Shinjuku Station

Shinjuku Station
新宿駅

Aerial view from south (March 2016)
Location Shinjuku, Tokyo
Japan
Operated by
Line(s)
Connections Bus terminal
History
Opened 1885
Location
Shinjuku Station
Location within Japan

Shinjuku Station (新宿駅 Shinjuku-eki) is a major railway station in Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo, Japan.

Serving as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between Tokyo's special wards and Western Tokyo on inter-city rail, commuter rail, and metro lines, the station was used by an average of 3.64 million people per day in 2007, making it, by far, the world's busiest transport hub (and registered as such with Guinness World Records). The station itself has 36 platforms, including an underground arcade, above ground arcade and numerous hallways. There are well over 200 exits. Another 17 platforms (51 total) can be accessed through hallways to 5 directly connected stations without surfacing outside.

Lines

Shinjuku is served by the following railway systems:

Station facilities

JR East

South exit of JR Shinjuku Station prior to 2016 expansion
Yamanote Line platform during the morning rush hour
The west basement hall of Shinjuku station
Station layout

The station is centered around facilities servicing the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) lines. These consist of eight ground-level island platforms (16 tracks) on a north-south axis, connected by two overhead and two underground concourses. Most JR services here are urban and suburban mass transit lines, although JR's long-distance express services to Kōfu and Matsumoto on the Chūō Main Line, Narita Express to Narita Airport, and joint operations with Tobu Railway to Nikkō and Kinugawa Onsen also use this station. The JR section alone handles an average of 1.5 million passengers a day.

1 ■ Saikyō Line, Rinkai Line for Shibuya, Ōsaki, and Shin-Kiba
returning for Ikebukuro, Ōmiya, and Kawagoe
■ Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
(Through service for the Tōkaidō Main Line)		 for Yokohama, Ōfuna, Fujisawa, Chigasaki, Hiratsuka, Kōzu, and Odawara
■ Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
(Through service for the Yokosuka Line)		 for Yokohama, Ōfuna, Kamakura, and Zushi (some from platform 2)
2 ■ Saikyō Line, Rinkai Line for Shibuya, Ōsaki, Shin-Kiba
returning for Ikebukuro, Ōmiya, and Kawagoe
3 ■ Saikyō Line for Ikebukuro, Ōmiya, and Kawagoe
4 ■ Saikyō Line for Ikebukuro, Ōmiya, and Kawagoe
■ Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
(Through service for the Takasaki Line)		 for Ōmiya, Kumagaya, and Takasaki
■ Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
(Through service for the Utsunomiya Line)		 for Ōmiya, Oyama, and Utsunomiya
5/6 ■ Ltd. Express Narita Express for Narita Airport
■ Ltd. Express Nikkō/Kinugawa
(through service for Tōbu Nikkō Line)		 for Tōbu Nikkō and Kinugawa-onsen
■ Ltd. Express Akagi for Takasaki and Maebashi
■ Ltd. Express Super View Odoriko for Atami, Ito, and Izukyu Shimoda
■ Home Liner Odawara for Odawara
7/8 ■ Chūō Line (Rapid) for Ochanomizu, and Tokyo
■ Ltd. Express Shinjuku Wakashio / Shinjuku Sazanami for Chiba, Awa-Kamogawa, and Tateyama
■ Home Liner Chiba for Chiba
■ Ōme Liner for Tokyo
■ Ltd. Express Azusa / Kaiji for Tokyo and Chiba
9/10 ■ Chūō Line (Limited Express) Azusa / Kaiji for Kōfu and Matsumoto
■ Chūō Liner / Ōme Liner for Takao and Ōme
11 ■ Chūō Line (Rapid) for Nakano, Tachikawa, Hachiōji, and Takao (weekday rush-hours)
12 ■ Chūō Line (Rapid) for Nakano, Tachikawa, Hachiōji, and Takao
13 ■ Chūō-Sōbu Line for Suidobashi, Akihabara, and Chiba
14 ■ Yamanote Line (counter-clockwise) for Harajuku, Shibuya, and Shinagawa
15 ■ Yamanote Line (clockwise) for Ikebukuro, Tabata, Nippori, and Ueno
16 ■ Chūō-Sōbu Line for Higashi-Nakano, Nakano, and Mitaka

