is a railway station on the Tsurumi Line in

Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama is one of the 18 ku (Wards of Japan, wards) of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 270,433 and a population density, density of 8,140 persons per km². The total area is 33.23&nb ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

, Japan, operated by

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East). The station is located on the grounds of

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...

's Keihin Product Operations, and the only exit from the station is into the company's grounds. As a result, only Toshiba employees with valid employee ID cards and invited visitors are permitted to enter and exit the station.

Lines

Umi-Shibaura station is the terminus of the Umi-Shibaura branch of the Tsurumi Line and lies from the terminus at

Tsurumi Station is a railway station in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Tsurumi Station is an interchange between the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and the Tsurumi Line (of which it is a terminus ...

Station layout

A single

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

, located on the waterfront of

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

, serves one line for both inbound and outbound trains. The exit is located opposite the buffer stop, with simplified

Suica is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card, electronic money used as a fare card on train lines in Japan, launched on November 18, 2001. The card can be used interchangeably with JR West's ICOCA in the Kansai region and San'yō region i ...

terminals and a ticket disposal box. There is also an automatic ticket machine. JR Tsurumi Line Umi-Shibaura Station Gates.jpg, Ticket validation machine, April 2022 JR Tsurumi Line Umi-Shibaura StationPlatform.jpg, Platforms, April 2022 Keihin Canal at JR Tsurumi Line Umi-Shibaura Station.jpg, View of the Keihin Canal, April 2022 Umishibaura Station Platform.jpg, View of the platform and adjacent Tokyo Bay, December 2009 Tsurumi-Tsubasa bridge.jpg, View o the

Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge The Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge located at the western side of Yokohama Bay and is part of an expressway across the Port of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. The bridge has a main span of and two side spans of . See a ...

from the station platform, May 2009 Tsurumisen Umishibaura eki 3.JPG, View of the platform, April 2007 Tsurumisen Umishibaura eki 1.JPG, The station exit, Toshiba plant entrance, and Shibaura Park, April 2007 Umi-Shibaura Station - view from the platform - panorama- june 14 2015.jpg, Panorama of the view from the platform, June 2015

Platform

Service

Umi-Shibaura is served hourly during off-peak times (midday, night and weekends), with more frequent services during morning and evening rush hours.

History

Umi-Shibaura Station was opened on 1 November 1940 as a station on a spur line of the privately held . The Tsurumi Rinkō line was nationalized on 1 July 1943, and was later absorbed into the

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) network. The station has been unstaffed since 1 March 1971, although the adjacent Toshiba guardhouse is staffed 24 hours a day. Following the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of JNR on 1 April 1987, the station was transferred to operation by JR East. In 2000, Umi-Shibaura Station was selected as one of the top 100 stations in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

by a public poll conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Surrounding area

Toshiba owns the land beneath the station and the surrounding portion of the Tsurumi Line, and JR East operates both under a long-term lease. Because of the surrounding scenery, and its status as "the station which you can never leave", Umi-Shibaura has been featured in several books and television programs and has gained some popularity as a day-trip destination. Toshiba has catered to these tourists by constructing a small park (Shibaura Park) within the station for employees and waiting passengers; it is open to the public (during business hours) and has a sweeping view of the surrounding sea.

References

* Harris, Ken and Clarke, Jackie. ''Jane's World Railways 2008-2009''. Jane's Information Group (2008).

External links

JR East Umi-Shibaura Station information
{{Coord, 35, 29, 9.7, N, 139, 42, 2.7, E, region:JP_source:jawiki, display=title Railway stations in Kanagawa Prefecture Railway stations in Japan opened in 1940 Toshiba Railway stations without public access