The is a subway line in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Japan, operated by the Tokyo subway operator Toei Subway. The line runs between in Ōta and in Sumida. The line is named after the

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

district, a cultural center of Tokyo, under which it passes. The Asakusa Line was the first subway line in Japan to offer through services with a

private railway A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector. Japan In Japan, , commonly simply ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...

. Today, it has more through services to other lines than any other subway line in Tokyo.

Keikyu (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ...

operates through trains on the Keikyu Main Line to and the Keikyu Airport Line to . The Keisei Electric Railway operates through trains on the Keisei Oshiage Line to and the Keisei Main Line to , and the

Shibayama Railway is a third-sector railway company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It operates Japan's shortest independent railway line, ...

runs trains via the Keisei Main Line and the Shibayama Railway Line to . Via its through services with Keisei and Keikyu, the Asakusa line is the only train line that offers a direct connection between Tokyo's two main airports. The Asakusa Line is often split into two routes: Oshiage–Sengakuji and Sengakuji–Nishi-magome; only some trains make all station stops on the line, as many trains travel on the Keikyu Main Line south of Sengakuji. On maps and signboards, the line is shown in the color rose (O). Stations carry the letter "A" followed by a two-digit number inside a more reddish vermilion circle ().

Services

* Local (普通 ''futsū'') trains operate between Nishi-Magome and Sengakuji approximately every ten minutes and are timed to connect to Keikyu through service trains at Sengakuji. * Rapid service (快速 ''kaisoku'') trains operate between Nishi-Magome and Keisei Sakura Station approximately every twenty minutes. They make all station stops on the Asakusa Line. * Limited Express (快特 ''kaitoku'') trains operate approximately every twenty minutes. They generally use Keikyu rolling stock and have a southern terminus at

Misakiguchi Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Miura, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by the private railway company Keikyū. Lines Misakiguchi Station is the southern terminus of the Keikyū Kurihama Line, and is located 13.4 km from t ...

Keikyu Kurihama Station (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ...

. They operate as Limited Express trains only on the Keikyu line, and provide local service on the Asakusa Line and Keisei Oshiage Line. Their northern terminus is generally either Aoto Station or

Keisei Takasago Station is a railway station in Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keisei Electric Railway and Hokuso Railway. Lines Keisei Takasago Station is served by the following lines. * Keisei Main Line * Keisei Kanamachi Line ...

, but select trains operate to

Narita International Airport Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airpo ...

. * Limited Express (快特 ''kaitoku'') trains operate approximately every twenty minutes and make all stops (local service) on the Asakusa Line, providing Limited Express service on the Keikyu line between Sengakuji and . Their northern terminus is usually either

Inzai-Makinohara Station is a passenger railway station in the city of Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the third-sector railway operator Hokusō Railway. Lines Inzai-Makinohara Station is served by the Hokusō Line and is located 28.5 kilometers from th ...

Inba-Nihon-Idai Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Inzai, Chiba, Japan, operated jointly by the third-sector railway operator Hokusō Railway and the private railway company Keisei Electric Railway. Lines Inba-Nihon-Idai Station ...

on the Hokuso Railway. * Airport Limited Express (エアポート快特 ''eapōto kaitoku'') trains operate approximately every twenty minutes, and skip certain stations while operating on the Asakusa Line. Their northern terminus alternates between "Access Express" (アクセス特急 ''akusesu tokkyū'') service to

and Limited Express service to either Aoto or Takasago. The total travel time from Haneda Airport to Narita Airport on this train is approximately one hour and 46 minutes.

Station list

* All stations are located in Tokyo. * The ''Airport Limited Express/Access Express'' stops at stations marked "●", skips those marked ", ". All other services stop at every station.

Rolling stock

A variety of rolling stock is in use due to the large number of through service operators on the line, all of which use

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

tracks and 1,500 V DC electrification via

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

s. Currently, six operators run trains onto the Asakusa Line, the most of any Tokyo subway line, and the line is unique as the only subway line in Tokyo with through services onto standard gauge railways (all other through services are with narrow gauge lines).

Toei

File:Toei-Type5319-8.jpg, A Toei 5300 series EMU File:Toei-Type5525-8.jpg, A Toei 5500 series EMU * Toei 5300 series * Toei 5500 series

Keisei Electric Railway

File:Keisei 3000 Series 3033F 20191002.jpg, A Keisei 3000 series EMU File:Keisei-Series3053.jpg, A Keisei 3050 series EMU File:Keisei-Type3100-3151.jpg, A Keisei 3100 series EMU File:Keisei 3400 series Keisei Main Line 20170921.jpg, A Keisei 3400 series EMU File:Keisei 3600 Series 3658F ltd.exp.jpg, A Keisei 3600 series EMU File:Keisei-Series3700-3701.jpg, A Keisei 3700 series EMU * Keisei 3000 series * Keisei 3050 series * Keisei 3100 series * Keisei 3400 series *

Keisei 3600 series The is a commuter electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Keisei Electric Railway in the Tokyo area of Japan since 1982. The trains were built to replace the former 210 and 700 series. Operation The ...