Odakyu

West exit of Odakyu Shinjuku Station

The terminus for the private Odakyu Odawara Line is parallel to the JR platforms on the west side, and handles an average of 490,000 passengers daily. This is a major commuter route stretching southwest through the suburbs and out towards the coastal city of Odawara and the mountains of Hakone. The ten platforms are built on two levels beneath the Odakyu department store; three express service tracks (six platforms) on the ground level and two tracks (four platforms) on the level below. Each track has platforms on both sides in order to completely separate boarding and alighting passengers.

Chest-high platform screen doors were added to platforms 4 and 5 in September 2012.[1]

Ground level

1 ■   Not in use
2, 3 ■ Ltd. Express. "Romancecar" for Odawara, Hakone-Yumoto, Fujisawa, Karakida and Gotemba
4, 5 ■ Rapid Express for Shin-Yurigaoka, Machida, Ebina, Hon-Atsugi, Shin-Matsuda, Odawara, Chūō-Rinkan, Yamato, Shōnandai and Fujisawa
■ Express for Noborito, Shin-Yurigaoka, Machida, Ebina, Hon-Atsugi, Shin-Matsuda, Odawara, Chūō-Rinkan, Yamato, Shōnandai, Fujisawa and Katase-Enoshima
■ Semi-Express for Hon-Atsugi
6 ■   (Alighting only)

Underground level

7 ■   (Alighting only)
8, 9 ■ Section Semi-Express, Local for Shin-Yurigaoka, Sagami-Ono, and Hon-Atsugi
10 ■   (Alighting only)

Keio

West exit of Keio Shinjuku Station

The Keio Line concourse is located to the west of the Odakyu line concourse, two floors below ground level under Keio department store. It consists of three platforms stretching north to south. Approximately 720,000 passengers use this section daily, which makes it the busiest amongst the non-JR Group railways of Japan. This suburban commuter line links Shinjuku to the city of Hachiōji to the west.[2] Chest-high platform edge doors were introduced on the Keio Line platforms in March 2014.[3] The doors are different colours for each platform. The doors on platform 2 are green.[3]

1 ■ Local for Meidaimae, Chōfu, Keio Tama Center, Hashimoto, Keio Hachiōji, and Takaosanguchi
2 ■ Express, Semi Express, Rapid for Meidaimae, Chōfu, Keio Tama Center, Hashimoto, Keio Hachiōji, and Takaosanguchi
  ■   (Alighting only)
3 ■ Special Express, Semi-Special Express, Express, Semi Express, Rapid for Meidaimae, Chōfu, Keio Tama Center, Hashimoto, Keio Hachiōji, and Takaosanguchi

Toei Subway

Toei Ōedo Line platform

The shared facilities for the Toei Shinjuku subway line and the Keiō New Line consist of two platforms stretching east-west five floors beneath the Kōshū Kaidō avenue to the southwest of the JR section. The concourse is managed by Keio Corporation but is in a separate location to the main Keio platforms. Further south (and deeper underground) are the two north-to-south Toei Ōedo subway line platforms.

Toei Shinjuku Line and Keio New Line

4 ■ Keio New Line for Hatsudai, Hatagaya, Meidaimae, Chōfu, and Hashimoto
5 ○ Toei Shinjuku Line for Ichigaya, Kudanshita, Jimbocho, Ōjima, and Moto-Yawata

Toei Ōedo Line

6 ○ Toei Ōedo Line for Roppongi and Daimon
7 ○ Toei Ōedo Line for Tochōmae and Hikarigaoka

Tokyo Metro

Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line platform

Tokyo Metro's two Marunouchi Line underground platforms stretch east-west to the north of the JR and Odakyu facilities, directly below the Metro Promenade underground mall.

