The Greatest Railway In the World | Metro in Tokyo Explained

tokyo is the largest metropolis on planet earth and it has far and away the most impressive rail and transit network the network is so incredibly complex that you could conceivably live your entire life in tokyo and never understand even a small percentage of it this video required over 100 hours of writing editing drawing and falling asleep in the middling so if you enjoy it please consider sharing it with someone who would benefit the goal of this video is to give you a high level understanding of the rapid transit network of the greater tokyo area in one video it's a grand challenge but we're up for it right [Music] before i get started a big shout out to my friend and all around transit expert steve chu for his help with this video if you're not already consider supporting the channel on patreon you'll be helping me with bringing you more rail network explainer videos news coverage and you'll get lots of exclusive benefits now i hate providing disclaimers but this video requires a few the network in tokyo is so massive that a significant part of the challenge is just determining what to cover so here's what you need to know unlike most explained videos i won't really be talking about future network plans there's been some interesting news lately regarding tokyo metro and i'll try to cover that in a future video covering future plans would just make this video too long trunk lines and branches will be treated in single lines otherwise we'd be dealing with too many lines but do note that it's not uncommon naturally for branches to operate smaller and sometimes older trains with less service now like most great rail networks tokyo frequently features various service types and not just local and express but limited expresses special rapids liners rapids and more suffice to say i won't be breaking down service types besides mentioning where multiple service types are available tokyo has a number of private rail companies many of which have enough lines and stations to qualify as small metro networks in their own right while i will mention them and their lines i'll simplify them by primarily looking at the main lines and where key services operate of course i will talk about rolling stock but given that there are over 100 rail lines in tokyo and many lions have several types of rolling stock the coverage won't be exhaustive although i'll definitely note the most interesting details now in terms of what will and will not be in this video with all of the rail lines across southeastern japan and other large cities like yokohama still making up the greater tokyo area i've had to try and draw boundaries that means i'm including lines running in the core of tokyo and linking to it but the yokohama municipal subway for example won't be in this video for jr i've tried to choose the most important lines and the most rapid transit like lines i'll also be moving from line to line fairly quickly because we've got a lot of ground to cover and by the way dates provided are from the initial opening of the lines i will then mention some of the major destinations and unique features for various lines so feel free to pause the video if you need some more time to digest let's start with getting acquainted with tokyo itself to the southwest is mount fuji to the southeast is tokyo bay osaka is this way and sendai is this way you can get there via the shinkansen or bullet train which i covered in a video on the top right hiroyokohama kawasaki and chiba tokyo has two major airports hanada to the south and narita further away and to the east of course everything starts with a metro or subway system but in tokyo we actually need to talk about both because yes tokyo has both the tokyo metro with nine lines and 180 stations and the toei subway with 4 lines and 106 stations these two networks provide a large portion of the transportation in and around the tokyo city center and i'll break them down now first let's talk about tokyo metro's 600 volt third rail powered standard gauge lines the first is the ginza line which opened in 1927 probably my favorite subway line in the world and the oldest in asia i made a video about it last year in fact this line sees six car trains serving 19 stops over a 14 kilometer line connecting areas like shibuya ginza and asakusa from southwest to northeast there's also the marunou uchi line which opened in 1954 which is somewhat unique for the metro in that it has a branch this line also has six car trains and serves 28 stops over 27 kilometers including shinjuku tokyo station and ikibukuro forming a u opening west next we have the metro's 1500 volt overhead powered lines which have narrow cape gauge rails at this point you might be thinking ah but japan uses cape gauge right well yes mostly but as we've seen some lines in the tokyo metro like those that we just discussed use standard gauge and we'll soon learn that tokyo has a surprising number of different rail standards or maybe surprisingly few depending on where you're coming from the first of the metro's cape gauge lines is the hibiya line which opened in 1961 and serves 22 stations over 20 kilometers connecting up ebisu ginza and ueno from southwest to northeast paralleling the ginza line the hibiya line runs seven car trains a few years after the hibiya line the tozei line opened in 1964. this line took it up a notch with 200 meter long 10 car trains