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The is a metro line in Tokyo, Japan, administered by the Tokyo Metro. It is 14.3 km long, and serves the wards of Shibuya, Minato, Chūō, Chiyoda and Taito.
On maps, its color is orange ▉, and its stations are denoted by the letter '''G''' followed by a number. Its planning line number is Line 3.

Contents

History

Trains

Stations

History

The Ginza Line began as the brainchild of a businessman named Noritsugu Hayakawa, who visited London in 1914, saw the London Underground and concluded that Tokyo needed its own underground railway. He founded the 'Tokyo Underground Railway Company' in 1920, and began construction in 1925.
The portion between Ueno and Asakusa was completed on December 30, 1927 and publicized at the time as "the first underground railway in the Orient." Upon its opening, the line was so popular that waiting times to board for the 5-minute trip often exceeded 2 hours.
In January 1, 1930, the subway was extended by 1.7 km to Manseibashi Station, but this station was taken out of use on November 21, 1931 when the subway reached Kanda, 500 meters further down the line. The capital crunch resulting from Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 slowed down construction, but the line finally reached its originally planned terminus of Shinbashi on June 21, 1934.
In 1938, the Tokyo Rapid Railway, a company tied to the predecessor of today's Tokyu Corporation, began service between Shibuya and Toranomon, which was extended from Toranomon to Shinbashi in 1939. The two lines began through-service interoperation in 1939 and were formally merged as the Teito Rapid Transit Authority ("Eidan Subway") in July 1941.
During World War II, the subway was closed to civilians; even during the firebombings of Tokyo in 1945, civilians were not allowed to take refuge inside.
The "Ginza Line" name was applied in 1953 to distinguish the line from the new Marunouchi Line. In the postwar economic boom, the Ginza Line became increasingly crowded. The new Hanzomon Line began to relieve the Ginza Line's traffic in the 1980s; however, the Ginza Line remains one of Tokyo's most crowded due to its small train sizes and numerous major station stops.
Tameike-Sanno Station opened in 1997 to provide a connection to the new Namboku Line.

Trains

The Ginza Line uses a total of 38 six-car 01 series EMUs which have a maximum speed of 80 km/h. Each car is 16 m long and 2.6 m wide, with three doors on each side. Both the Ginza Line and the Marunouchi Line run on standard gauge (1435 mm) rails powered by a 600 V DC third rail, while the other Tokyo Metro lines run on narrow gauge (1067 mm) rails and use 1,500 V DC overhead.
Trains are stored and inspected at the , a facility located northeast of Ueno Station with both above-ground and underground tracks. The facility is capable of holding up to 20 6-car trains. Major inspections are carried out at Tokyo Metro's Nakano facility by running individual trains through the Marunouchi Line over a connecting track near Akasaka-Mitsuke.
Almost all Ginza Line trains operate on the line's full length from Asakusa to Shibuya. However, two trains depart in the early morning from Toranomon, and some late-night trains from Shibuya are taken out of service at Ueno.
On weekdays, trains run every two minutes in morning, and 2 minutes and 15 seconds in evening. It's same as holidays, the interval in afternoon is 3 minutes. This line is one of the most frequent served lines for passengers, like East JR Yamanote Line and Chuo Line. Its first trains start from Shibuya and Asakusa at 5:01 in early morning, and the last ones reach Shibuya at 0:37, and Asakusa at 0:39 in midnight.

Stations

Being the oldest line, the Ginza Line is also the closest line to the surface, generally no more than one and a half stories underground. The western end of the line runs above ground, terminating at a third-story terminal in Shibuya.

Station No.	Station	in Japanese	Distance (km)	Transfers	Address (Wards of Tokyo)
G-01	Shibuya	渋谷	0.0	Tokyo Metro: '○'Hanzomon Line (N-01) ★ , '○'''Fukutoshin Line'' (scheduled to open in June 2008.) East JR: Yamanote Line, Saikyo Line, Shonan-Shinjuku Line Tokyu: Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line ★ , Tokyu Toyoko Line Keio: Keio Inokashira Line	Shibuya
G-02	Omotesando	表参道	1.3	Tokyo Metro: '○'Chiyoda Line (C-04), '○'Hanzomon Line (Z-02, transfer on one platform)	Minato
G-03	Gaienmae	外苑前	2.0
G-04	Aoyama-itchome	青山一丁目	2.7	Tokyo Metro: '○'Hanzomon Line (Z-03) Toei: '○'Oedo Line (E-24)
G-05	Akasaka-mitsuke	赤坂見附	4.0	Tokyo Metro: '○'Marunouchi Line (M-13, transfer on one platform) ''At Nagatachō:'' Tokyo Metro: '○'Yurakucho Line (Y-16), '○'Hanzomon Line (Z-04, so far to transfer), '○'Namboku Line(N-06) (so far to transfer)
G-06	Tameike-sanno	溜池山王	4.9	Tokyo Metro: '○'Namboku Line(N-06), ''At Kokkai-gijidomae:'' Tokyo Metro: '○'Marunouchi Line (M-14), '○'Chiyoda Line (C-07)	Chiyoda
G-07	Toranomon	虎ノ門	5.5		Minato
G-08	Shimbashi	新橋	6.3	Toei: '○'Asakusa Line (A-10) East JR: Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Tōkaidō Main Line, Yokosuka Line Yurikamome: Yurikamome
G-09	Ginza	銀座	7.2	Tokyo Metro: '○'Hibiya Line (H-08), '○'Marunouchi Line (M-16)	Chūō
G-10	Kyobashi	京橋	7.9
G-11	Nihombashi	日本橋	8.6	Tokyo Metro: '○'Tozai Line (T-10) Toei: '○'Asakusa Line (A-13)
G-12	Mitsukoshimae	三越前	9.2	Tokyo Metro: '○'Hanzomon Line (Z-09) ''At Shin-Nihombashi'': East JR: Sōbu Line (Rapid)
G-13	Kanda	神田	9.9	East JR: Chūō Main Line, Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Yamanote Line	Chiyoda
G-14	Suehirocho	末広町	11.0
G-15	Ueno-hirokoji	上野広小路	11.6	''At Naka-okachimachi:'' Tokyo Metro: '○'Hibiya Line (H-16) ''At Ueno-okachimachi:'' Toei: '○'Oedo Line (E-09)	Taitō
G-16	Ueno	上野	12.1	Tokyo Metro: '○'Hibiya Line (H-17) East JR: Tohoku Shinkansen, Jōetsu Shinkansen, Keihin-Tohoku Line, Yamanote Line, Jōban Line, Takasaki Line, Tōhoku Main Line ''At Keisei Ueno:'' Keisei Electric Railway: Keisei Main Line
G-17	Inaricho	稲荷町	12.8
G-18	Tawaramachi	田原町	13.5
G-19	Asakusa	浅草	14.3	Toei: '○'Asakusa Line (A-18) Tobu: Tobu Isesaki Line

★ The Ginza Line and Hanzomon/Den-en-toshi Line platforms at Shibuya are separated; as a result, passengers usually transfer between the two at Omotesando, where the lines run adjacent to each other.