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Marunouchi Line
From Virtual Japan
The Marunouchi Line is one of the oldest high speed train lines in Japan. It came after the Ginza Line and has over 25 stops, owned and operated by Tokyo Metro. The route travels in a “U” Shape, and uses only 6 cars – far fewer than most of the other railway systems in Japan. It is incredibly crowded, but attempts to make up for that overcrowding by having a line that comes every 1 minute and 50 seconds in the mornings. Still, its 6 car system means that almost every ride is packed full, regardless of its fast speed.
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History
In many ways, the Marunouchi Line was in the works long before World War II. There were plans drawn up as early as 1925 for many high speed rail trains. By February of 1937, the license to build the track was provided and by 1938 the project was approved. Construction began in 1942, but thanks to the war the building was halted. It resumed near the end of 1945, but by then many of the original plans had changed. Most of the original building ended up getting dedicated towards what would eventually be called the Ginza line.
Many of these high speed rail lines had been completed by 1953, but they needed expansion, and that expansion was in the form of the Marunouchi Line. Between 1954 and 1964, 12 different station routes had been added to the Marunouchi Line, and as late as June of 2008, 11 more had been added.
Service Information
There are two main trains designations that are part of the Marunouchi Line family. They are:
Hazama Ogikubo to Ikebukuro
This train comes ever 2 minutes in the morning and every 5 minutes in the evening. It uses a 6 car train and is designed to reduce some of the traffic of early morning Japan. This train has 25 different stops.
Sakaue Nakano to Hōnanchō
Unlike the Hazama Ogikubo train, the Sakaue Nakano train only has 4 stops. The train also comes every 4 to 5 minutes in the morning, 6 to 9 minutes during the day, and back to 4 to 5 minutes again in the evening. This branch also uses only a 3 car train.