The Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line is a subway line in Japan owned and operated by Tokyo Metro. The line connects Wakōshi Station in Wakō, Saitama and Shin-Kiba Station in Kōtō, Tokyo. On maps, diagrams and signboards, the line is shown using the color "gold", and its stations are given numbers using the letter "Y". The line was named after the Yūrakuchōbusiness district in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The proper name as given in an annual report of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is Line No. 8 Yūrakuchō Line. According to the Tokyo urban transportation plan, however, it is more complicated. The line number assigned to the section south from Kotake-Mukaihara to Shin-Kiba is Line 8, but that north of Kotake-Mukaihara to Wakōshi is Line 13, which indicates the section is a portion of Fukutoshin Line which shares the same number.
Services
The Yurakucho Line has inter-running counterparts on its northern side, both of which are "major" Japanese private railway companies in Greater Tokyo. One is the Tobu Railway at Wakōshi, north to. The other is the Seibu Railway at with its bypass line Seibu Yūrakuchō Line connecting to its main Ikebukuro Line, through trains north to or. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, as of June 2009 the Yurakucho Line is the fifth most crowded subway line in Tokyo, at its peak running at 173% capacity between Higashi-Ikebukuro and Gokokuji stations. Semi-express services ran on the Yurakucho Line between June 14, 2008 and March 6, 2010, operating twice hourly between Wakōshi and Shin-Kiba. Between Wakōshi and Ikebukuro, semi-express trains stopped only at Kotake-Mukaihara; between Ikebukuro and Shin-Kiba, trains stopped at all stations. The semi-express trains ran between rush hours during weekdays and more frequently on weekends and holidays. These services were abolished and replaced with local services on March 6, 2010. Since March 2008, very occasional Bay Resort limited express trains on the Odakyū Odawara Line operate to Shin-Kiba on the Yurakucho Line via a connecting track to the Chiyoda Line beyond Sakuradamon. Since March 26, 2017, Seibu operates the S-Train limited-stop express service between Toyosu and Tokorozawa on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line on weekday mornings and evenings.
Station list
Local trains stop at every station.
*S-Train services stop at the stations indicated by "●" and "↑" and pass all stations indicated by "|".
December 7, 1994: Quadruple-track from Kotake-Mukaihara to Ikebukuro. New double track section was named "Yūrakuchō New Line", all trains made Ikebukuro their terminus, and did not stop at Senkawa nor Kanamechō. Through service from Shin-Kiba or Ikebukuro to on Seibu Yūrakuchō Line due to completion of the line.
March 26, 1998: Through operation to Seibu Ikebukuro Line.
April 1, 2004: According to its privatization, the management subject changed from Teito Rapid Transit Authority to Tokyo Metro.
June 14, 2008: Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line began service. Yurakuchō New Line annexed to a part of Fukutoshin Line, and Yurakuchō Line share double tracks with Fukutoshin Line between Wakōshi and Kotake-Mukaihara. Semi-Express service started.
October 2008: CS-ATC enabled on the Yurakuchō Line.
