Tokyo Metro Ginza Line

The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (東京メトロ銀座線, Tōkyō Metoro Ginza-sen) is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metro. The official name is Line 3 Ginza Line (3号線銀座線, 3-gōsen Ginza-sen). It is 14.3 km (8.9 mi) long and serves the wards of Shibuya, Minato, Chūō, Chiyoda, and Taitō. It is the oldest subway line in Asia, having opened in 1927.^[3]

Tokyo Metro Ginza Line
A Ginza Line 1000 series train at Shibuya Station
Overview
Other name(s)	G
Native name	東京メトロ銀座線
Owner	Tokyo Metro
Line number	3
Locale	Tokyo
Termini	Shibuya Asakusa
Stations	19
Color on map	Orange (#FF9500)
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Tokyo subway
Operator(s)	Tokyo Metro
Depot(s)	Shibuya, Ueno
Rolling stock	Tokyo Metro 1000 series (6 cars)
Daily ridership	943,606 (2017)[1]
History
Opened	30 December 1927; 96 years ago (30 December 1927)[2]
Technical
Line length	14.3 km (8.9 mi)
Number of tracks	Double-track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	94.183 m (309.00 ft)
Electrification	600 V DC (third rail)
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph)
Train protection system	New CS-ATC
Maximum incline	3.3%
Route map Legend ↑Keio Inokashira Line ↑Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line Shibuya Depot 0.0 G-01 Shibuya F ←Yamanote Line→ ←Saikyō Line→ ←Tokyu Toyoko Line (former) ←Toyoko Line | F Fukutoshin Line → ↓ Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line 1.3 G-02 Omotesandō ZC 2.0 G-03 Gaiemmae 2.7 G-04 Aoyama-itchōme ZE ↑ Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line→ ↓ M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line→ 4.0 G-05 Akasaka-mitsuke MNYZ ↑ M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line→ 4.9 G-06 Tameike-Sannō NCM 5.5 G-07 Toranomon H 6.3 G-08 Shimbashi A ←Yamanote Line→ ←Keihin-Tohoku Line→ ←Tokaido Main Line→ ← Tokaido Shinkansen→ ←Yurikamome 7.2 G-09 Ginza MH ←Keiyō Line→ 7.9 G-10 Kyōbashi 8.6 G-11 Nihombashi AT Nihombashi River 9.2 G-12 Mitsukoshimae Z Shin-Nihombashi ←Sōbu Main Line→ ↓Yamanote / Keihin-Tohoku / Chūō Lines→ 9.9 G-13 Kanda ↑Chūō Line (Rapid)→ Kanda River 10.4 Manseibashi (Closed 1931) ←Chūō-Sōbu Line→ ←Akihabara 11.0 G-14 Suehirochō ↓←Okachimachi 11.6 G-15 Ueno-hirokōji HE Keisei Ueno Keisei Main Line→ ↑Yamanote Line / Keihin-Tōhoku Line 　Jōban / Utsunomiya / Takasaki Lines→ 12.1 G-16 Ueno H Ueno Depot 12.8 G-17 Inarichō 13.5 G-18 Tawaramachi Asakusa ←Tsukuba Express→ 14.3 G-19 Asakusa A ↓Tobu Skytree Line Sumida River

The line was named after the Ginza commercial district in Chūō, Tokyo, under which it passes. On maps, diagrams and signboards, the line is shown using the color orange, and its stations are given numbers using the letter "G".

Operations

Almost all Ginza Line trains operate on the line's full length from Asakusa to Shibuya. However, two trains depart in the early morning from Toranomon, and some late-night trains from Shibuya are taken out of service at Ueno. Along with the Marunouchi Line, it is self-enclosed and does not have any through services with other railway lines.

On weekdays, trains run every 2 minutes 15 seconds in the morning and evening peak and every 5 minutes during the daytime. The first trains start from Shibuya and Asakusa at 05:01, and the last ones reach Shibuya at 00:37, and Asakusa at 00:39.

History

The Ginza Line was conceived by a businessman named Noritsugu Hayakawa, who visited London in 1914, saw the London Underground and concluded that Tokyo needed its own underground railway. He founded the Tokyo Underground Railway (東京地下鉄道, Tōkyō Chika Tetsudō) with Baron Furuichi Kōi in 1920, and began construction on September 27, 1925, after raising ¥6.2 million of the ¥35 million initially required to fund the project.^[4][5]

The groundbreaking of the line on September 27, 1925

Originally, the Ginza Line was proposed to open from Shimbashi to Asakusa all at once, but because of a recession following the Great Kanto Earthquake, it became difficult to raise funds for the line. The portion between Ueno and Asakusa was completed on December 30, 1927, and publicized as "the first underground railway in the Orient".^[4] Upon its opening, the line was so popular that passengers often had to wait more than two hours to ride a train for a five-minute trip.

