its public share offering that it would cease construction once the Fukutoshin Line is completed. Some therefore expect that the line will be the final expansion to the Tokyo Metro network, although several lines such as the Hanzōmon Line have yet to be completed as planned.

[edit] Lines

[edit] Main Data

Color on maps Mark Line Number Line Japanese Route Length
orange G Line 3 Ginza Line 銀座線 Shibuya to Asakusa 14.3 km
red M Line 4 Marunouchi Line 丸ノ内線 Ogikubo to Ikebukuro 24.2 km
m Marunouchi Line Branch Line 丸ノ内線分岐線 Nakano-sakaue to Hōnanchō 3.2 km
silver H Line 2 Hibiya Line 日比谷線 Naka-Meguro to Kita-Senju 20.3 km
sky blue T Line 5 Tōzai Line 東西線 Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi 30.8 km
green C Line 9 Chiyoda Line 千代田線 Yoyogi-uehara to Kita-Ayase 24.0 km
gold Y Line 8 Yūrakuchō Line 有楽町線 Wakōshi to Shin-Kiba 28.3 km
purple Z Line 11 Hanzōmon Line 半蔵門線 Shibuya to Oshiage 16.8 km
emerald green N Line 7 Namboku Line 南北線 Meguro to Akabane-iwabuchi 21.3 km
brown Y,(F) Line 13 Fukutoshin Line 副都心線 operational: Kotake-mukaihara to Ikebukuro 3.2 km
under construction: Ikebukuro to Shibuya 8.9 km

[edit] Through services to other lines

Line Through Lines
G Ginza Line none
M Marunouchi Line none
H Hibiya Line Tōkyū Tōyoko Line (Naka-Meguro to Kikuna)
Tōbu Isesaki Line (Kita-Senju to Tōbu Dōbutsu Kōen)
T Tōzai Line JR East Chūō-Sōbu Line (Nakano to Mitaka)
JR East Sōbu Main Line (Nishi-funabashi to Tsudanuma)
Toyo Rapid Line (Nishi-Funabashi to Tōyō Katsutadai)
C Chiyoda Line Odakyu Odawara Line and Odakyu Tama Line (Yoyogi-uehara to Karakida and Hon-Atsugi)
JR East Jōban Line (Ayase to Toride)
Y Yūrakuchō Line Tōbu Tōjō Main Line (Wakōshi to Shinrin-kōen
Seibu Yūrakuchō Line and Seibu Ikebukuro Line (Kotake-mukaihara to Hannō)
Z Hanzōmon Line Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line (Shibuya to Chūō-Rinkan)
Tōbu Isesaki Line and Tobu Nikkō Line (Oshiage to Minami-Kurihashi or Kuki)
N Namboku Line Tokyu Meguro Line (Meguro to Musashi-Kosugi)
Saitama Rapid Railway Line (Akabane-iwabuchi to Urawa-misono)
Y Fukutoshin Line Tōbu and Seibu line (same tracks as Yūrakuchō Line)
Tōkyū Tōyoko Line (from Shibuya, planned)

[edit] Stations

A 01 series train for Shibuya departs Asakusa Station on the Ginza Line.
A 01 series train for Shibuya departs Asakusa Station on the Ginza Line.

The busiest stations in the Tokyo Metro network are: (station statistics for subway passengers only)

  1. Ikebukuro Station - approx. 465,000 passengers per weekday on 3 lines
  2. Kita-Senju Station - approx. 330,000 passengers per weekday on 2 lines
  3. Ōtemachi Station - approx. 270,000 passengers per weekday on 4 lines
  4. Ginza Station - approx. 270,000 passengers per weekday on 3 lines

Other major transfer stations include Akasaka-mitsuke, Hibiya, Kasumigaseki, Kudanshita, Nagatachō, Omotesandō, Tameike-Sannō and Yotsuya.

[edit] Rolling stock

Tōkyō Metro owns the following types of rolling stock.

Trains from other operators are also used on Tokyo Metro lines as a consequence of the through services.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] External links

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