Yamanote Line

The Yamanote Line (Japanese: 山手線, Hepburn: Yamanote-sen) is a loop service in Tokyo, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres, including Marunouchi, the Yūrakuchō/Ginza area, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Ueno, with all but two of its 30 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines.

Yamanote Line
JY
A Yamanote Line E235 series EMU in January 2020
Overview
Native name山手線
LocaleTokyo, Japan
TerminiShinagawa (loop)
Stations30
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Operator(s) JR East
Depot(s)Tokyo General Rolling Stock Centre (near Ōsaki Station)
Rolling stockE235 series
History
Opened1885
Technical
Line length34.5 km (21.4 mi)
Number of tracks2
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification1,500 V DC overhead line
Operating speed90 km/h (55 mph)
Route map

Internally JR East refers to the "Yamanote Line" as the quadruple-track 20.6 km corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata via Shinjuku.[1][2][3] The corridor consists of a pair of tracks used by Yamanote local trains and another parallel pair of tracks called "the Yamanote Freight Line" used by Saikyō and Shōnan-Shinjuku line trains, some limited express services, and freight trains.[4] In everyday usage, branding on maps and station signage, the "Yamanote Line" refers to the local service running the entire 34.5 km Line looping between the Yamanote corridor via Shinjuku Station and the central portions of the Tōhoku and Tōkaidō Main Lines Via Tokyo Station.[5] (This article uses the same definition unless noted otherwise.)

Service outline

Trains run from 04:26 to 01:18 the next day at intervals as short as 2 minutes during peak periods and four minutes at other times. A complete loop takes 59 to 65 minutes. All trains stop at each station. Trains are put into and taken out of service at Ōsaki (which for timetabling purposes is the line's start and terminus) and sometimes Ikebukuro. Certain trains also start from Tamachi in the mornings and end at Shinagawa in the evenings. Trains which run clockwise are known as sotomawari (外回り, "outer circle") and those counter-clockwise as uchi-mawari (内回り, "inner circle"). (Trains travel on the left in Japan, as with road traffic.)

The line also acts as a fare zone destination for JR tickets from locations outside Tokyo, permitting travel to any JR station on or within the loop. This refers to stations on the Yamanote Line as well as the Chūō-Sōbu and Chūō Rapid Lines and between Sendagaya and Ochanomizu.

The line colour used on all rolling stock, station signs and diagrams is JNR Yellow Green No.6 (■, Munsell code 7.5GY 6.5/7.8), known in Japanese as "Japanese bush warbler green" (ウグイス色, uguisu-iro).

Ridership and overcrowding

Due to the Yamanote Line's central location connecting most of Tokyo's major commuter hubs and commercial areas, the line is very heavily used. Sections of the line were running over 250%[a] capacity in the 1990s, remained above 200%[a] for most of the 2000s[6] with most sections dropping below 150%[a] in 2018.[7] This is due to larger and more frequent trains being introduced to the Yamanote Line and the opening of parallel relief lines such as the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line and Ueno–Tokyo Line. The maximum overcrowding during rush hour is about 158%.

The ridership intensity of the Yamanote Line in 2018 was 1,134,963 passengers - km / km of route.[1][b][c] The ridership of the Yamanote Line cited in a 2015 MLIT National Transit report was 4,098,582 trips per day.[8][b] However, in both cases "Yamanote Line" refers to JR East's internal definition of the entire rail corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata stations via Shinjuku which includes the ridership of the Saikyō and Shōnan–Shinjuku Lines on the parallel Yamanote freight line. Meanwhile, the ridership of the Yamanote Line services between Tabata and Shinagawa Station via Tokyo are excluded and counted as part of the Tōhoku and Tōkaidō Main Lines.

Name

"Yamanote" literally refers to inland, hillier districts or foothills (as distinct from areas close to the sea). In Tokyo, "Yamanote" lies along the western side of the Yamanote Line loop. The word consists of the Japanese morphemes yama, meaning 'mountain', the genitive suffix no, and te, meaning 'hand', thus literally translating as "mountain's hand", analogous to the English term "foothills".

Yamanote-sen is officially written in Japanese without the kana no (の、ノ), which makes its pronunciation ambiguous in print. The characters 山手 may also be pronounced yamate, as in Yamate-dōri (Yamate Street), which runs parallel to the west side of the Yamanote Line. The Seishin-Yamate Line in Kobe and the Yamate area of Yokohama also use this pronunciation.