On January 1, 1930, the subway was extended by 1.7 km (1.1 mi) to temporary Manseibashi Station, abandoned on November 21, 1931 when the subway reached Kanda, 500 meters (1,600 ft) further south down the line. The Great Depression slowed down construction, but the line finally reached its originally planned terminus of Shimbashi on June 21, 1934.

In 1938, the Tōkyō Rapid Railway (東京高速鉄道, Tōkyō Kōsoku Tetsudō), a company tied to the predecessor of today's Tokyu Corporation, began service between Shibuya and Toranomon, later extended to Shimbashi in 1939. The two lines began through-service interoperation in 1939 and were formally merged as the Teito Rapid Transit Authority ("Eidan Subway" or "TRTA") in July 1941 in accordance with the Land Transport Business Coordination Law (陸上交通事業調整法, Rikujō-kōtsu jigyō-chōsei-hō).

The "Ginza Line" name was applied in 1953 to distinguish the line from the new Marunouchi Line. In the postwar economic boom, the Ginza Line became increasingly crowded. The new Hanzōmon Line began to relieve the Ginza Line's traffic in the 1980s, but the Ginza Line is still quite crowded as it serves major residential, commercial, and business districts in central Tokyo. According to a 2018 release of Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, the Ginza Line is the seventh most crowded subway line in Tokyo, running at 160% capacity between Akasaka-mitsuke and Tameike-sannō stations.^[6]

Automatic train control (ATC) and train automatic stopping controller (TASC) were activated on the Ginza Line on July 31, 1993, replacing the previous mechanical automatic train stop (ATS) system.^[7] This allowed for an increase in the maximum operating speed limit from 55 km/h (34 mph) to 65 km/h (40 mph), which came into effect on August 2, 1993, and hence enabled a corresponding increase in the line's route capacity and train frequency.^[8] The newest station on the line, Tameike-sannō Station, opened in 1997 to provide a connection to the newly built Namboku Line.

The line, station facilities, rolling stock, and related assets were inherited by Tokyo Metro after the privatization of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (TRTA) in 2004.^[9]

Station list

Being the oldest line on the Tokyo Metro, stations are also the closest to the surface—generally no more than one and a half stories underground. The western end of the line enters Shibuya Station located on the third-floor of a building that is located in a depression.

No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers	Ward
			Between stations	From Shibuya
G01	Shibuya	渋谷	-	0.0	Z Hanzōmon Line (Z-01) F Fukutoshin Line (F-16) JY Yamanote Line JA Saikyō Line JS Shōnan-Shinjuku Line DT Den-en-toshi Line TY Tōyoko Line Keio Inokashira Line	Shibuya
G02	Omote-sandō	表参道	1.3	1.3	C Chiyoda Line (C-04) Z Hanzōmon Line (Z-02)[* 1]	Minato
G03	Gaiemmae	外苑前	0.7	2.0
G04	Aoyama-itchōme	青山一丁目	0.7	2.7	Z Hanzōmon Line (Z-03) E Ōedo Line (E-24)
G05	Akasaka-mitsuke	赤坂見附	1.3	4.0	M Marunouchi Line (M-13) Y Yūrakuchō Line (Nagatacho: Y-16) Z Hanzōmon Line (Nagatacho: Z-04) N Namboku Line (Nagatacho: N-07)
G06	Tameike-sannō	溜池山王	0.9	4.9	N Namboku Line (N-06) M Marunouchi Line (Kokkai-gijidomae: M-14) C Chiyoda Line (Kokkai-gijidomae: C-07)	Chiyoda
G07	Toranomon	虎ノ門	0.6	5.5	H Hibiya Line (Toranomon Hills: H-06)	Minato
G08	Shimbashi	新橋	0.8	6.3	A Asakusa Line (A-10) JY Yamanote Line JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line JT Tōkaidō Main Line JO Yokosuka Line   Yurikamome
G09	Ginza	銀座	0.9	7.2	H Hibiya Line (H-09) M Marunouchi Line (M-16) Y Yurakucho Line (Ginza-itchome: Y-19)	Chūō
G10	Kyōbashi	京橋	0.7	7.9
G11	Nihombashi	日本橋	0.7	8.6	T Tozai Line (T-10) A Asakusa Line (A-13)
G12	Mitsukoshimae	三越前	0.6	9.2	Z Hanzōmon Line (Z-09) JO Sōbu Line (Rapid) (Shin-Nihombashi)
G13	Kanda	神田	0.7	9.9	JC Chūō Line JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line JY Yamanote Line	Chiyoda
G14	Suehirocho	末広町	1.1	11.0
G15	Ueno-hirokoji	上野広小路	0.6	11.6	E Ōedo Line (Ueno-okachimachi: E-09) JY Yamanote Line (Okachimachi) JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (Okachimachi) H Hibiya Line (Naka-okachimachi: H-17)	Taitō
G16	Ueno	上野	0.5	12.1	H Hibiya Line (H-18) Tōhoku Shinkansen Yamagata Shinkansen Akita Shinkansen Jōetsu Shinkansen Hokuriku Shinkansen Hokkaido Shinkansen JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line JY Yamanote Line JJ Jōban Line (Rapid) JU Takasaki Line JU Tōhoku Main Line (Utsunomiya Line) KS Keisei Main Line (Keisei Ueno)
G17	Inarichō	稲荷町	0.7	12.8
G18	Tawaramachi	田原町	0.7	13.5
G19	Asakusa	浅草	0.8	14.3	A Asakusa Line (A-18) TS Tobu Skytree Line

