Akihabara Station
35°41′54″N 139°46′25″E / 35.698240°N 139.773731°E
秋葉原 | |
|---|---|
 Electric Town Exit of Akihabara Station, August 2011 | |
| General information | |
| Location | 1 Soto-Kanda (JR Station) Kanda-Sakuma-chō (Tokyo Metro) Kanda-Hanaoka-chō (Tsukuba Express) |
| Operated by | JR East Tokyo Metro Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company |
| Line(s) | Keihin-Tōhoku Line Yamanote Line Chūō-Sōbu Line Hibiya Line Tsukuba Express |
Akihabara Station (秋葉原駅, Akihabara-eki) is a railway station located in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward. It is at the center of the famous Akihabara shopping district specializing in electronic goods.
Lines
Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company:
The above-ground section of the station is cross-shaped, with the Chūō-Sōbu Line tracks running from east to west, and the Yamanote and Keihin-Tōhoku Line (and Tōhoku Shinkansen, which does not stop at Akihabara) from north to south.
Station layout
JR East
There are two island platforms serving four tracks for the Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line on the 2nd level, and two side platforms serving two tracks for the Sobu Line Local service on the 4th level.
| 1 | ■ Keihin-Tohoku Line | northbound for Ueno, Tokyo and Saitama |
| 2 | ■ Yamanote Line | inner track for Ueno, Tokyo and Ikebukuro |
| 3 | ■ Yamanote Line | outer track for Tokyo, Shinagawa and Shibuya |
| 4 | ■ Keihin-Tohoku Line | southbound for Tokyo, Shinagawa and Yokohama |
| 5 | ■ Sōbu Line Local Service | westbound for Ochanomizu, Shinjuku, Tokyo and Mitaka |
| 6 | ■ Sōbu Line Local Service | eastbound for Kinshichō, Funabashi and Chiba |
Tokyo Metro
There are two underground side platforms serving two tracks.
| 1 | ○ Hibiya Line | for Ginza, Tokyo, Naka-Meguro, Kanagawa and Kikuna |
| 2 | ○ Hibiya Line | for Ueno, Kita-Senju, Shin-Koshigaya, Kasukabe and Tōbu Dōbutsu Kōen |
Tsukuba Express
There is an underground island platform serving two tracks.
| 1, 2 | ■ Tsukuba Express | for Minami-Nagareyama, Moriya and Tsukuba |
Adjacent stations
| « | Service | » | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JR East | ||||
| Yamanote Line | ||||
| Tokyo | - | Okachimachi | ||
| Keihin-Tohoku Line | ||||
| Tokyo | Local | Okachimachi | ||
| Tokyo | Rapid | Ueno | ||
| Sōbu Line (Local Service) | ||||
| Asakusabashi | - | Ochanomizu | ||
| Tokyo Metro | ||||
| Hibiya Line (H-15) | ||||
| Kodenmachō (H-14) | - | Naka-Okachimachi (H-16) | ||
| Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company | ||||
| Tsukuba Express (01) | ||||
| Terminus | Local | Shin-Okachimachi (02) | ||
| Terminus | Semi Rapid | Shin-Okachimachi (02) | ||
| Terminus | Rapid | Shin-Okachimachi (02) | ||
History
Akihabara Station was opened in November 1890 as a freight terminal linked to Ueno Station station via tracks following the course of the modern day Yamanote Line.
It was opened to passenger traffic in 1925 following the construction of the section of track linking Ueno with Shinbashi via Tokyo Station and the completion of the Yamanote Line. The upper level platforms were added in 1932 with the opening of an extension to the Sōbu Line from its old terminal at Ryōgoku to Ochanomizu, making Akihabara an important transfer station for passengers from the east of Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture.
The huge growth in commuter traffic following the Second World War caused considerable congestion and was only relieved with the construction of the Sōbu line tunnel linking Kinshichō with Tokyo, bypassing Akihabara.
The Hibiya Line subway station was opened on May 31, 1962 with the line's extension from Naka-Okachimachi to Ningyōchō.
On August 24, 2005, the underground terminus of the new Tsukuba Express Line opened at Akihabara. The entire station complex, including the JR station, was also refurbished and enlarged in preparation for the opening of the Tsukuba Express.[1]
Surrounding area
The main attraction is the Akihabara electronics retail district to the north and west of the station.
References
External links
Media related to Akihabara Station at Wikimedia Commons