Toei Ōedo Line

The Ōedo Line is the first Tokyo subway line to use linear motor propulsion (and the second in Japan after the Osaka Metro Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line), which allows it to use smaller cars and smaller tunnels (a benefit similarly achieved by the Advanced Rapid Transit system manufactured by Bombardier). This technology, though, is incompatible with other railway and subway lines, which can only operate with vehicles utilizing conventional rotary motors, thus preventing Ōedo Line trains from operating through services onto them. Although vehicles with rotary motor propulsion can technically operate on the Ōedo Line, its smaller tunnels and loading gauge prevents such occurrences, hence making the Ōedo Line the first self-enclosed subway line in Tokyo in over 40 years, and the first such line operated by Toei.

The line is 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 billion 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.[2] (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.[3] 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. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, as of June 2009 the Ōedo Line was the fourth most crowded subway line in Tokyo, at its peak running at 178%^[a] capacity between Monzen-Nakachō and Tsukishima stations.[4]

There are plans to extend the Ōedo Line westward from its current western terminus at Hikarigaoka Station through to a new terminus in Ōizumigakuenchō, 1.5 km north of Ōizumi-gakuen Station (on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line) then later towards Higashi-Tokorozawa Station (on the Musashino Line). Construction of the first segment to Ōizumigakuenchō is tentatively scheduled for before 2015, and will include the construction of three new stations, temporarily named Doshida station, Ōizumichō station and Ōizumigakuenchō station.[5] Following the awarding of the 2020 Summer Olympics to Tokyo, there has been speculation regarding the addition of another 2.7 km to the proposed extension in order to extend the line to Niiza where the shooting range for the Olympics is to be located. A decision regarding this matter is expected in 2015.[6]

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 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 Tochōmae Station facing towards Hikarigaoka, and vice versa. The arrangement is very much like the London Underground Circle Line since 2009, but does not share any track segments with other lines.

The full 40.7 km trip from Tochōmae around the loop and onward to Hikarigaoka takes 81 minutes. Trains operate once every three to five minutes during rush hours, and once every six minutes during off-peak weekday hours, weekends and holidays.[7]

All stations are located in Tokyo.

No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers	Location
			Between stations	From E-28
E28	Tochomae	都庁前	-	0.0	E Toei Oedo Line (for Hikarigaoka and Roppongi)	Shinjuku
E01	Shinjuku-nishiguchi	新宿西口	0.8	0.8	M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-08) JC Chūō Line (Rapid) JB Chūō-Sōbu Line JY Yamanote Line JA Saikyō Line JS Shōnan-Shinjuku Line OH Odakyu Odawara Line KO Keio Line KO Keio New Line Seibu Shinjuku Line
E02	Higashi-shinjuku	東新宿	1.4	2.2	F Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line (F-12)
E03	Wakamatsu-kawada	若松河田	1.0	3.2
E04	Ushigome-yanagicho	牛込柳町	0.6	3.8
E05	Ushigome-kagurazaka	牛込神楽坂	1.0	4.8
E06	Iidabashi	飯田橋	1.0	5.8	T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-06) Y Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (Y-13) N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-10) JB Chūō-Sōbu Line	Bunkyō
E07	Kasuga	春日	1.0	6.8	I Toei Mita Line (I-12) M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (Korakuen: M-22) N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (Korakuen: N-11)
E08	Hongo-sanchome	本郷三丁目	0.8	7.6	M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-21)
E09	Ueno-okachimachi	上野御徒町	1.1	8.7	G Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Ueno-hirokoji: G-15) H Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (Naka-okachimachi: H-17) JY Yamanote Line JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (Okachimachi)	Taitō
E10	Shin-okachimachi	新御徒町	0.8	9.5	Tsukuba Express (02)
E11	Kuramae	蔵前	1.0	10.5	A Toei Asakusa Line (A-17)
E12	Ryogoku	両国	1.2	11.7	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line	Sumida
E13	Morishita	森下	1.0	12.7	S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-11)	Kōtō
E14	Kiyosumi-shirakawa	清澄白河	0.6	13.3	Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-11)
E15	Monzen-nakacho	門前仲町	1.2	14.5	T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-12)
E16	Tsukishima	月島	1.4	15.9	Y Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (Y-21)	Chūō
E17	Kachidoki	勝どき	0.8	16.7
E18	Tsukijishijo	築地市場	1.5	18.2
E19	Shiodome	汐留	0.9	19.1	Yurikamome (U-02)	Minato
E20	Daimon	大門	0.9	20.0	A Toei Asakusa Line (A-09) JY Yamanote Line JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (Hamamatsuchō) MO Tokyo Monorail
E21	Akabanebashi	赤羽橋	1.3	21.3
E22	Azabu-juban	麻布十番	0.8	22.1	N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-04)
E23	Roppongi	六本木	1.1	23.2	H Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-04)
E24	Aoyama-itchome	青山一丁目	1.3	24.5	G Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (G-04) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-03)
E25	Kokuritsu-kyogijo	国立競技場	1.2	25.7	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (Sendagaya)	Shinjuku
E26	Yoyogi	代々木	1.5	27.2	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line JY Yamanote Line	Shibuya
E27	Shinjuku	新宿	0.6	27.8	S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-01) JC Chūō Line (Rapid) JB Chūō-Sōbu Line JY Yamanote Line JA Saikyō Line JS Shōnan-Shinjuku Line OH Odakyu Odawara Line KO Keio Line KO Keio New Line
E28	Tochomae	都庁前	0.8	28.6	E Toei Oedo Line (for Iidabashi)	Shinjuku
E29	Nishi-shinjuku-gochome	西新宿五丁目	0.8	29.4
E30	Nakano-sakaue	中野坂上	1.2	30.6	MMb Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-06)	Nakano
E31	Higashi-nakano	東中野	1.0	31.6	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line
E32	Nakai	中井	0.8	32.4	Seibu Shinjuku Line	Shinjuku
E33	Ochiai-minami-nagasaki	落合南長崎	1.3	33.7
E34	Shin-egota	新江古田	1.6	35.3		Nakano
E35	Nerima	練馬	1.6	36.9	Seibu Ikebukuro Line Seibu Yurakucho Line Seibu Toshima Line	Nerima
E36	Toshimaen	豊島園	0.9	37.8	Seibu Toshima Line
E37	Nerima-kasugacho	練馬春日町	1.5	39.3
E38	Hikarigaoka	光が丘	1.4	40.7

An Oedo Line 12-000 series trainset

• Toei 12-000 series 8-car EMU trainsets

Oedo Line trains are housed and maintained at the Kiba depot, located underneath Kiba Park to the southeast of Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station. Prior to the completion of the Oedo Line loop in 2000, servicing was performed at a depot near Hikarigaoka Station.

Major overhaul work for Oedo Line trains is performed at the Magome depot, located south of Nishi-Magome Station on the Toei Asakusa Line. Oedo Line trains access this facility using a connecting tunnel to the Asakusa Line near Shiodome Station. Because of differences in infrastructure and technology used preventing trains on either line from accessing the other, a special Toei Class E5000 locomotive powers these ferry runs during overnight hours when the subway is closed.

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 line 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 from Shinjuku to Kokuritsu-Kyōgijō on April 20, 2000.

With this extension, Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, named the line "Toei Oedo Line", where Oedo 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).

• List of railway lines in Japan
• London Underground Circle Line , Bangkok MRT Blue Line and Hamburg U3, three metro lines with similar arrangements

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toei Ōedo Line.

• Toei Transportation Information