After World War II, SCAP ordered all train placards to be romanized, and the Yamanote Line was romanized as "Yamate Line". It was thus alternatively known as "Yamanote" and "Yamate" until 1971, when the Japanese National Railways changed the pronunciation back to "Yamanote". Some older people still refer to the line as the "Yamate Line".

Station list
  • Stations are listed in order clockwise from Shinagawa to Tabata, but for operational purposes trains officially start and terminate at Ōsaki.
    • Clockwise (外回り, sotomawari, "outer circle"): Shinagawa → Shibuya → Shinjuku → Ikebukuro → Tabata → Ueno → Tokyo → Shinagawa
    • Counter-clockwise (内回り, uchimawari, "inner circle"): Shinagawa → Tokyo → Ueno → Tabata → Ikebukuro → Shinjuku → Shibuya → Shinagawa
  • All stations are located in the special wards of Tokyo.
  • All trains on the Yamanote Line are local trains that stop at all stations.
  • This table also lists stations where Keihin–Tōhoku Line rapid trains would stop.

Legend

  • ● : Rapid trains stop
  • ｜ : Rapid trains pass
  • ▲ : Rapid trains stop only on weekends or holidays
Line name No. Station Japanese Distance (km) Keihin–Tōhoku

Line Rapid

 Transfers Location
Between
stations		 Total
Yamanote
Line
SGWJY25
 Shinagawa 品川 from
Tamachi
2.2		 0.0 ●
Minato
OSKJY24
 Ōsaki 大崎 2.0 2.0
Shinagawa
JY23 Gotanda 五反田 0.9 2.9
JY22 Meguro 目黒 1.2 4.1
EBSJY21
 Ebisu 恵比寿 1.5 5.6
Shibuya
SBYJY20
 Shibuya 渋谷 1.6 7.2
JY19 Harajuku 原宿 1.2 8.4
JY18 Yoyogi 代々木 1.5 9.9
SJKJY17
 Shinjuku[Note 1] 新宿 0.7 10.6
Shinjuku
JY16 Shin-Ōkubo 新大久保 1.3 11.9  
JY15 Takadanobaba 高田馬場 1.4 13.3
JY14 Mejiro 目白 0.9 14.2   Toshima
IKBJY13
 Ikebukuro 池袋 1.2 15.4
JY12 Ōtsuka 大塚 1.8 17.2 Toden Arakawa Line (Otsuka-ekimae)
JY11 Sugamo 巣鴨 1.1 18.3 I Toei Mita Line (I-15)
JY10 Komagome 駒込 0.7 19.0 N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-14)
JY09 Tabata 田端 1.6 20.6 ● JK Keihin–Tōhoku Line Kita
Tohoku
Main
Line
JY08 Nishi-Nippori 西日暮里 0.8 21.4 ｜
Arakawa
NPRJY07
 Nippori 日暮里 0.5 21.9 ｜
JY06 Uguisudani 鶯谷 1.1 23.0 ｜ JK Keihin–Tōhoku Line Taitō
UENJY05
 Ueno 上野 1.1 24.1 ●
JY04 Okachimachi 御徒町 0.6 24.7 ▲
AKBJY03
 Akihabara 秋葉原 1.0 25.7 ●
  • JK Keihin–Tōhoku Line
  • JB Chūō-Sōbu Line
  • Tsukuba Express (01)
  • H Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-16)
 Chiyoda
KNDJY02
 Kanda 神田 0.7 26.4 ●
TYOJY01
 Tokyo 東京 1.3 27.7 ●
Tokaido
Main
Line
JY30 Yūrakuchō 有楽町 0.8 28.5 ｜
SMBJY29
 Shimbashi 新橋 1.1 29.6 ｜
Minato
HMCJY28
 Hamamatsuchō 浜松町 1.2 30.8 ●
JY27 Tamachi 田町 1.5 32.3 ●
TGWJY26
 Takanawa Gateway 高輪ゲートウェイ 1.3 33.6 ●
SGWJY25
 Shinagawa 品川 0.9 34.5 ● See above
  1. The southern half of Shinjuku Station is in Shibuya ward, so technically the Yamanote Line has 4.5 stations in Shibuya ward and 2.5 stations in Shinjuku ward.
  2. Stops on weekends and national holidays only.

