TheYamanote Line (Japanese:山手線,romanized: Yamanote-sen) is a railwayloop service inTokyo,Japan, operated by theEast Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres, includingMarunouchi, theYūrakuchō/Ginza area,Shinagawa,Shibuya,Shinjuku,Ikebukuro, andUeno, with all but two of its 30 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines.

Yamanote Line
JY
Yamanote LineE235 series EMUs in March 2019
Overview
Native name	山手線
Owner	JR East
Locale	Tokyo,Japan
Termini	Shinagawa (loop)
Stations	30
Color on map	Yellow-green (#9acd32)
Service
Type	Heavy rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Depot(s)	Tokyo General Rolling Stock Centre (nearŌsaki Station)
Rolling stock	E235 series
History
Opened	1 March 1885; 140 years ago (1885-03-01)
Technical
Line length	34.5 km (21.4 mi)
Number of tracks	double-track
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DCoverhead line
Operating speed	90 km/h (55 mph)
Train protection system	D-ATC
Maximum incline	3.4%
Route map Show static map Legend JY 10 Komagome Tabata JY 09 JY 11 Sugamo Nishi-Nippori JY 08 JY 12 Ōtsuka Nippori JY 07 JY 13 Ikebukuro Uguisudani JY 06 JY 14 Mejiro Ueno JY 05 JY 15 Takadanobaba Okachimachi JY 04 JY 16 Shin-Ōkubo Akihabara JY 03 JY 17 Shinjuku Kanda JY 02 JY 18 Yoyogi Tokyo JY 01 JY 19 Harajuku Yūrakuchō JY 30 JY 20 Shibuya Shimbashi JY 29 JY 21 Ebisu Hamamatsuchō JY 28 JY 22 Meguro Tamachi JY 27 JY 23 Gotanda Takanawa Gateway JY 26 JY 24 Ōsaki Shinagawa JY 25 Legend Yamanote Line Tōhoku Main Line Tōkaidō Main Line This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

Internally JR East refers to the "Yamanote Line" as thequadruple-track 20.6 km (12.8 mi) corridor between Shinagawa andTabata via Shinjuku.^[1][2][3] The corridor consists of a pair of tracks used by Yamanote local trains and another parallel pair of tracks called "the Yamanote Freight Line" used by theSaikyō andShōnan-Shinjuku line trains, some limited express services, and freight trains.^[4] In everyday usage, branding on maps and station signage, the "Yamanote Line" refers to the local service (also called "system") running the entire 34.5 km (21.4 mi) line looping between the Yamanote corridor via Shinjuku Station and the central portions of theTōhoku andTōkaidō Main Lines Via Tokyo Station.^[5] (This article uses the same definition unless noted otherwise.)

Trains run from 04:26 to 01:04 the next day at intervals as short as 2 minutes during peak periods and four minutes at other times. A complete loop takes 59 to 65 minutes. All trains stop at each station. Trains are put into and taken out of service atŌsaki (which for timetabling purposes is the line's start and terminus) and sometimesIkebukuro. Certain trains also start fromTamachi in the mornings and end atShinagawa in the evenings. Trains which run clockwise are known assotomawari (外回り, "outer circle") and those counter-clockwise asuchi-mawari (内回り, "inner circle"). (Trains travel on the left in Japan, as with road traffic.)

The line also acts as a fare zone destination forJR tickets from locations outside Tokyo, permitting travel to any JR station on or within the loop. This refers to stations on the Yamanote Line as well as theChūō-Sōbu andChūō Rapid Lines and betweenSendagaya andOchanomizu.

The Yamanote Line colour used on all rolling stock, station signs and diagrams isJNR Yellow Green No.6^[6](■,Munsell code 7.5GY 6.5/7.8), known in Japanese as "Japanese bush warbler green" (ウグイス色,uguisu-iro).

Due to the Yamanote Line's central location connecting most of Tokyo's major commuter hubs and commercial areas, the line is very heavily used. Sections of the line were running over 250%^[a] capacity in the 1990s, and remained above 200%^[a] for most of the 2000s^[7] with most sections dropping below 150%^[a] in 2018.^[8] This is due to larger and more frequent trains being introduced to the Yamanote Line and the opening of parallel relief lines such as theTokyo MetroFukutoshin Line andUeno–Tokyo Line. The maximum overcrowding during rush hour is about 158%.