1 ○ Marunouchi Line for Nakano-sakaue, Ogikubo, and Hōnanchō
2 ○ Marunouchi Line for Akasaka-mitsuke, Ginza, Ōtemachi, and Ikebukuro

Commercial facilities

East exit of Shinjuku Station
South exit of Shinjuku Station

Many department stores and shopping malls are built directly into the station. These include

In addition to the above, the Metro Promenade, which is an underground mall owned by Tokyo Metro, extends eastwards from the station beneath Shinjuku-dori avenue, all the way to the adjacent Shinjuku-sanchōme station with 60 exits along the way. The Metro Promenade in turn connects to Shinjuku Subnade, another underground shopping mall, which leads onto Seibu Railway's Seibu-Shinjuku station.

Shinjuku Station is connected by underground passageways and shopping malls to:

Nearby non-connected stations (within 500 meters of an underground passageway or station) include:

Bus terminals

There is a bus terminal at the west exit servicing both local and long-distance buses, and a JR Highway Bus terminal at the New South Gates.

On April 4, 2016, the new bus terminal and commercial facilities nearby south exit, named Buster Shinjuku (バスタ新宿 (Japanese)), has opened.[4] Considerable numbers of the coaches and the airport buses depart from this new terminal.

Passenger statistics

The figures below are the official number of passengers entering and exiting each day released by each train operator.

Operator Number Fiscal year Source Note
JR East 751,018 2013 [5] Boarding passengers only. Busiest station in Japan.
Odakyu 494,184 2013 [6] The busiest Odakyu station
Keio 730,849 2013 [7] The busiest Japanese private (i.e. non-JR) railway station
Tokyo Metro 227,366 2013 [8] The 6th busiest Tokyo Metro station
Toei Shinjuku Line 266,869 2013 134,185 entries and 132,684 exits[9] The busiest Toei subway station
Ōedo Line 133,075 2013 64,701 entries and 68,374 exits[9]

The passenger figures (boarding passengers only) for the JR East (formerly JNR) station in previous years are as shown below.

Fiscal year Daily average
1913 5,052[10]
1960 305,236[10]
1971 614,419[10]
1984 648,659[10]
2000 753,791[11]
2005 747,930[12]
2010 736,715[13]
2011 734,154[14]
2012 742,833[15]
2013 751,018[5]

History

Shinjuku Station in 1925

Shinjuku Station opened in 1885 as a stop on Japan Railway's Akabane-Shinagawa line (now part of the Yamanote Line). Shinjuku was still a quiet community at the time and the station was not heavily trafficked at first. The opening of the Chūō Line (1889), Keiō Line (1915) and Odakyū Line (1923) led to increasing traffic through the station.

Japanese government urban planner Kensaburo Kondo designed a major revamp of the station in 1933, which included a large public square on the west side completed in 1941. Kondo's plan also called for extending the Tokyu Toyoko Line to a new underground terminal on the west side of the station, and constructing an east-west underground line that would be served by the Seibu Railway and the Tokyo Kosoku Railway (forerunner of Tokyo Metro), while the Keio and Odakyu lines would use above-ground terminals to the west of the JR station. These plans were suspended upon the onset of World War II but influenced the current layout of the station area.[16] Subway service ultimately began in 1959.

Lumine Est building, originally designed to accommodate the Seibu Shinjuku Line on its second floor

The Seibu Shinjuku Line was extended from Takadanobaba Station to Seibu Shinjuku Station in 1952. Seibu Shinjuku was built as a temporary station pending a planned redevelopment of the east side of Shinjuku Station, which was to feature a large station building that would house a new Seibu terminal on its second floor. Seibu abandoned its plan to use the building due to a lack of space for trains longer than six cars; the building is now known as Lumine Est and retains some design features originally intended to accommodate the Seibu terminal (in particular, a very high ceiling on the first floor and a very low ceiling on the second floor). In the late 1980s, Seibu planned to build an underground terminal on the east side of Shinjuku, but indefinitely postponed the plan in 1995 due to costs and declining passenger growth.[16]

