Welcome to the Tokyo Area Rail Network page, a resource in English for the traveller or rail enthusiast who wishes to understand and/or negotiate the maze of JR, private and subway lines that criss-cross the greater Tokyo area. All underlined entries are links, that will take you to the entry for that location on it's own page. 

Other types of transport are also included, eg monorails and guideways.

The pages are set out in a number of frames ...

• At the top, under the page title, will be the company name and the details of what gauge the track is, and what voltage the power supply is. Some pages will have these details against the individual entry.
• To the left, is the menu list of different companies and lines. When a company is selected, that menu entry will expand to indicate the lines available on that page.
• The main body of the page (this area), will have the details of the entry last selected from the menu list. This area will usually be a set of tables consisting of the following entries ...
• Station - the name of the station.
• Local Time/Express Time/etc - there many be several columns of this type, depending on the types of services offered. The times are from the first station, and to get times between intermediate stations, take the difference between them.
• Fare - this is the fare from the first station. As most companies' fare structure is in blocks, it can be hard to work out the fare between intermediate stations, but counting the number of stations between your selections, and finding the fare for that many stations from the first one should give you a rough idea.
• No. of Cars - the number of cars in the train consist (can vary though depending on time and season).
• Exit - which cars will put you closest to the exit.
• Connections - any other lines with a direct connection, or are within around 300m distance. If the name of the station is different, it will be listed in the 'Other' column, otherwise it is the same name.
• Minutes - for some stations, will tell you how long it can take to transfer to a connecting line.
• Other - any other useful information eg. surrounding attractions, the station name in English, or an alternate station name on another connecting line. 

Rows that are coloured indicate a continuation of that line that is out of the scope of this page, or through running on other lines. 

Rows that are coloured indicate a subway line that is ABOVE ground. 

Rows that are coloured indicate a non-subway line that is UNDERGROUND. 

Pronunciation guide - Japanese vowel sounds are usually always 'short', but letters shown as û or ô indicate the 'long' vowel sound.

Unfortunately, not all entries in all columns may be entered - if anyone can fill in any missing links for me, I would be grateful !!! 

I would also like to eventually do a Kansai Area Rail Network page, covering the Ôsaka, Kyôto and Kobe area.

All contents © 2003 - Doug Coster   Last update - 20/04/2003
Please note that this page is for guidance only and details could change at any time.
No responsibility will be entered into for any loss caused by use of information on this page.

Thanks to Lindsay Barton for the loan of his map books, Dennis Shaw (author of Tokyo Subways) and Dave Fossett for their helpful advice, my wife Akiko for her patient translation of Kanji, and Mapple and Chizu for their excellent publications.