and local express service which serves 23 stations over a 30 kilometer route connecting nagano otomachi and nishifunabashi from west to east a few years later in 1969 the toyota line opened also featuring 10 car trains and this line serves 20 stations over 24 kilometers including in yoyogi otomachi and nishinipori from southwest to northeast and also includes local express services next up in 1974 another 10 car line opened in the yurakucho line which serves wakoshi ikebukuro and shin kiba with 24 stations over 28 kilometers from northwest to southeast with local express service that was followed up with another 10 car line 4 years later with the hanzoman line which serves 14 stations over 17 kilometers including shibuya otamachi and ochiage from west to east next came the namboku line which opened in 1991 and actually went back to shorter six guard trains though plans call for it to be expanded to eight-car trains in the future the line serves 19 stations over 21 kilometers linking maguro yotsuya and shimo from south to north finally we have the fukutoshin line which is the most recent metro or subway line built in tokyo with its first section opening in 1994. the fukutoshin lion moves back to tenkar trains and local express services and connects 16 stations over 20 kilometers of track serving wakoshi ikebukuro and shibuya from northwest to south the fukutoshi line interlines with the tokyo metro yurakucho line at several stations now all of these were just tokyo metro so let's look at koei subway next as it turns out these next four lions are a lot less standardized than tokyo's metrolines the owedo line which opened in 1991 runs on standard gauge track with 1500 volt overhead power but it uses limb propulsion like the vancouver skytrain the line's 8 car trains serve as a 40 kilometer line with 38 stations that travels from the northwest to shinjuku before circling the city center back to shinjuku the line is entirely underground making it surprisingly similar to grand paris express's line 15 which even has a similar color check out our video on that system in the top right corner next we have another standard gauge line with 1 500 volt overhead power the asakusa line the line opened in 1960 and has eight car trains calling at 20 stations over 18 kilometers with service to magome shimbashi and asakusa from south to northeast then there's the mita line which keeps the 1500 volt overhead power but instead uses narrow cape gauge like many tokyo metro lines the mita line opened in 1968 and has six car trains serving 27 stations over 27 kilometers such as meguro otimachi and nishidai from south to northwest the mita line interlines with the tokyo metro namboku line at several stations finally there's the shinjuku line which opened in 1978 it also uses 1500 volt overhead power but runs on the unique slightly less than standard scotch gauge yes tokyo operates three different rail gauges on its metro the line uses the largest trains on the toei subway with 10 car consists serving 21 stations over 23 kilometers connecting shinjuku iwamoto cho and moto yawata from west to east so that's the core subway system of tokyo 13 lines and 286 stations but unlike some cities tokyo's rapid transit is not limited to its subway system far from it now you've probably heard toku has private companies providing transit so what do the private railways look like well the private operators all tend to have a few key quarters radiating out of tokyo's 23 wars into the surrounding areas with through service to a number of branch lines and other transit and transport services as well the private operators are all also involved in real estate and property development in a big way with major malls and department stores often linked to stations there are seven large private railway companies operating into central tokyo kq tokyo odakyu ko cebu tobu and quesay kq serves the southern suburbs along the western edge of tokyo bay and connects tokyo to yokohama the company has one primary corridor first constructed in 1895 with 73 stations and branch service to haneda airport interestingly kq's lion has had its rail gauge and electrification change several times in the past like other private operators there are a number of great crossings on the kq network including a particularly bad one south of shinagawa station as with most of the private operators with a strong main line there are also a large variety of service types operated on the kq network tokyu serves the southwestern suburbs and like kq connects tokyo to yokohama unlike some of the other private operators who tend to have a single main line with many branches fanning out from it tokyo has a true network of lines which are very well used within the inner suburbs tokyo is also quite famous for the tokyo car corporation a domestic railcar maker while tokyo has a total of six corridors and 96 stations with many service offerings among the most important are the den and toshi line which opened in 1907 the maguro line which opened in 1923 and the toyoko line which opened in 1926. all three of these lines operate cape gauge trains powered by a 1500 volt catenary the maguro lion operates with six card trains while the den and toshi and toyoko lines operate with 10 car trains odaku serves the west by southwestern suburbs as well as more distant vacation and tourist areas such as hakone and odawara the operator is well known for serving such locations with its