In August 1967, a freight train carrying jet fuel bound for the U.S. air bases at Tachikawa and Yokota collided with a freight train and caught fire on the Chūō Rapid tracks. The incident stoked ongoing political controversy in Japan regarding the Vietnam War.[17] The station was a major site for student protests in 1968 and 1969, the height of civil unrest in postwar Japan. On October 21, 1968, 290,000 marchers participated in International Anti-War Day taking over Shinjuku station and forcing trains to stop. In May and June 1969, members of the antiwar group Beheiren carrying guitars and calling themselves "folk guerrillas" led weekly singalongs in the underground plaza outside the west exit of the station, attracting crowds of thousands. Participants described it as a "liberated zone" and a "community of encounter."[18] In July, riot police cleared the plaza with tear gas and changed signs in the station to read "West Exit Concourse" instead of "West Exit Plaza." The incident represented a significant defeat for public activism in Tokyo.

There have been plans at various points in history to connect Shinjuku into the Shinkansen network, and the 1973 Shinkansen Basic Plan, still in force, specifies that the station should be the southern terminus of the Jōetsu Shinkansen line to Niigata. While construction of the Ōmiya-Shinjuku link never started and the Jōetsu line presently terminates in Tokyo Station, the right of way, including an area underneath the station, remains reserved.

On May 5, 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult attempted a chemical terrorist attack by setting off a cyanide gas device in a toilet in the underground concourse, barely a month after the gas attack on the Tokyo subway which killed 13, left 6,252 people with non-fatal injuries, severely injured 50 people, and caused 984 cases of temporary vision problems. This time the attack was thwarted by staff who extinguished the burning device.

A major expansion of the JR terminal was completed in April 2016, adding a 32-story office tower, bus terminal, taxi terminal, and numerous shops and restaurants.[19]

Keiō Shinjuku Station

Keio Shinjuku Oiwake Building, the site of the former terminal

When the Keio Line extended to Shinjuku in 1915, its terminal was located several blocks east of the government railway (presently JR) station. The terminal was first named Shinjuku-Oiwake Station (新宿追分駅) and was on the street near the Isetan department store. In 1927, the station was moved from the street to a newly built terminal adjacent to the original station. The station building housed a department store. The station name was changed to Yotsuya-Shinjuku Station (四谷新宿駅) in 1930 and again to Keiō Shinjuku Station (京王新宿駅) in 1937.

The tracks from the terminal were on the Kōshū Kaidō highway, which crosses the Yamanote Line and the Chūō Line in front of the south entrance of Shinjuku Station by a bridge. The Keiō Line had a station for the access to Shinjuku Station, named Teishajō-mae Station (停車場前駅) and renamed in 1937 Shōsen Shinjuku Ekimae Station (省線新宿駅前駅).

In July 1945, the terminal of the Keiō Line was relocated to the present location, though on the ground level, on the west side of Shinjuku Station. Keiō Shinjuku Station and Shōsen Shinjuku Ekimae Station were closed. This was because the trains faced difficulty in climbing up the slopes of the bridge over the governmental railway after one of the nearby transformer substations was destroyed by an air raid. The site of Keiō Shinjuku Station near Shinjuku-Sanchōme subway station is now occupied by two buildings owned by Keiō: Keiō Shinjuku Sanchōme Building and Keiō Shinjuku Oiwake Building.