* Keisei 3700 series

Keikyu

File:Keikyu-Type600-608-1.jpg, A Keikyu 600 series EMU File:Keikyu-Type1000-176.jpg, A Keikyu N1000 series EMU File:Keikyu 1500 Series EMU 015.JPG, A Keikyu 1500 series EMU * Keikyu 600 series * Keikyu N1000 series * Keikyu 1500 series

Hokuso Railway

File:Hokuso-Series7311.jpg, A Hokuso 7300 series EMU File:Hokuso-7500 7502.jpg, A Hokuso 7500 series EMU * Hokuso 7300 series * Hokuso 7500 series

Chiba New Town Railway

File:Hokuso-Series9101.jpg, A Chiba New Town Railway 9100 series File:Hokuso 9200 series 9201F 20190321.jpg, A Chiba New Town Railway 9200 series EMU File:Chiba-New-Town Series9801.jpg, A Chiba New Town Railway 9800 series * Chiba New Town Railway 9100 series * Chiba New Town Railway 9200 series * Chiba New Town Railway 9800 series

Shibayama Railway

File:Series 3600 of Shibayama Railways.jpg, A Shibayama 3600 series EMU * Shibayama 3600 series

Former rolling stock

* Toei 5000 series * Toei 5200 series * Keikyu 1000 series * Keisei 3000 series (original type) * Keisei 3050 series (original type) * Keisei 3100 series * Keisei 3150 series * Keisei 3200 series * Keisei 3300 series *

Keisei 3500 series The is a commuter electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Keisei Electric Railway in the Tokyo area of Japan since 1972. Operations The 3500 series sets operate on the Keisei Main Line. The eight-car s ...

* Hokuso 7000 series * Hokuso 7050 series * Hokuso 7150 series * Hokuso 7250 series * Hokuso 7260 series * Chiba New Town Railway 9000 series

History

The Toei Asakusa Line was the first subway line constructed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The line number is Line 1, because it was technically the first subway line in Tokyo to be planned in the 1920s as an underground route connecting the

and Keisei Electric Railway via , eventually allowing for through trains between these two railways. In its original plan form, the line would have actually bypassed Asakusa Station entirely. However, the plan was changed to take advantage of the existing

Tobu Isesaki Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway company Tobu Railway, extending from Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen Station in Saitama to Isesaki Station in Gunma Prefecture. The Isesaki Line can refer to the entire section between Asa ...

(section now named as the Tobu Skytree Line) and Tokyo Metro Ginza Line connections at Asakusa. Construction of this line began on August 27, 1956 after years of delays, and the initial 3.2 km segment between Oshiage and Asakusabashi opened on December 4, 1960. The line then opened in stages from north to south: * May 1962: Asakusabashi to Higashi-Nihombashi * September 1962: Higashi-Nihombashi to Ningyōchō * February 1963: Ningyōchō to Higashi-Ginza * December 1963: Higashi-Ginza to Shimbashi * October 1964: Shimbashi to Daimon * June 1968: Daimon to Sengakuji (Through service with Keikyū begins) * November 15, 1968: Sengakuji to Nishi-Magome The line was named Asakusa Line on July 1, 1978. From 1998 to 2002, the Asakusa Line was used as part of a rail connection between Tokyo's two major airports, Haneda and Narita. While a few trains still run between the airports, the service has greatly diminished in frequency since 2002. In 2005, a research group of government, metropolitan and railway company officials proposed that the Asakusa Line be connected to Tokyo Station via a spur to the north of Takarachō Station. This would provide Tokyo Station's first direct connection to the Toei subway network. It would also make it possible to reach Haneda Airport in 25 minutes (versus 35 minutes today) and Narita Airport in 40 minutes (versus 57 minutes today). This plan has yet to be finalized or formally adopted. Authorities are re-considering a similar plan as part of the infrastructure improvements for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

; the proposed line would cut travel time to Haneda from 30 minutes to 18 minutes, and to Narita from 55 minutes to 36 minutes, at a total cost of around 400 billion yen.

References

External links

Bureau of Transportation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
{{Tokyo transit

Railway lines in Tokyo Standard gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1960 1500 V DC railway electrification 1960 establishments in Japan