Ueno Station

is a major railway station in Tokyo's Taitō ward. It is the station used to reach the Ueno district and Ueno Park—which contains Tokyo National Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo University of the Arts and other famous cultural facilities. A major commuter hub, it is also the traditional terminus for long-distance trains from northern Japan, although with the extension of the Shinkansen lines to Tokyo Station this role has diminished in recent years. A similar extension of conventional lines extended Takasaki Line, Utsunomiya Line and Joban Line services to Tokyo Station via the Ueno-Tokyo Line in March 2015, using existing little-used tracks and a new viaduct; the Ueno-Tokyo Line connects these lines with the Tokaido Main Line, allowing through services to Shinagawa, Yokohama, Odawara and Atami stations.

Ueno Station is close to Keisei Ueno Station, the Tokyo terminus of the Keisei Main Line to Narita Airport Station.

Lines

This station is served by the following lines:
*Tokyo Metro
**
**
* East Japan Railway Company
** Tohoku Shinkansen
** Yamagata Shinkansen
** Akita Shinkansen
** Joetsu Shinkansen
**Hokuriku Shinkansen
**Hokkaido Shinkansen
** Utsunomiya Line ( Tohoku Main Line)
** Takasaki Line
** Keihin-Tohoku Line
** Yamanote Line
** Joban Line

As this station was the traditional point of arrival and departure for journeys to northern Japan, it became the inspiration for many poems and song lyrics, including a famous poem by Ishikawa Takuboku. There is a memorial plate about this poem in the station.

Station layout

Like most major stations in Japan, Ueno station contains and is surrounded by extensive shopping arcades. Ueno's includes a branch of the Hard Rock Cafe.

JR East platforms

This station has two main levels of tracks and a deep underground station for the Tohoku Shinkansen tracks. Through tracks 1 to 4 on two island platforms on the main level are used by Yamanote Line and Keihin-Tohoku Line trains. Tracks 5 to 9 on two island platforms and one side of a terminal platform lead to the Ueno-Tokyo Line to Tokyo Station and beyond on the Tokaido Main Line. Tracks 10 to 12 terminate inside the building, and below these on a lower deck are further terminal tracks 13 to 17 (Track No.18 has been removed). Two subterranean island platforms serve Shinkansen tracks 19 to 22.

Chest-high platform edge doors were installed on the two Yamanote Line platforms (2 and 3) in November 2015, and brought into use from December.

File:JRUenostation-platform-doors-night-march6-2016.jpg, Yamanote Line platform 2 in March 2016 following the addition of low-height platform edge doors
File:上野駅地平ホーム.JPG, Platforms 14 and 15

Tokyo Metro platforms

Both the Ginza and Hibiya line station have two tracks; however, unlike in other Tokyo Metro stations, each line's tracks are counted separately.

Tokyo-metro-Ueno-Station-platform1.jpg, The Ginza Line platform 1 in October 2018
UenoStation-GinzaLine-newPlatform.jpg, The Ginza Line platform 2 in January 2018
Hibiya line Ueno Station platform 1 with platform doors Aug 06 2021 02-56 PM.jpeg, The Hibiya Line platforms in August 2021
UenoStation-GinzaLine-newjrUenogate.jpg, JR Ueno Station District Gate in January 2018
Tokyo-metro-Ueno-Park-District-Gate1.jpg, Ueno Park District Gate in October 2018
Tokyo-metro-Ueno-Park-District-Gate2.jpg, Ueno Park District Gate in October 2018

History

This station opened on July 28, 1883. After the destruction of this first building in the fires caused by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, Japanese Government Railways constructed the current station buildings. In 1927, Tokyo Underground Railway (now Tokyo Metro) opened Japan's first subway line from here to Asakusa Station. Following World War II, the neighbourhood in front of Ueno Station was a major center of black market activity. Today, that market is gathering people as a name of Ameya-Yokochō.

The station facilities of the Ginza and Hibiya Lines were inherited by Tokyo Metro after the privatization of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (TRTA) in 2004.

In March 2010, to promote the release of the Cho-Den-O Trilogy of the Kamen Rider movies, a special marking was used on the trains going to Nakano-fujimichō from Ueno, and ''Den-Os Rina Akiyama greeted 200 fans who rode on the first of those trains.

In March 2020, the Park Exit (Ueno Park Exit) was moved to the north and the roadway in front of it was changed to a dead end, allowing pedestrians to enter Ueno Park from the station without crossing the roadway.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2013, the JR East station was used by 181,880 passengers daily (boarding passengers only), making it the thirteenth-busiest station operated by JR East. In fiscal 2013, the Tokyo Metro station was used by an average of 211,539 passengers per day (exiting and entering passengers), making it the eighth-busiest station operated by Tokyo Metro.

The daily passenger figures for each operator in previous years are as shown below.

* Note that JR East figures are for boarding passengers only.

Bus services

Highway buses

* ''Sky / Panda''; For Hirosaki, Aomori Station
* ''Yuhi''; For Tsuruoka Station, Amarume Station, and Sakata Station
* ''Tono Kamaishi''; For Shin-Hanamaki Station, Tōno Station, Kamaishi Station, and Yamada
* ''Tokyo Sunrise''; For Yamagata Station, Sagae Station, Sakurambo-Higashine Station, and Shinjō Station
* ''Rainbow''; Yonezawa Station, Kaminoyama-Onsen Station, and Yamagata Station
* For Chino, Matsumoto Bus Terminal, and Nagano Station
* ''Dream Kanazawa''; For Toyama Station, Kanazawa Station, and Kanazawa Institute of Technology
* ''Kimasshi''; For Kanazawa Station
* ''Yamato''; For Tenri Station, Nara Station, Kintetsu-Kōriyama Station, Hōryū-ji, Ōji Station, and Goidō Station
* For Ōtsu Station, Yamashina Station, Sanjō Station, and Kyōto Station
* ''Flying Liner''; For Kyōto Station, Ōsaka Station, Ōsaka Namba Station, Ōsaka Abenobashi Station, and Fujiidera Station
* ''Mamakari Liner''; For Okayama Station, Kurashiki Station

See also

* List of railway stations in Japan
* Transport in Greater Tokyo

In Literature

* ''Tokyo Ueno Station'', by Yu Miri, English tr. b
Morgan Giles
(Tilted Axis, 2019. // Penguin Randomhouse, 2020. )

References

External links

(Tokyo Metro)
Ueno Station
(JR East)
Ueno Station Panorama

{{coord, 35.713434, N, 139.776725, E, display=title

Yamanote Line
Keihin-Tōhoku Line
Tōhoku Main Line
Takasaki Line
Jōban Line
Tōhoku Shinkansen
Yamagata Shinkansen
Jōetsu Shinkansen
Tokyo Metro Ginza Line
Utsunomiya Line
Stations of East Japan Railway Company
Stations of Tokyo Metro
Railway stations in Tokyo
Railway stations in Japan opened in 1883
Ueno, Tokyo
Buildings and structures in Taitō