The Fukutoshin Line (副都心線) is a railway line of Tokyo Metro (東京地下鉄). It runs from Kotake-mukaihara Station in Nerima ward, Tokyo, to Shibuya Station in Shibuya ward.
History
The line was first planned as Tokyo Line 13 (東京13号線) in Transport Council Report No. 15, dated March 1972. The first route ran from Shiki through Wako, Narimasu, Mukaihara, Ikebukuro, Higashi-Ikebukuro, Mejiro-higashi, Suwacho and Nishi-Okubo to Shinjuku. In July 1985 Transport Council Report No. 7 set the end point at Shibuya. In September 1975 an application was made for the Ikebukuro to Shibuya and Wako to Narimasu licences. The Shibuya extension was added because a turnback facility could not be placed at Shinjuku for geographic and technical reasons, and large demand was expected in Shibuya. On 11 August 1976 the Wako to Narimasu licence was granted, but the Ikebukuro to Shibuya licence was put on hold and stayed an application.
Work on the shared section began in 1977. The Kotake-mukaihara to Ikebukuro section was built at the same time as the Yurakucho Line (有楽町線), to cut costs and limit disruption to residents and roads. The two lines share a tunnel with two levels. The upper level, the Yurakucho Line, opened in June 1983, and the lower level for Line 13 was finished in August 1985. The Narimasu to Ikebukuro section opened on 24 June 1983, and Wako to Narimasu opened on 25 August 1987. Work on the Kotake-mukaihara to Ikebukuro section began in 1992. It was opened first to ease crowding on the Yurakucho Line west of Ikebukuro. On 7 December 1994 the section opened as the New Line of the Yurakucho Line. Senkawa and Kanamecho stations were passed through without stopping.
In 1998 the government adopted an emergency economic package to fight a long recession, and a supplementary budget followed the next month. The Teito Rapid Transit Authority (帝都高速度交通営団, Eidan) decided to build Line 13. The line would give access to the three sub-centres of Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya, and would ease crowding on the JR Yamanote Line (山手線) and the Saikyo Line (埼京線). The plan was cut to four stations, to give the line an express role alongside the Yamanote Line and to reduce costs. On 17 December 1998 a first-class railway licence application was made, and on 25 January 1999 the licence for Ikebukuro to Shibuya was granted. In May 1999 a provisional station at Shin-Senda-gaya was added to the plan. On 30 March 2001 construction was approved, and construction began on 15 June 2001. Seven new stations were built, most of them by cut-and-cover. Two used shield tunnelling, and ten tunnelling machines were used in all. On 29 January 2002 through services to the Tokyu Toyoko Line were decided. Eidan was privatised on 1 April 2004, and Tokyo Metro took over the construction.
On 24 January 2007 the line was named Fukutoshin Line (副都心線) after a public call for names. The name was chosen because the line was the first Tokyo subway to link Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya without passing through the three central wards, and it treated the three areas equally. The stations were announced as Zoshigaya, Nishi-Waseda, Higashi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-sanchome, Kita-Sando, Meiji-jingumae and Shibuya. Test trains ran from 7 December 2007. Crew training ran from 18 March to 1 June 2008. A test run was held on 16 April 2008. The line opened from Ikebukuro to Shibuya on 14 June 2008. That was about three months later than the first plan of March 2008. On the same day the Wako to Shibuya route was named Fukutoshin, and Ikebukuro was renamed from New Line Ikebukuro. Senkawa and Kanamecho opened for the first time. Through services with the Tobu Tojo Line and Seibu lines also began.
On 16 June 2008 a women-only car was introduced and the line ran its first weekday timetable, and that day went badly. Trains were disrupted for most of the day, and some Tobu and Seibu trains were also delayed. Japanese Wikipedia gives the causes as poor handling of late trains from other lines, a mix of 8-car and 10-car trains, operators unfamiliar with the equipment, and a wrong route being set. On 6 March 2010 Meiji-jingumae station gained the secondary name Harajuku, and express trains began to stop there on weekends and holidays. On 16 October 2010 platform doors came into use at all stations except Wako-shi. On 14 March 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake (東日本大震災) cut power from power plants, Tokyo Electric Power ran planned blackouts, and through services and express trains were suspended. Service returned in stages: weekday peak services from 1 April 2011, normal weekend services from 11 June, and normal weekday timetables from 12 September. On 4 October 2011 concrete fell at Kotake-mukaihara Station and cut a signal cable, which stopped the line until the evening. The Kanto Regional Transport Bureau asked the operator to find the cause and prevent it from happening again. On 7 December 2011 a night work accident on the Yurakucho Line at Toyosu Station caused casualties.
On 16 March 2013 through services to the Tokyu Toyoko Line and the Yokohama Minatomirai Line began. On 28 March 2015 one-person operation began between Wako-shi and Kotake-mukaihara. On 26 March 2016 the nickname F Liner came into use. On 25 March 2017 the S-Train service began, and Seibu 40000 series trains entered service. On 16 March 2019 the through services with the Tobu Tojo Line were extended to Ogawamachi.
On 21 February 2021 the 17000 series trains entered service. In January 2022 it was announced that the line would run through to the Sagami Railway (相模鉄道) Sotetsu Shin-Yokohama Line, via the Tokyu Toyoko Line and the Tokyu Shin-Yokohama Line (東急新横浜線). On 18 March 2023 these through services began, and Meiji-jingumae became a stop for commuter express trains.
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Written by an AI from the line's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.