iconic romance card trains that offer panoramic driver's eye view for passengers and lovely service and interiors in recent years odakyu has completed major works to expand and grade separate tracks through the inner suburbs these works were highly beneficial as odacu has one primary corridor with 74 stations a large number of which benefited from the works on the main line which of course has a ton of different service types ko serves the western suburbs and was formed from two separate railways merging which leads to it having two primary corridors with 64 stations notably the ko noonline was created as a reverse branch that essentially quad tracks this section of railway unfortunately the section of line leading into this pseudo quad track has only two tracks and tons of great crossings something ko has become infamous for ko's inoka shira line opened in 1934 and has a pretty standard 1500 volt electrification with narrow gauge tracks combination with 5 car trains while the ko main line operates 10 car 1500 volt overhead powered trains operating on scotchgage hmm interesting cebu serves the northwestern suburbs and somewhat like ko came out of the merger of two major railways which leads to it having two major line groups these two main corridors have 92 stations the ikebukuro line opened in 1915 while the cebu shinjuku line not to be confused with the shinjuku subway line opened in 1894 both are narrow gauge 1500 volt overhead lines operating with 10 car trains there's also the reverse branching cebu yurakucho line which opened in 1998 but we'll talk about that later tobu serves the northern suburbs and is one of the longest private railways in japan tobu like odakyu is well known for its links to tourist and vacation destinations like nico and the tokyo skytree the world's second tallest structure which it developed tobu has three main corridors with 207 stations and somewhat uniquely tobu has a fairly long circumferential line known as the urban park line or formerly the noda line which originally opened in 1911. this line operates six car narrow gauge trains with 1500 volt overhead power and local ant express services some of which are operated with the very cool looking 500 series trains and has an unusual switchback in its alignment at kishiwa station the topu tojo lion which opened in 1914 is isolated from the rest of the tobu network and operates standard 10 car 1500 volt overhead narrow gauge trains with local land express services the tobu skytree line which was formerly known as the isseisaki line before being rebranded in 2012 was originally constructed in 1899 and serves through services that travel onto the various branches to the north despite being called the skytree lines services actually generally terminate one stop to the west at asakusa the lion operates 10 car 1500 volt overhead narrow gauge trains with local and express services quesay serves the eastern suburbs along the northern edge of tokyo bay with two corridors and 68 stations though with less distance between them than on some of the other privately operated railway networks as it turns out casey formally used scotchgage though now is somewhat unusual in that it operates entirely on standard gauge as with kq and in a similar fashion also provides services to narita airport casey's two main corridors are the kca main line built in 1912 with standard gauge and 1500 volt overhead power serving eight car local and express services and the quese narita airport line which operates with the same train standards and local end express services and provides service to narita airport with a hodgepodge of repurposed infrastructure and the remains of the never completed no reduction canson line to which it owes its great alignment the opening of the quesay nurita sky access line allowed for skyliner trains to the airport to relocate from the kca main line significantly speeding up trips of course some of tokyo's most famous rail lines belong to neither the private operators nor to the subway system jr east regional railway network has numerous lines many of which carry the same number of people as small metro systems by themselves the kanto urban suburban railway network can generally be divided into two categories inner suburban services which run with metro style operations with mostly local stopping patterns and very high frequencies on metro like trains with a hundred percent longitudinal seating and outer suburban services which are more regional in character and are less frequent with three to five minute headways reach further outside of the city and provide less stops when paralleling an inner suburban surface trains are also typically longer have onboard toilets some forward-facing seating and even reserve seating they also sometimes split up to serve multiple branches mid-route outer suburban trains also typically tend to share tracks with the odd intercity premium limited express or freight train leaving the local tracks exclusively to be used by the inner suburban services the first of the inner suburban services is the chuo sobu line this line was constructed in 1932 and operates 10 car narrow gauge trains with 1500 volt overhead power this line links chiba and mitaka with tokyo city center from east to west the saikyo line was opened in 1985 this line has standard jr inner suburban specifications and serves the northern suburbs up to omiya while paralleling the famous yamanote line within