Shimbashi Station is a major interchange railway station in Tokyo's Minato Ward, located centrally and a 10-minute walk from the Ginza shopping district, directly south of Tokyo station.
Station layout
JR East
The JR East station consists of three surface platforms serving the Tōkaidō, Yamanote, and Keihin-Tōhoku lines, and an underground platform serving the Yokosuka Line.
The terminus for the Yurikamome is an elevated station next to the JR station.
History
Shimbashi is the original terminus of Japan's first stretch of railway, the Tōkaidō Main Line, and is one of Japan's oldest stations. The original Shimbashi Station, opened on October 10, 1872, was built some way to the east of the modern-day structure and was known as. The present-day structure opened on 16 December 1909 as Karasumori Station on the Yamanote Line. With the extension of the Tōkaidō Main Line along its modern-day route to the new terminus at Tokyo Station in 1914, the original station was demolished to make way for a goods yard, Shiodome Station, and Karasumori Station was renamed Shimbashi Station. Japan's first subway line, operated by the Tokyo Underground Railroad Company, was extended to Shimbashi in 1934. In January 1939, the Tokyo Rapid Railway Company built a second subway station at Shimbashi for its line from Shibuya. After several months, the lines were merged to allow through service, and the TRR station was closed. In 1941 the two companies merged forming today's Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. The Ginza Line operated from a single platform until 1980, when a second parallel platform was opened to relieve congestion. The Toei Asakusa Line began service to Shimbashi in 1968, and the elevated Yurikamome station opened in 1995. Shiodome Station closed in 1986. The site was declared a national monument in 1996 and the area was archeologically investigated while being redeveloped as a commercial district with a number of large office blocks. In 2003 a reconstruction of the original Shimbashi Station building and part of the platforms was completed. It currently houses a railway history exhibit and a restaurant.
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2013, the JR East station was used by an average of 254,945 passengers daily, making it the seventh busiest station operated by JR East. The JR East passenger figures for previous years are as shown below.
