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Tokyo Subway
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The Tokyo subway is an integral part of the world's most extensive rapid transit system in a single metropolitan area, Greater Tokyo.
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Encyclopedia
The Tokyo subway is an integral part of the world's most extensive rapid transit system in a single metropolitan area, Greater Tokyo. While the subway system itself is largely within the city center, the lines extend far out via extensive through services onto suburban railway lines.
Networks
As of June 2008, the entire network of Tokyo Metro, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation and Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit has 282 stations and 14 lines. The Tokyo Metro and Toei networks together carry a combined average of close to eight million passengers daily. Despite being ranked first in worldwide subway usage, subways make up a small fraction of heavy rail rapid transit in Tokyo alone—only 282 out of 882 railway stations, as of 2007.
There are two primary subway operators in Tokyo:
- Tokyo Metro. Formerly Teito Rapid Transit Authority (Eidan), privatized in 2004 and presently operating 168 stations and nine lines. The minimum price for one ride is 160 yen.
In addition, the Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit (TWR) operates a single mostly-underground line with eight stations.
The Yamanote Line is not a subway, but an above-ground commuter line operated by JR East. It acts as a key transportation artery in downtown Tokyo; therefore, it is often marked on Tokyo subway maps.
Many above-ground and underground lines in the Greater Tokyo Area operate through services with the Tokyo Metro and Toei lines so that in a broader meaning they consist a part of the Tokyo subway network.
The Yokohama Subway (and the planned Kawasaki Subway) also operate in the Greater Tokyo Area, but they are not directly linked to the Tokyo subway network. However, on special occasions (typically holiday weekends), the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and Namboku Line operate special direct through services onto Yokohama's fully underground Minatomirai Line via the Tokyu Toyoko Line railway. From 2012, the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line will also have regular through service to the Minatomirai Line.
System administration
Both Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway systems are closely integrated with a unified system of line colors, line codes and station numbers. However, the separate administration of metro systems has these ramifications:
- For single rides across Metro and Toei systems, a special transfer ticket is required. It costs 70 yen less than the sum of the Metro fare and the Toei fare, calculated based on the possible shortest route of the ride between the origin and destination stations. However, the Passnet system got around the issue of ticketing, by allowing one stored-fare card to be used on most of the rail operators in the Greater Tokyo Area (with the noticeable exception of JR East which used its own Suica system). The PASMO system introduced in 2007 and completely replaced the Passnet in 2008 finally allowed for one unified stored fare system for most of the Tokyo transit system including JR East. The fare charged by the stored fare system is the same as for the users of paper tickets.
- The systems represent the metro network differently in station, train and customer information diagrams. For example, the represents the Toei Oedo Line as a circle in the centre; the saves the central ring line for the Marunouchi Line and the JR Yamanote Line.
1995 Sarin Attack
In 1995, Aum Shinri Kyo, a doomsday cult, attacked the subway system with sarin nerve gas at Kasumigaseki Station and a few others, leading to 12 deaths and 1,034 people injured.
See also
External links
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