tokyo from ikebukuro to osaki the jobin line local connects the center of tokyo with the northeastern suburbs and was impacted by the 2011 tohoku earthquake the joban line originally opened in 1889 the ko line opened in 1975 and connects chiba with tokyo running along the northern shore of tokyo bay the keihan tohoku line opened in 1914 this line provides through service from saitama to yokohama and runs alongside the yamanote line through tokyo the musashino line is an outer looping line circling much of northern tokyo and opened in 1972 also acting as a freight bypass line unlike many of the lines we've discussed almost all musashino line trains run local last but certainly not least is the yamanote line the yamanote line uses 11 car trains and carries more riders per day than even some large metro systems the line links tokyo's major districts and railway systems in a loop around the city's center driving massive ridership and providing significant connectivity all yamanote line trains run as all stop services now that we've discussed the inner suburban services let's talk about the outer suburban services the chua line rapid opened in 1932 and as its name suggests this line is the rapid counterpart to the chuo portion of the churosogu line which is sometimes known as the chula line local green car reserve seat services which are typically operated using double deck cars inserted into a single deck consist are planned for use in the future the sobu line rapid opened in 1972 and as with the chua line rapid serves the same corridor as the sobu line subu rapid trains operate as 11 or 15 car trains with an 11 car set married to a 4 car set the sobu rapid line actually routes onto the paired yokosuka line which opened in 1889 and serves kawasaki yokohama and other destinations further self the joban line rapid was first opened in 1889 and operates with 15 car sets formed by marrying together a ten and five card train as with other lines mentioned the joe ban rapid serves the further afield stops on the joban line the tokaido line opened in 1922 and is the regional service operated on the iconic tokaido mainline to the southwest of tokyo similar 15 car sets to the jouban rapid are used the tohoku mainline opened in 1882 and serves as the northern corridor for utsunomiya takasaki and shonen sundooku services to enter tokyo finally as a bonus we had the narita express this service started in 1991 and serves narita airport east of tokyo with services connecting to the city center with major stations like tokyo shinigawa and shinjuku more distant destinations like yokohama and omiya are also connected these services operate using two six-car sets married into a 12-card train allowing trains to split and serve the branch lines as you can see jr alone has a shockingly impressive network with through and interoperation along various lines as well as a strong mix of local and express services commonly on separate tracks that each actually contain various sub-services with different stopping patterns on the other hand the non-jr lines typically rely much more heavily on timed overtakes for their express services now with the incredible networking connectivity that jr offers you must be wondering how the private railways are able to compete with jr on coverage and service this is where a fairly unique idea appears subway through running as it turns out many of the subway lines i mentioned at the beginning allow trains from the private railways and even jr in a few cases to pop into the tunnels on one side of the city to serve the subway stations and in some cases continue right back out of the other side onto what is in many cases another private railway line i'll talk about the logistics of how this is possible a bit later on but for now what does this network look like the hibiya line allows trains from the tobu skytree line to through run onto it passengers can also take a train from the hibiya line to destinations served by the skytree line the tozai line allows trains from the jr chuo sobu line to utilize it as an alternative center section to its own above ground line passengers can also take a train from the tozei line to destinations served by the chuo sobu line the toyota line allows trains from the odachu main line and the jr joban line to travel through it passengers can take a train including a romance car from the chioda line to destinations served by the odakyu mainline or the jr jovan line the yurakucho line allows trains from the tobu tojo line and the cebu yurakucho reverse branch line mentioned earlier to travel onto it cebu even offers a special local express service on the line known as the s train of course passengers can also take a train from the yurakucho line to destinations served by the relevant tobu and cebu lanes the hanzoman line allows trains from the tokyo den and toshi and tobu skytree line to travel through it the namboku line allows trains from the tokyo maguro line to travel onto it the fukotoshin line allows trains from the tobu tojo line and cebu yarakujo line to through run onto it since it shares this section with the tokyo metro yurakujo line on the other end connections are made to the tokyo toyoko line and further on into the yokohama subway system the asakusa line allows trains from the kq mainline and the ksa mainline to run through it this allows for connections from haneda airport to narita airport as it turns out the asakusa line was the