Rolling stock

As of January 2020, the line's services are operated exclusively by a fleet of 50 11-car E235 series EMUs, the first of which was introduced on the line on 30 November 2015. However, a number of technical faults, including problems with door close indicators, resulted in the train being taken out of service the same day.[9] The E235 series returned to service on the Yamanote Line on 7 March 2016.[10]

Former rolling stock
Former E231-500 series 6-door car with the seats folded up, January 2010

Prior to the E235 series, the line's services were operated by E231-500 series EMUs, which were in use from April 21, 2002[11] to January 20, 2020. These trains originally each included two "six-door cars" with six pairs of doors per side and bench seats that were folded up to provide standing room only during the morning peak until 10 a.m. From February 22, 2010, the seats were no longer folded up during the morning peak,[12] and all trains were standardized with newly built four-door cars by 31 August 2011.[13] This was due to reduced congestion on the line as well as preparation for the installation of platform doors on all stations by 2017.[14]

The E231 series supported a new type of traffic control system, called digital Automatic Train Control (D-ATC). The series also had a more modern design and has two 15-inch LCD monitors above each door, one of which is used for displaying silent commercials, news and weather; and another which is used for displaying information on the next stop (in Japanese, English, Korean and more) along with notification of delays on Shinkansen and other railway lines in the greater Tokyo area. The E231-500 series trains were based at Tokyo General Rolling Stock Centre near Ōsaki Station.[11]

  • 63 series
  • A yellow (Tsurumi Line) 101 series train
  • A Yamanote Line 103 series train in March 1985
  • A Yamanote Line 205 series train in February 2003
  • A Yamanote Line E231-500 series set in March 2009

Timeline
101 series
103 series
205 series
E231-500 series
E235 series
│
1960
│
1965
│
1970
│
1975
│
1980
│
1985
│
1990
│
1995
│
2000
│
2005
│
2010
│
2015
│
2020
Rolling stock transitions since 1960

History
The construction of the Yamanote Line and current JR lines
The Yamanote Line in 1925

The predecessor of the present-day Yamanote Line was opened on 1 March 1885 by the Nippon Railway Company, operating between Shinagawa Station in the south and Akabane Station in the north.[17] The top part of the loop between Ikebukuro and Tabata (a distance of 3.3 km) opened on 1 April 1903, and both lines were merged to become the Yamanote Line on 12 October 1909.[17]

The line was electrified on December 16, 1909, soon after the Osaki – Shinagawa section was double-tracked on November 30. The loop was completed in 1925 with the opening of the double track, electrified section between Kanda and Ueno on 1 November, providing a north-south link via Tokyo Station through the city's business centre.[15] A parallel freight line, also completed in 1925, ran along the inner side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata.

During the prewar era, the Ministry of Railways did not issue permits to private suburban railway companies for new lines to cross the Yamanote Line from their terminal stations to the central districts of Tokyo, forcing the companies to terminate services at stations on the line. This policy led to the development of new urban centers (新都心、副都心, shintoshin, fukutoshin) around major transfer points on the Yamanote Line, most notably at Shinjuku and Ikebukuro (which are now the two busiest passenger railway stations in the world).

The contemporary Yamanote Line came into being on 19 November 1956 when it was separated from the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and given its own set of tracks along the eastern side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata.[15] However, Yamanote Line trains continued to periodically use the Keihin-Tōhoku tracks, particularly on holidays and during off-peak hours, until rapid service trains were introduced on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line in 1988.

A major explosion on the Yamanote Freight Line in Shinjuku in 1967 led to the diversion of freight traffic to the more distant Musashino Line. To address severe undercapacity, the freight line was repurposed for use by Saikyo Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, as well as certain limited express trains such as the Narita Express and some liner services. Likewise, from 14 March 2015 onwards, the Ueno-Tokyo Line starts services, which connects the Tohoku Main Line and Joban Line to the Tokaido Main Line, to provide further relief on the busiest portion of the Yamanote Line today, the segment between Ueno and Tokyo stations.

Automatic train control (ATC) was introduced from 6 December 1981, and digital ATC (D-ATC) was introduced from 30 July 2006.[15]

Station numbering was introduced on JR East stations in the Tokyo area from 20 August 2016, with Yamanote Line stations numbered using the prefix "JY".[18]

A new station, Takanawa Gateway Station,[19] opened on 14 March 2020, in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo.[20] Takanawa Gateway was built on the Yamanote Line and Keihin-Tohoku Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations, becoming the first new station on the line since Nishi-Nippori was built in 1971.[21][22] The distance between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations was 2.2 km, making it the longest stretch of track between stations on the Yamanote Line.[21] The new station was constructed on top of the 20-hectare former railyard, which is undergoing rationalization and redevelopment by JR East; it is roughly parallel to the existing Sengakuji Station on the Toei Asakusa and Keikyu Main lines. The Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line tracks were moved slightly to the east to be aligned closer to the Tokaido Shinkansen tracks. The area on the west side of the yard made available will be redeveloped with high-rise office buildings, creating an international business center with good connections to the Shinkansen and Haneda Airport.[21]