Adjacent stations

« Service »
Yamanote Line
Yoyogi - Shin-Ōkubo
Chūō Line
Tokyo   Chūō Liner
Ōme Liner		   Tachikawa
Yotsuya   Commuter Special Rapid   Kokubunji
Yotsuya   Chūō Special Rapid
Ōme Special Rapid		   Nakano
Mitaka[Note 1]
Yotsuya   Commuter Rapid   Nakano
Yotsuya   Rapid   Nakano
Yoyogi   Local
Chūō-Sōbu Line		   Ōkubo
Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
Ikebukuro
Kichijōji		   Narita Express   Shibuya
Ikebukuro   Super View Odoriko   Musashi-Kosugi
Ikebukuro   Special Rapid   Shibuya
Ikebukuro   Rapid   Shibuya
Ikebukuro   Local   Shibuya
Saikyō Line
Shibuya   Commuter rapid   Ikebukuro
Shibuya   Rapid   Ikebukuro
Shibuya   Local   Ikebukuro
Odakyu Odawara Line
Terminus Romancecar Mukogaoka-Yuen
Shin-Yurigaoka
Machida
Sagami-Ono
Hon-Atsugi
Odawara (Super Hakone)
Terminus Sectional Semi-express
Semi-express
Express
Rapid express		 Yoyogi-Uehara
Terminus Local Minami-Shinjuku
Keiō Line
Terminus Local
Rapid
Semi Express
Express
Semi-Special Express		 Sasazuka
Terminus Special Express Meidaimae
Keio New Line
Through to Toei Shinjuku Line Local
Rapid
Semi Express
Express		 Hatsudai
Toei Shinjuku Line (S 01)
Through to Keio New Line   Express   Ichigaya (S 04)
Through to Keio New Line Local Shinjuku-sanchōme (S 02)
Toei Oedo Line (E 27)
Yoyogi (E 26) - Tochōmae (E 28)
Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M 08)
Nishi-Shinjuku (M 07) - Shinjuku-sanchōme (M 09)
  1. ↑ Only Chūō Special Rapid services starting at Shinjuku

See also

Cultural references

The station and other parts of the Toei Ōedo Line are referenced in the Digimon Adventure franchise.[20][21][22]

References

  1. ↑ 小田急 新宿駅 可動式ホーム柵 使用 [Platform screens introduced at Odakyu Shinjuku Station]. Tetsudo.com (in Japanese). Japan: Asahi Interactive, Inc. September 12, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.keio.co.jp/english/railwaymap/index.html
  3. 1 2 京王線新宿駅のホームドア整備が完了 [Installation of platform-edge doors completed at Keio Line Shinjuku Station]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ Buster Shinjuku Shinjuku-busterminal.co.jp
  5. 1 2 各駅の乗車人員　（2013年度） [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2013)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  6. ↑ 1日平均乗降人員 [Average daily station usage figures] (in Japanese). Odakyu Electric Railway. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  7. ↑ 1日の駅別乗降人員 [Average daily station usage figures] (in Japanese). Japan: Keio Corporation. 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ 各駅の乗降人員ランキング [Station usage ranking] (in Japanese). Tokyo Metro. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  9. 1 2 各駅乗降人員一覧 [Station usage figures] (in Japanese). Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 日本国有鉄道停車場一覧 [JNR Station Directory]. Japan: Japanese National Railways. 1985. p. 480. ISBN 4-533-00503-9.
  11. ↑ 各駅の乗車人員　（2000年度） [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2000)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ 各駅の乗車人員　（2005年度） [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ 各駅の乗車人員 (2010年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2010)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ 各駅の乗車人員　（2011年度） [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2011)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  15. ↑ 各駅の乗車人員　（2012年度） [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2012)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  16. 1 2 "西武新宿駅はなぜ遠いのか　幻の東口乗り入れ計画". The Nikkei. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  17. ↑ Havens, Thomas R. H. (2014). Fire Across the Sea: The Vietnam War and Japan 1965-1975. Princeton University Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 9781400858439.
  18. ↑ Konaka Yotaro, "Shinjuku: Community of Encounter," Japan Quarterly, 38 no.3 (1991), 301–310.
  19. ↑ "新宿駅が生まれ変わります" (PDF). East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  20. ↑ "Odaiba Memorial – Shinjuku". marron.extracaffeine.com. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  21. ↑ "Odaiba Memorial – Juunigou-sen". marron.extracaffeine.com. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  22. ↑ "Odaiba Memorial – Hikarigaoka". marron.extracaffeine.com. Retrieved 2015-12-15.

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Coordinates: 35°41′22″N 139°42′01″E / 35.689475°N 139.700349°E / 35.689475; 139.700349

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