first line to allow through running into the subway and has the most through run services and is the only standard gauge line with through running the mita line allows trains from the tokyo maguro line to travel onto it as with the interlinked knight boku line and finally the shinjuku line allows trains from the ko main line onto it enabling service onto ko's various lines as you can see the choice of scotchgage enables this now all of this is pretty cool and all but i did want to point out that there are two main patterns with regards to how this actually works in some cases like the tokyo meguro line the private company's line essentially operates as an extension of the metro line whereas in other cases like with the tobu skytree line the connection with the metro allows a variety of trains from different branches to through run into the metro lines now with all of that said we're not quite done there are also a number of one-off lines that aren't integrated into the network of a major company or people movers which serve various locales around the city let's speedrun these first up we have the 20 station tsukuba express this is a mostly 1500 volt narrow gauge line largely built to jr standards that opened in 2005. the line largely exists to relieve the joban line and operates with six car trains and a local express service mix notice how i said the line mostly uses 1500 volt power as it turns out part of the line is electrified at 20 kilovolts ac which was done to reduce interference with a major weather station along the line next the 15 station hokosu line opened in 1979 this is a 1 500 volt overhead standard gauge line with 8 car trains and local express services that links into the ksa network and allows quesay skyliner trains to access the narita sky access line the shinkeise line opened in 1947 and has 24 stations which form an eastern circumferential ring around tokyo the line is operated as a subsidiary of case a and as such operates on standard gauge tracks with 1500 volt overhead power and six car trains the nine station toyo rapid railway is a 1500 volt overhead narrow gauge line built for 10 car trains that essentially extends the tokyo metro tozai line deeper into chiba while also offering further through running onto the jr chuo sobu line the lion opened in 1996. similar to the toyo rapid railway is the eight station saitama rapid railway line which opened in 2001. this narrow gauge 1500 volt overhead line operates six car trains which run onto the tokyo metronome boku line and further run onto the tokyo maguiro line the seitan rapid railway essentially allows for tokyo metro surface to be extended into seitan prefecture north of tokyo an interesting way to approach extending a transit service into a neighboring jurisdiction last up is the rinkai line the rinkai line was built as a one-off to serve the rapidly developing odaiba artificial island and surrounding areas in tokyo bay which i covered in a recent video the line opened in 1996 and has six stations uniquely though unlike some of the other one-off lines the line is built to jr standards for train profile and even more unusually for such a line is mostly underground the line can support 10 car trains and through runs onto the jr psycho line now with the one-off rail lines out of the way let's end things with a bang with the various people mover systems operating in tokyo as it turns out the people mover lines in tokyo can be grouped into a few categories the eureka moment line and nipori toneri liner both operate on elevated guideways using the mitsubishi crystal mover automated people mover system the former opened in 1995 with 16 stops connecting odaiba with tokyo city center while the latter opened in 2008 to serve poorly transit-connected areas of adachi the eureka moment lane uses six-car trains while the nippori toneri liner uses five-card trains the disney resort line tamatoshi monorail and tokyo monorail all operate with hitachi monorail systems with six car trains used on the tokyo and disney monorails and four car trains used on the tamatashi monorail despite using the same technology the lines play very different roles the disney resort line opened in 2001 and connects three stations around the resort with the ko line at mahama station via a looping service the tamatashi monorail opened in 1998 acts as a circumferential line linking various other railways west of tokyo with 19 stops the tokyo monorail opened in 1964 and serves 11 stops connecting the city center with haneda airport this line offers a mix of local and express services which is somewhat unique for a monorail finally we have the leo liner also known as the sebu yamaguchi line the odd one out the line connects two cebu lines in western tokyo and opened back in 1950 small connecting lines like this are common in japan but would be unthinkable in north america now of course this video wouldn't be an explained video if i didn't mention some of the unusual and notable features of the tokyo rapid transit network so let's do that perhaps the most notable feature of the tokyo railway network is the through running of so many regional rail lines into and through subways but you probably have a lot of questions about how that works as you may have noticed a large portion of the tokyo metro network operates with mainline gauge and electrification standards this largely maps to which line sees through operating service though notably you