1. Due to the distance between the Ginza and Hanzomon/Den-en-toshi lines at Shibuya, transfers between the two lines are announced at Omotesandō.

Rolling stock

A Tokyo Metro 1000 series EMU in April 2013

Since April 2012,^[10] the Ginza Line uses a fleet of 40 six-car Tokyo Metro 1000 series EMUs which have a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). Each car is 16 m (52 ft 6 in) long and 2.55 m (8 ft 4 in) wide, with three doors on each side. They are powered by a third rail electrified at 600 V DC. Both the Ginza Line and the Marunouchi Line are the only Tokyo Metro lines to use 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and third rail electrification, while subsequent lines employ narrow gauge (1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)) rails and 1,500 V DC overhead power supply to accommodate through services.

Cars are stored and inspected at Shibuya Depot located after Shibuya Station and at Ueno Inspection Division (上野検車区, Ueno-kensha-ku), a facility located northeast of Ueno Station with both above-ground and underground tracks. The facility is capable of holding up to 20 6-car formations. Major inspections are carried out at Tokyo Metro's Nakano depot on the Marunouchi Line, forwarding over a connecting track at Akasaka-Mitsuke.

Former rolling stock

• 100 series (1938–1968)
• 1000 series (TRTA) (1927–1968)
• 1100 series (1930–1968)
• 1200 series (1934–1986)
• 1300 series (1949–1986)
• 1400 series (1953–1985)
• 1500 series (1954–1986)
• 1500N series (1968–1993)
• 1600 series (1955–1986)
• 1700 series (1956–1986)
• 1800 series (1958–1986)
• 1900 series (1958–1987)
• 2000 series (1958–1993)
• 01 series 6-car EMUs, from 1983 until March 2017

The last remaining 01 series trains were withdrawn from regular service on 10 March 2017.^[11]

• 
  A 100 series EMU car
• 
  One of the original 1000 series cars operated on the Tokyo Underground Railway between Ueno and Asakusa. The last car was retired in 1968.
• 
  Original 1000 series car preserved at Tokyo Subway Museum
• 
  A Ginza Line 1200 series EMU in 1951
• 
  A Ginza Line 2000 series set in 1977
• 
  A Ginza Line 01 series EMU

References

• Shaw, Dennis and Morioka, Hisashi, "Tokyo Subways", published 1992 by Hoikusha Publishing

1. Tokyo Metro station ridership in 2017 Train Media (sourced from Tokyo Metro) Retrieved May 28, 2018.
2. In its current form in 1939
3. Yamamoto, Tsutomu; Matsukawa, Shunsuke; Hisawa, Haruo (2010). "Diagnosis of Ginza Line Subway Tunnel, the Oldest in Asia, by Acquiring Data on Deterioration Indices". Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. IOS Press: 190–198. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-617-1-190. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
4. Hornyak, Tim (16 December 2017). "Heart of gold: The Ginza Line celebrates its 90th birthday". Japan Times. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
5. Rea, G.B. (December 1920). "The Tokyo Subway Plans". Far Eastern Review. XVI (12): 681.
6. Metropolis, "Commute", June 12, 2009, p. 07. Capacity is defined as all passengers having a seat or a strap or door railing to hold on to.
7. 足立武士「CS-ATCの導入 その効果と展望」『鉄道ピクトリアル』1995年7月臨時増刊号（通巻608号）p72 – 75, 電気車研究会
8. 帝都高速度交通営団史, p.612
9. "「営団地下鉄」から「東京メトロ」へ" [From "Teito Rapid Transit Authority" to "Tokyo Metro"]. Tokyo Metro Online. 2006-07-08. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
10. 銀座線に新型車両１０００系を導入 [New 1000 series trains to be introduced on Ginza Line] (PDF). News release (in Japanese). Tokyo Metro. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
11. 東京を走り３３年…地下鉄銀座線０１系が営業運転終了 １２日ラストラン [Tokyo Metro Ginza Line 01 series ends revenue service after running in Tokyo for 33 years – Final run on 12 March]. Iza (in Japanese). Japan: Sankei Digital Inc. 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.

External links

• Tokyo portal

• Ginza Line overview (Tokyo Metro) (in Japanese)