The ridership intensity of the Yamanote Line in 2018 was 1,134,963 passengers - km / km of route.^[1][b][c] The daily ridership of the Yamanote Line estimated in a 2015 MLIT National Transit census was about 4 million people per day.^[9][b] However, in both cases "Yamanote Line" refers to JR East's internal definition of the entire rail corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata stations via Shinjuku which includes the ridership of theSaikyō andShōnan–Shinjuku Lines on the parallel Yamanote freight line. Meanwhile, the ridership of the Yamanote Line services between Tabata and Shinagawa Station via Tokyo are excluded and counted as part of theTōhoku andTōkaidō Main Lines.

"Yamanote" literally refers to inland, hillier districts orfoothills (as distinct from areas close to the sea). In Tokyo, "Yamanote" lies along the western side of the Yamanote Line loop. The word consists of the Japanesemorphemesyama, meaning 'mountain', thegenitivesuffixno, andte, meaning 'hand', thus literally translating as "mountain's hand", analogous to the English term "foothills".Yamanote-sen is officially written in Japanese without thekanano (の、ノ), which makes its pronunciation ambiguous in print. The characters山手 may also be pronouncedyamate, as in Yamate-dōri (Yamate Street), which runs parallel to the west side of the Yamanote Line. TheSeishin-Yamate Line inKobe and theYamate area ofYokohama also use this pronunciation. AfterWorld War II,SCAP ordered all train placards to be romanized, and the Yamanote Line was romanized as "Yamate Line" due to a mistake made by one of the workers atJNR. It was thus alternatively known as "Yamanote" and "Yamate" until 1971, when theJapanese National Railways changed the pronunciation back to "Yamanote", as people started riding trains heading for Yamate thinking it goes to theYamate Station located in Yokohama. Some older people still refer to the line as the "Yamate Line".^[10]

• Stations are listed in clockwise order from Shinagawa to Tabata, but for operational purposes trains officially start and terminate at Ōsaki.
  • Clockwise (外回り,sotomawari, "outer circle"): Shinagawa → Shibuya → Shinjuku → Ikebukuro → Tabata → Ueno → Tokyo → Shinagawa
  • Counter-clockwise (内回り,uchimawari, "inner circle"): Shinagawa → Tokyo → Ueno → Tabata → Ikebukuro → Shinjuku → Shibuya → Shinagawa
• All stations are located in thespecial wards of Tokyo.
• All trains on the Yamanote Line are local trains that stop at all stations.

Legend

• ● : Trains stop
• ｜ : Trains pass
• ▲ :Keihin–Tōhoku Rapid trains stop only on weekends or holidays
• ▼ : SomeShōnan–Shinjuku trains stop

As of January 2020^[update], the line's services are operated exclusively by a fleet of 50 11-carE235 series EMUs, the first of which was introduced on the line on 30 November 2015. However, a number of technical faults, including problems with door close indicators, resulted in the train being taken out of service the same day.^[11] The E235 series returned to service on the Yamanote Line on 7 March 2016.^[12] All Yamanote Line rolling stock are stored and maintained atTokyo General Rolling Stock Centre [ja] nearŌsaki Station.^[13]

Prior to the E235 series, the line's services were operated byE231-500 series EMUs, which were in use from April 21, 2002^[13] to January 20, 2020. These trains originally each included two "six-door cars" with six pairs of doors per side and bench seats that were folded up to provide standing room only during the morning peak until 10 a.m. From February 22, 2010, the seats were no longer folded up during the morning peak,^[14] and all trains were standardized with newly built four-door cars by 31 August 2011.^[15] This was due to reduced congestion on the line as well as preparation for the installation of platform doors on all stations by 2017.^[16]

The E231 series supported a new type of traffic control system, calleddigital Automatic Train Control (D-ATC). The series also had a more modern design and has two 15-inchLCD monitors above each door, one of which is used for displaying silent commercials, news and weather; and another which is used for displaying information on the next stop (in Japanese, English, Korean and more) along with notification of delays onShinkansen and other railway lines in thegreater Tokyo area.

