is a
train station located in
Shinjuku and
Shibuya wards in
Tokyo,
Japan.
Serving as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central Tokyo and its western suburbs on
JR,
commuter rail and
metro lines, the station was used by an average of 3.31 million people per day in 2006, making it the busiest train station in the world in terms of number of passengers. ''(For the exact number, see the discussion
below.)'' Including an underground arcade, there are well over 200 exits.
In terms of area, Shinjuku is the second-largest station in the world after
Nagoya Station.
Lines
Shinjuku is served by the following railway systems:
★ '
JR-East':
★
★
Yamanote Line
★
★
ChūŠMain Line
★
★
ChÅ«Å-SÅbu Line
★
★
ShÅnan-Shinjuku Line
★
★
SaikyÅ Line
★ '
Odakyu Electric Railway':
★
★
Odakyu Odawara Line
★ '
Keio Corporation':
★
★
Keio Line
★
★
Keio New Line
★ '
Tokyo Metro':
★
★
Marunouchi Line
★ '
Toei Subway':
★
★
Toei Shinjuku Line
★
★
Toei ÅŒedo Line
Station facilities
JR

A northbound
SaikyÅ Line train bound for
Kawagoe takes on passengers at JR Shinjuku Station.
The station is centered around facilities servicing the
East Japan Railway Company (JR-East) lines. These consist of 7 ground level
island platforms (14 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 intercity express services to
Kofu and
Matsumoto on the
ChūŠMain Line,
Narita Express to Narita Airport, and joint operations with
Tobu Railway to
NikkÅ and
Kinugawa Onsen also use this station.
The JR section alone handles an average of 1.5 million passengers a day.
{{ja-rail-linem|nolinkindex=
ShÅnan-Shinjuku Line(Through service for
TÅkaidÅ Line|linecol=#E21F26|dir=・ ・ ・
{{ja-rail-linem|nolinkindex=
ShÅnan-Shinjuku Line(Through service for
Yokosuka Line|linecol=#E21F26|dir=Yokohama ・ Ōfuna ・ ・
{{ja-rail-linem|nolinkindex=Ltd. Express "''
NikkÅ''" ・ "''
Spacia''"
(through service for
TÅbu NikkÅ Line)|linecol=orange|dir=ÅŒmiya ・ ・
{{ja-rail-linem|nolinkindex=Airport Ltd. Exp. "''
Narita Express''"|linecol=violet|dir=
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=5・6|nolinkindex=
ChūŠMain Line (Ltd. Express) "''
Azusa''", "''
Kaiji''" |linecol=blue|dir= ・
{{ja-rail-linem|pfn=11|span=2|nolinkindex=ChūŠLine "''ChūŠLiner''" , "''Ōme Liner''"||linecol=#F15A22|dir= ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=13|linename=ChÅ«Å-SÅbu Line|linecol=yellow|dir=Ochanomizu ・ ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=14|linename=Yamanote Line|linecol=yellowgreen|dir=Shibuya ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=15|nolinkindex=Yamanote Line|linecol=yellowgreen|dir=Ikebukuro ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=16|nolinkindex=ChÅ«Å-SÅbu Line|linecol=yellow|dir= ・
Odakyū
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 10 platforms are built on two levels beneath the Odakyu department store; 3 express service tracks (6 platforms) on the ground level and 2 tracks (4 platforms) on the level below. Each track has platforms on both sides in order to completely separate boarding and alighting passengers.
Ground level
Underground level
Keio

Toei ÅŒedo Line platforms

Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line platform
The
Keio Line's concourse is located to the west of the Odakyū line concourse, two floors below ground level under KeiŠdepartment store. It now consists of 3 platforms stretching north to south. Approximately 720,000 passengers use this section daily, which makes it the busiest amongst the privately owned (i.e. non-
JR) railways of Japan. This suburban commuter line links Shinjuku to
HachiÅji city to the west.
Toei Subway
The shared facilities for the
Toei Shinjuku subway line and the KeiÅ New Line consist of 2 platforms stretching east-west 5 floors beneath KÅshÅ« KaidÅ avenue to the southwest of the JR section. The concourse is managed by
Keio Electric Railway but is in a separate location to the main KeiÅ platforms. Further south (and deeper underground) are the 2 north-to-south Toei ÅŒedo subway line platforms.
Toei Shinjuku Line & KeiÅ New Line
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=5|linename=Toei Shinjuku Line|linecol=yellowgreen|m|dir= ・ ・
Toei ÅŒedo Line
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=6|first=2|linename=Toei Ōedo Line|linecol=#b5128e|m|dir= ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=7|nolinkindex=Toei Ōedo Line|linecol=#b5128e|m|dir= ・
Tokyo Metro
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.
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=1|m|first=2|linename=Marunouchi Line|linecol=red|dir= ・ ・
{{ja-rail-line|pfn=2|m|nolinkindex=Marunouchi Line|linecol=red|dir= ・ ・ ・
Commercial facilities

