Tokyo Station (, ), also sometimes referred to as Tokyo Central Station, is a major railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far from the Ginza commercial district. Due to the large area covered by the station, it is divided into the Marunouchi (west) and Yaesu (east) sides in its directional signage.
Served by the high-speed rail lines of the Shinkansen network, Tokyo Station is the main inter-city rail terminal in Tokyo. It is the busiest station in Japan, with more than 4,000 trains arriving and departing daily, and the fifth-busiest in eastern Japan in terms of passenger throughput; on average, more than 500,000 people use Tokyo Station every day. The station is also served by many regional commuter lines of Japan Railways, as well as the Tokyo Metro network.
Lines
Trains on the following lines are available at Tokyo Station:
Tōhoku Shinkansen
Yamagata Shinkansen
Akita Shinkansen
Jōetsu Shinkansen
Hokuriku Shinkansen
Hokkaido Shinkansen
Tōkaidō Main Line
Ueno–Tokyo Line
Keihin–Tōhoku Line
Yamanote Line
Chūō Main Line (including Chūō Line (Rapid)) Sōbu Main Line (including Sōbu Line (Rapid), Limited Express Narita Express, Shiosai) Yokosuka Line (including Limited Express Narita Express) Keiyō Line
(through services to/from San'yō Shinkansen operated by JR West) Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line
The station is linked by underground passageways to the Ōtemachi underground (subway) station complex served by the Tōzai, Chiyoda, Hanzōmon, and Mita subway lines.
It is also possible to walk to the Nijūbashimae, Hibiya, Yūrakuchō, Ginza, and Higashi-ginza Stations completely underground (the last a distance of over ), but these stations can usually be reached more quickly by train.
Tokyo Station is also a major intercity bus terminal, with regular midday service to several cities in the Kantō region and overnight service to the Kansai and Tōhoku regions. The furthest overnight bus service goes to Izumo-Taisha, over away.
Station layout
The main station facade on the western side of the station is brick-built, surviving from the time when the station opened in 1914. The main station consists of 11 island platforms serving 22 tracks, raised above street level and running in a north–south direction. The main concourse runs east–west below the platforms.
The Shinkansen lines are on the east (or Yaesu) side of the station, along with a multi-storey Daimaru department store. The entrances nearest to the Shinkansen lines are named Yaesu, and those at the extreme East of the station are named Nihonbashi.
On the far west side is the Marunouchi entrances, which are closest to the two underground Sōbu/Yokosuka line platforms serving four tracks (five stories below ground level). The Narita Express to Narita International Airport (NRT) uses these platforms.
The two Keiyō Line platforms serving four tracks are four stories below ground some hundreds of meters to the south of the main station with moving walkways to serve connecting passengers.
The whole complex is linked by an extensive system of underground passageways that merge with surrounding commercial buildings and shopping centers.
JR
Main-level platforms
(listed in order from west to east)
JR East
Yokosuka/Sōbu Line platforms
Keiyo Line platforms
JR Central
Originally, platforms 3 to 10 were numbered as platforms 1 to 8 and additional platforms were numbered sequentially from west to east through the opening of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964. Platforms 9 to 13 were used for the Tōkaidō Main Line and Yokosuka Line but were removed in 1988, and platforms 12 and 13 were then used for the new Tōhoku Shinkansen from 1991 to 1997. The current Chūō Main Line platform opened in 1995 as platforms 1 and 2, and other platforms were renumbered accordingly, leaving platforms 10 and 11 unused. The current platform numbering became effective in 1997 when one of the Tōkaidō Main Line platforms was repurposed for the Jōetsu Shinkansen as platforms 20 and 21. The existing Tōhoku Shinkansen platforms were simultaneously renumbered as 22 and 23.