• DeHo 6100 series (from 1909 until unknown date)
• MoHa 10
• 63 series
• 72 series
• 101 series ("Canary" yellow livery, from September 1961 until circa 1968)^[17]
• 103 series ("Uguisu" green livery, from December 1963 until June 26, 1988)^[18]
• 205 series (from March 25, 1985 until April 17, 2005)
• E231-500 series (from April 21, 2002 until January 20, 2020)

•  
  63 series
•  
  A yellow (Tsurumi Line) 101 series train
•  
  A Yamanote Line 103 series train in March 1985
•  
  A Yamanote Line 205 series train in February 2003
•  
  A Yamanote Line E231-500 series set in August 2018

The predecessor of the present-day Yamanote Line was opened on 1 March 1885 by the Nippon Railway Company, operating betweenShinagawa Station in the south andAkabane Station in the north.^[19] The top part of the loop betweenIkebukuro andTabata (a distance of 3.3 km (2.1 mi)) opened on 1 April 1903, and both lines were merged to become the Yamanote Line on 12 October 1909.^[19]

The line was electrified on December 16, 1909, soon after the Osaki – Shinagawa section was double-tracked on November 30.^{[citation needed]} The loop was completed in 1925 with the opening of the double track, electrified section betweenKanda andUeno on 1 November, providing a north–south link via Tokyo Station through the city's business centre.^[17] A parallel freight line, also completed in 1925, ran along the inner side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata.

During the prewar era, theMinistry of Railways did not issue permits to private suburban railway companies for new lines to cross the Yamanote Line from their terminal stations to the central districts of Tokyo, forcing the companies to terminate services at stations on the line.^{[citation needed]} This policy led to the development of new urban centers (新都心、副都心,shintoshin, fukutoshin) around major transfer points on the Yamanote Line, most notably atShinjuku andIkebukuro (which are now the two busiest passenger railway stations in the world).

The contemporary Yamanote Line came into being on 19 November 1956 when it was separated from the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and given its own set of tracks along the eastern side of the loop between Shinagawa andTabata.^[17] However, Yamanote Line trains continued to periodically use the Keihin-Tōhoku tracks, particularly on holidays and during off-peak hours, until rapid service trains were introduced on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line in 1988.

A major explosion on the Yamanote Freight Line in Shinjuku in 1967 led to the diversion of freight traffic to the more distantMusashino Line. To address severe undercapacity, the freight line was repurposed for use bySaikyō Line andShōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, as well as certain limited express trains such as theNarita Express and someliner services. Likewise, from 14 March 2015 onwards, theUeno-Tokyo Line starts services, which connects theTōhoku Main Line andJōban Line to theTōkaidō Main Line, to provide further relief on the busiest portion of the Yamanote Line today, the segment between Ueno and Tokyo stations.

Automatic train control (ATC) was introduced from 6 December 1981, and digital ATC (D-ATC) was introduced from 30 July 2006.^[17]

Station numbering was introduced on JR East stations in the Tokyo area from 20 August 2016, with Yamanote Line stations numbered using the prefix "JY".^[20][21]

A new station,Takanawa Gateway Station,^[22] opened on 14 March 2020. This station was built on the Yamanote Line and Keihin-Tohoku Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations, becoming the first new station on the line sinceNishi-Nippori was built in 1971.^[23][24] The distance between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations was 2.2 km (1.4 mi), making it the longest stretch of track between stations on the Yamanote Line.^[23] The new station was constructed on top of the 20-hectare former railyard, which is undergoing rationalization and redevelopment by JR East; it is roughly parallel to the existingSengakuji Station on theToei Asakusa andKeikyu Main lines. The Yamanote Line and theKeihin-Tohoku Line tracks were moved slightly to the east to be aligned closer to theTokaido Shinkansen tracks. The area on the west side of the yard made available will be redeveloped with high-rise office buildings, creating an international business center with good connections to the Shinkansen andHaneda Airport.^[23]

In October 2022 JR East began performing trial runs for driverless trains on the line aimed to begin sometime in 2028. Two sets, 17 and 18, were fitted with the new system and re-entered service on the line as train crew conduct ongoing tests on their performance. Furthermore, the two sets are easy to distinguish with an “ATO” (Automatic Train Operation) sticker located on the front and sides of each set. Once ATO is fully installed, this will be the first line of JR East to feature driverless trains.^[25]

• Osaka Loop Line, a similar loop line serving CentralOsaka.
• Musashino Line, a line regarded byJR East as part of theTokyo Mega Loop.
• Circle line, a line on theLondon Underground that goes round the centre ofLondon.
• Seoul Subway Line 2, a line on theSeoul Subway that goes round the central ofSeoul.

• Shibata, Togo (December 2016).山手線の車両史 戦後から今日まで [Yamanote Line rolling stock history since the war until today].Tetsudo Daiya Joho Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 45, no. 392. Japan: Kotsu Shimbun. pp. 14–19.

• Stations of the Yamanote Line (JR East)(in Japanese)