can see that on the toei subway that some consideration was clearly given to choosing rail standards for gauge which would enable the through running with relevant railways part of what enables through running of mainline trains onto the subway are very strong standards as you probably noticed most lines use trains of a similar length but even more importantly through running lines for the most part all conform to standard railcar dimensions of 20 meters long by 2.8 meters wide of course not all trains in the tokyo network conform to these measures case a and kq actually operate smaller trains hailing from their origins as early and turbine railway lines but those which through operate all do this greatly simplifies through operation you may also notice that for trains operating through the subway a front door for emergency access is non-negotiable this is a standout feature and a quick way to identify different rolling stock that said trains with different door arrangements are allowed for example the odaki romance car services operating through the tokyo metro toyota line which only have two doors per car in line with their long distance service nature you might be wondering how this meshes with jr and fortunately things are still pretty standardized as jr uses 20 meter long by 2.95 meter wide trains that narrow at platform height this means almost all trains operating on narrow gauge and with 1500 volt overhead power can operate on the various jr lines albeit not necessarily an active service though the reverse is not true as jr trains do not meet the more restrictive profile needed to operate through the subway tunnels of course you can also see that jr tends to isolate the tokyo metro compatible trains as in the case of the joban and trool sobu lines as well the operating patterns tend to keep the metro compatible trains on separate tracks and what about the trains well typically when a train arrives at a station transitioning from one company's tracks to another one driver simply steps off and a driver from the new company steps on this is the type of coordination that you would probably not see end well in north america this all means that the rolling stock is treated somewhat like a pool as with north american freight rail cars with the trains being interoperable and being more efficiently used in a shared manner when interoperating across several lines i also want to mention that new technology is being deployed on tokyo's rapid transit system the asakusa line in particular is helping to make things that might have been very difficult in the past more and more feasible the technology i'm referring to is a qr code and camera based system which not only simplifies the installation of platform gates which are nearly ubiquitous in tokyo by allowing platform mounted cameras to verify door locations but also can enable the use of rolling stock with different numbers of doors to still use the same platform gates in the future with the oda q3 running on the kyoto line coming to mind i also want to mention that for a great deal of tokyo's trains seating is entirely longitudinal this style of seating is sometimes referred to as commuter type and enables fast unloading and loading as well as high capacities it also goes to show that if you want great rail throughput longitudinal seating is probably the way take notes toronto now with the tokyo olympics coming to a close you're probably wondering if any major projects were completed for the games and well yes some new stations and services have been introduced perhaps the most notable long-term change is the expansion of the railway numbering system used for wayfinding on the subway system to much more of the mainline railway network this system gives each station a number representing their location on the line and a letter or pair of letters representing the line and makes it easy to remember stations by their number and letters and to say them even if you don't speak japanese so that's it if you made it here you just got almost everything you need to know to have a basic grasp of tokyo's rapid transit network i think the tokyo network is more integrated than any other network in the world with crazy through operation happening despite varying rail gauges train profiles and more even though later systems like the piras rer were likely inspired by this i still think tokyo's through running system is the world's greatest for its incredible flexibility and capacity like many things in japan the network is a testament to what can be achieved when you have incredible coordination and planning for the most part while also being an astounding show of what can happen when you think creatively and truly try to solve transport problems with railways thanks so much for watching and i hope you enjoyed the video leave a comment down below on what tokyo transit i should cover in detail next and i'll see you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: RMTransit

Views: 26,593

Rating: 4.9664335 out of 5

Keywords: transit, transportation, tokyo, tokyo 2020, tokyo olympics, subway, metro, tokyo metro, toei subway, jr east, japan rail, yokohama, kawasaki, chiba, narita, nrt, haneda, airport, rail, railway, railfan, train, yamanote, shibuya, shinjuku, station, rapid, explained, Keio, keisei, Odakyu, Tokyu, rapid transit, commuter rail

Id: t50ZeV5Er-U

Length: 30min 42sec (1842 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021