Yamanote Line

The Yamanote Line (Japanese: 山手線, Hepburn: Yamanote-sen) is a railway line of East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's big stations and city centres, including Marunouchi, the Yūrakuchō/Ginza area, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Ueno, with all but two of its 29 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines. 

Yamanote Line E235 series EMU

Route map

As an official line name, "Yamanote Line" is usually meant as a line with tracks between Shinagawa and Tabata from Shinjuku that are used by local trains on its tracks and also the parallel Yamanote Freight Line which is used by Saikyō Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, some limited express services, and freight trains. However, in everyday use, the "Yamanote Line" refers to the entire 34.5 km loop line served by local trains. (This article uses the same thing meant except when it is said that it would not be the same meaning meant.)

History

In 1909, The Yamanote Line began service between Shinagawa and Akabane, and it was called the "Shinagawa Line" at that time. A train consisted of 10 cars. The circular line began in 1925. A train schedule 5 trains/hour 72 minutes/a round in 1925, 25 trains/hour 60 minutes/a round in 2014. In 1961, the train color changed from brown to yellow. In 1972, the train color changed from yellow to green. In 1987, Japan Railway was privatized. In 1990, the Yamanote line added one more car to the trains. Wrapping advertisement, using Yamanote Line, has started since 2000. Each station are installing the platform screen doors for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Features

The Yamanote Line has no signal, and a train follows the preceding train. Yamanote Line has not only passenger trains but also freight trains. The Yamanote Line has only one railway crossing. In 2013, 3,238,000 people use Yamanote Line per a day.

Stations

Line1	Station	In Japanese	Distance2		Transfers		Location
					JR East	Others
Yamanote Line	Shinagawa	品川	2.2	0.0	■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Yokosuka Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)3	JR Central: Tōkaidō Shinkansen Keikyu: Main Line	Minato
	Ōsaki	大崎	2.0	2.0	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Rinkai Line	Shinagawa
	Gotanda	五反田	0.9	2.9		Tōkyū: Ikegami Line Toei: ○Asakusa Line (A-05)
	Meguro	目黒	1.2	4.1		Tōkyū: Meguro Line Tokyo Metro: ○Namboku Line (N-01) Toei: ○Mita Line (I-01)
	Ebisu	恵比寿	1.5	5.6	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Hibiya Line (H-02)	Shibuya
	Shibuya	渋谷	1.6	7.2	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Keio: Inokashira Line Tōkyū: Den-en-toshi Line, Tōyoko Line Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-01), ○Hanzōmon Line (N-01), ○Fukutoshin Line (F-16)
	Harajuku	原宿	1.2	8.4		Tokyo Metro: ○Chiyoda Line (at Meiji-jingūmae, C-03)
	Yoyogi	代々木	1.5	9.9	■Chūō-Sōbu Line	Toei: ○Ōedo Line (E-26)
	Shinjuku	新宿	0.7	10.6	■Chūō Main Line ■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Chūō-Sōbu Line ■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Keio: Keiō Line, Keio New Line Odakyu: Odawara Line Seibu: Shinjuku Line (at Seibu-Shinjuku) Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-08) Toei: ○Shinjuku Line (S-01), ○Ōedo Line (at Shinjuku (E-27) and Shinjuku-Nishiguchi (E-01))	Shinjuku
	Shin-Ōkubo	新大久保	1.3	11.9
	Takadanobaba	高田馬場	1.4	13.3		Seibu: Shinjuku Line Tokyo Metro: ○Tōzai Line (T-03)
	Mejiro	目白	0.9	14.2			Toshima
	Ikebukuro	池袋	1.2	15.4	■Shōnan-Shinjuku Line ■Saikyō Line	Seibu: Ikebukuro Line Tobu: Tōjō Line Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-25), ○Yūrakuchō Line (Y-09), ○Fukutoshin Line (F-09)
	Ōtsuka	大塚	1.8	17.2		Toden Arakawa Line at Ōtsuka Ekimae Station
	Sugamo	巣鴨	1.1	18.3		Toei: ○Mita Line (I-15)
	Komagome	駒込	0.7	19.0		Tokyo Metro: ○Namboku Line (N-14)
	Tabata	田端	1.6	20.6	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)		Kita
Tōhoku Main Line
	Nishi-Nippori	西日暮里	0.8	21.4	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Chiyoda Line (C-16) Nippori-Toneri Liner	Arakawa
	Nippori	日暮里	0.5	21.9	■Jōban Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Keisei: Main Line Nippori-Toneri Liner
	Uguisudani	鶯谷	1.1	23.0	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line		Taitō
	Ueno	上野	1.1	24.1	■Shinkansen (Tōhoku, Jōetsu, Nagano, Yamagata, Akita) ■Jōban Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R) ■Utsunomiya Line ■Takasaki Line	Keisei: Main Line (at Keisei Ueno) Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-16), ○Hibiya Line (H-17)
	Okachimachi	御徒町	0.6	24.7	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line
	Akihabara	秋葉原	1.0	25.7	■Chūō-Sōbu Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)	Tsukuba Express Tokyo Metro: ○Hibiya Line (H-15)	Chiyoda
	Kanda	神田	0.7	26.4	■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-13)
	Tokyo	東京	1.3	27.7	■Shinkansen (Tōhoku, Jōetsu, Hokuriku, HokkaidōYamagata, Akita) ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R) ■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Chūō Line (Rapid) ■Yokosuka Line ■Keiyō Line ■Sōbu Line (Rapid)	JR Central: Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tokyo Metro: ○Marunouchi Line (M-17)
Tōkaidō Main Line
	Yūrakuchō	有楽町	0.8	28.5	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Yūrakuchō Line (Y-18), ○Hibiya Line (at Hibiya, H-07), ○Chiyoda Line (at Hibiya, C-09) Toei: ○Mita Line (at Hibiya, C-09)
	Shimbashi	新橋	1.1	29.6	■Tōkaidō Main Line ■Yokosuka Line ■Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Tokyo Metro: ○Ginza Line (G-08) Toei: ○Asakusa Line (A-10) Yurikamome	Minato
	Hamamatsuchō	浜松町	1.2	30.8	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)	Tokyo Monorail Toei: ○Asakusa Line (at Daimon, A-09), ○Ōedo Line (at Daimon, E-20)
	Tamachi	田町	1.5	32.3	■Keihin-Tōhoku Line (R)
	Shinagawa	品川	2.2	34.5	See above.

Notes

1: Official line names

2: Left column is distance from previous station (km) and right column is distance from Shinagawa Station (km).

3: "(R)" indicates rapid train stops of the Keihin-Tōhoku Line.

Related pages

• Tokyo