See also

Notes

a. ^ Crowding levels defined by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism:[23][24]

100% — Commuters have enough personal space and are able to take a seat or stand while holding onto the straps or hand rails.
150% — Commuters have enough personal space to read a newspaper.
180% — Commuters must fold newspapers to read.
200% — Commuters are pressed against each other in each compartment but can still read small magazines.
250% — Commuters are pressed against each other, unable to move.

b. ^ Ridership of the section between Shinagawa-Tabata (via Shinjuku) including ridership from the Saikyo and Shonan-Shinjuku Lines operating through this section.

c. ^ 「平均通過人員」or average passenger intensity is defined by JR East as Annual passenger-kilometre / route length / number of workdays per year.[25]

References
  1. "路線別ご利用状況（2014～2018年度）" (PDF). JR East.
  2. "線路別ご利用状況（2011～2015年度）" (PDF). JR East.
  3. "山手線 命名100年－38年前に読み統". Asahi Shimbun (3rd evening ed.). 7 March 2009. p. 14.
  4. 山手線電車100周年. Japan Railfan Magazine. 50. Koyusha CO., LTD. 1 February 2010. pp. 9–50.
  5. 命名100周年！山手線のヒミツ70. Ikaros Publications Ltd. 10 November 2009.
  6. "JR山手線上野－御徒町間が混雑率ワースト2位に－ワースト1位は総武線". 上野経済新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  7. "混雑率データ（平成30年度）" (PDF). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 18 July 2019.
  8. "平成27年 大都市交通センサス 首都圈報告書" (PDF). P.92. 国土交通省.
  9. 山手線に「次世代通勤電車」 Ｅ２３５系が営業運転を開始 [E235 series "next-generation commuter train" enters service on Yamanote Line]. Chunichi Web (in Japanese). Japan: The Chunichi Shimbun. 30 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. 山手線 新型車両が３か月ぶりに運転再開 [New Yamanote Line train re-enters service after 3 months]. NHK News Web (in Japanese). Japan: NHK. 7 March 2016. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  11. JR電車編成表 2015冬 [JR EMU Formations - Winter 2015] (in Japanese). Japan: Kotsu Shimbunsha. 21 November 2014. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-4-330-51614-1.
  12. 山手線6扉車を順次4扉車に [Yamanote Line 6-door cars to be gradually replaced with 4-door cars]. Hobidas (in Japanese). Neko Publishing. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  13. 山手線全編成の6扉車置換えが完了 [Yamanote Line 6-door car replacement complete]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  14. 山手線、朝も全座席使えます 混雑率がちょっぴり改善 [Yamanote Line, seats available mornings too; crowding improved slightly] (in Japanese). 17 February 2010. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  15. 首都圏鉄道完全ガイド 主要JR路線編 [Tokyo Area Complete Railway Guide - Major JR Lines]. Japan: Futabasha. 6 December 2013. p. 13. ISBN 978-4-575-45414-7.
  16. Japan Railfan Magazine, October 2008 issue, p.15
  17. Ishino, Tetsu, ed. (1998). 停車場変遷大辞典 国鉄・JR編 [Station Transition Directory - JNR/JR]. I. Japan: JTB. p. 89. ISBN 4-533-02980-9.
  18. JR東日本で駅ナンバリングの導入開始 [Station introduced on JR East]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 21 August 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  19. "Introducing the newest stop on Tokyo's Yamanote Line: Takanawa Gateway". The Japan Times Online. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  20. 田町～品川駅間に新駅を設置し、まちづくりを進めます [New station to be constructed between Tamachi and Shinagawa] (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). East Japan Railway Company. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  21. "New Yamanote Line station eyed". The Japan Times. Kyodo News. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  22. Kameda, Masaaki (30 June 2014). "New station to boost Shinagawa's international role". The Japan Times. FYI (column). Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  23. https://www.mlit.go.jp/tetudo/toshitetu/03_04.html
  24. Kikuchi, Daisuke (6 July 2017). "Tokyo plans new effort to ease commuter hell on rush-hour trains". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017.
  25. https://www.jreast.co.jp/rosen_avr/

Further reading
  • Shibata, Togo (December 2016). 山手線の車両史 戦後から今日まで [Yamanote Line rolling stock history since the war until today]. Tetsudo Daiya Joho Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 45 no. 392. Japan: Kotsu Shimbun. pp. 14–19.
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