Tokyo Metro 13th line through service

Though on the other pages of this site I've introduced Tōkyū Tōyoko Line with some issues, now I tell about the new Tokyo Metro 13th subway line. This new line (not named yet) will have a close connection to the Tōyoko Line. While I present an outline of the 13th line whose construction will finish soon, I point out a great advantage of its completion and fears of losing chances to be seated.

Outline

The outline of three lines through service (their major stations) Tokyo Metro introduced the plan of this new line a couple of years ago (Tokyo Metro, nd). The 13th subway line will run between Shibuya and Kotake-Mukaihara via Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. In 1985, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) formulated a concrete plan to construct a railway which would run along Shiki, Wakōshi, Narimasu, Kotake-Mukaihara, Higashi-Ikebukuro, Takadanobaba, Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku, Yoyogi, Jingūmae, and Shibuya. The 13th subway line will be a part of this planned railway. Its two northern parts (Shiki - Wakōshi and Wakōshi - (Higashi-)ikebukuro) have aready opened as the Tōbu Tōjō line and the Yūrakuchō subway line.

Though the 13th subway line will run along the JR Yamanote line and no more transport seems to be necessary there, it will have a great speciality that any transfers will be skipped if it starts to run a through service with the Tōkyū Tōyoko line. At Shibuya station passengers can change to the JR Yamanote, Saikyō (from Saitama and Tōkyō), Keiō Inokashira, Tōkyū Den-en-toshi, Tokyo Metro Ginza subway, and Hanzōmon subway lines. But Shibuya station is too crowded to change trains smoothly. The 13th subway line will launch a through service with the Tōyoko line in 2012 (Tokyo Metro, nd). We will be able to get to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro from Yokohama without the transfer. Other through services will be run with the Tōbu Tōjō line and the Seibu Yūrakuchō line at Kotake-Mukaihara station.

Advantages

The 13th subway line and the Tōkyū Tōyoko line through service will carry us faster than the Tōyoko line and the JR Yamanote line do now. Tōkyū (2004) predicted the time to travel with the 13th line. Let's consider going to Shinjuku from Yokohama. If I take the Tōyoko line limited express (the fastest service; Tōkyū (2004) doesn't mention which service is considered) to Shibuya, change at Shibuya station, and take the Yamanote line to Shinjuku, it all takes at least 39 minutes. Considering that the 13th line is a through service, we only have to take one train. In addition, the 13th line will run rapid service trains. It will take 33 minutes.

Shibuya station is complex. It annoys passengers with their changing trains. If the through service starts, we can enjoy the trips without constraint. To launch the through service, Tōkyū will construct an underground Shibuya station and reconstruct the whole of the Tōyoko line where the 13th line rapid service trains will run parallel to the Tōyoko line local trains.

The Minatomirai line and Tōyoko line through service has sent sightseers from downtown Tōkyō, and the 13th line through service is planned to send commuters to downtown Tōkyō. But as you can see in the picture, the 13th line will run along the Yamanote line, and the through service train -- from Yokohama to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro -- will compete with the Shōnan-Shinjuku line.

Vacant seats could be reduced

Shibuya station is the terminal of the Tōyoko Line, but if the through service starts, it will not the terminal of the through service, and passengers will not always be able to be seated there. Trains which many passengers would get on will come from Shinjuku, and most of their seats will be occupied. Tōyoko line local trains will still originate at Shibuya, but the rapid through service trains will tire commuters coming home.

Please also read "The win-at-all-costs struggle between Shinjuku and Yokohama." That page shows the competition with other railway companies.

Works cited:
Tōkyū Corporation (2004) Hot hotto Tokyu ("Tokyu hot news"). 289.
Tokyo Metro (nd) "Keikaku gaiyō" (Outline)

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