Improvement of Shimbashi Station on the Ginza Subway Line (the first subway in the East) Atsushi NUMATA1, Yasushi ARAI2 1Design Section Chief of the Renovation & Construction Department of Railway Headquarters, Tokyo Metro Co.,Ltd, 3-19-6, Higashi-ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan,
[email protected] 2 Design Section Deputy Manager of the Renovation & Construction Department of Railway Headquarters, Tokyo Metro Co.,Ltd, 3-19-6, Higashi-ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan,
[email protected] ABSTRACT: The Tokyo Metro railway network opened in December 1927 as the first subway in the east, with a 2.2-km stretch between Asakusa and Ueno on what is now the Ginza Line(Figure 1).By the time the Fukutoshin Line opened in June 2008, the network had expanded to include nine lines over a 195.1 km span of open tracks. Shimbashi Station is located at about the middle of the Ginza Line. It is a transfer station for JR, Toei subway lines, and the AGT system (the Yurikamome). Increases in the number of passengers in recent years have caused major obstructions to passenger flow. In addition, the structure of Shimbashi Station is integrated with the piers of the JR Bridge, and is adjacent to the piers of the Tokaido Shinkansen Bridge. Based on passenger flow simulations under the configurations of the existing station, this plan proposed sweeping changes to the layout of the station to alleviate congestion on the platforms and facilitate smooth transfers to other modes of transportation. INTRODUCTION The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (“Ginza Line”) became the first subway in the eastern hemisphere when the 2.2-km stretch between Asakusa and Ueno stations opened on December 30, 1927.