South side of Shinjuku Station at night

East exit of Shinjuku Station
Many department stores and shopping malls are built directly into the station. These include
★ Lumine Est - above JR's east exit
★ Odakyu department store - above the Odakyu line concourse
★ Odakyu Mylord - above the southern end of Odakyu line concourse
★ LUMINE 1 shopping mall - above the Keio line concourse
★ LUMINE 2 shopping mall - above JR's south and Lumine exits
★ Keio Department store - above the Keio line concourse
★ Keio Mall - underground mall to the southwest of the Keio line concourse
★ Odakyu Ace - underground malls beneath the bus terminal by the west exit.
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-sanchÅme 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:
★
Nishi-Shinjuku Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line)
★
Seibu Shinjuku Station (
Seibu Shinjuku Line)
★
Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station (Toei ÅŒedo Line)
★
Shinjuku-sanchÅme Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line and Toei Shinjuku Line)
★
TochÅmae Station (Toei ÅŒedo Line)
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 exit.
Average number of daily users
The average number of daily users at Shinjuku Station is 3,315,631, which is the largest number in the world. The figure is a total of entering and exiting customers of each operator. Therefore, users who transfer different operators' lines are counted twice.
| Operator | Number | Fiscal year | Source | Note |
|---|
| JR | Approx. 1,500,000 | 2006 | 757,013 entries. [1] | The busiest station in Japan |
| Odakyū | 490,081 | 2006 | [2] | The busiest station of Odakyū lines |
| KeiÅ | 726,653 | 2006 | [3] | The busiest station of Japanese private railways, except of JRs. |
| Toei | Shinjuku Line | 242,909 | 2006 | 124,939 entries and 117,970 exits. [4] | The busiest station of Toei subways. |
| ÅŒedo Line | 117,494 | 2006 | 58,830 entries and 58,664 exits. [5] |
| Tokyo Metro | 238,494 | 2006 | [6] | The 5th busiest station of Tokyo Metro. |
| |
| Total | 3,315,631 | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
History
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 ChūŠLine (1889), KeiŠLine (1915) and Odakyū Line (1923) led to increasing traffic through the station. Subway service began in 1959.
In August 1967, a freight train carrying
jet fuel bound for the U.S. air base in
Tachikawa derailed and caught fire on the ChūŠRapid tracks.
The station was a major site for student protests in 1968 and 1969, the height of civil unrest in postwar Japan.
There have been plans at various points in history to connect Shinjuku into the
Shinkansen network. Originally, the station was slated to be the southern terminus of the
JÅetsu Shinkansen line to
Niigata. This plan was eventually scrapped, but an area was reserved underneath the station for Shinkansen platforms. In the future, the
ChūŠShinkansen may bring high-speed rail service to Shinjuku.
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 12 and injured thousands. This time the attack was thwarted by staff who extinguished the burning device.
Adjacent stations
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'East Japan Railway Company'
{{j-rserv|service=(Commuter Rapid)|previous=Yotsuya|next=
{{j-rserv|service=(Commuter Special Rapid)|previous=Yotsuya|next=
{{j-rserv|service=(ChūŠLiner)
(ÅŒme Liner)|previous=|next=
|-
!colspan=5|
'Odakyu Electric Railway'
{{j-rserv|service=(Sectional Semi-Express)
(Semi-Express)
(Express)
(Rapid Express)|next=
{{j-rserv|service=(Ltd. Exp. '"Romance Car"')|next=
|-
!colspan=5|
'Keio Corporation'
{{j-rserv|service=(Semi-Special Express)
(Special Express)|next=
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!colspan=5|
'Subway lines'
(
★ 1)Only ChūŠLimited Rapid the first train of Shinjuku