The Yamanote Line (山手線) is a railway line run by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Its official route runs 20.6 km from Shinagawa Station in Minato ward, through Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, to Tabata Station in Kita ward.
History
Nippon Railway (日本鉄道) first built the line to link the present Tohoku Line (東北本線) and Tokaido Line (東海道本線). The aim was to carry raw silk from Tochigi and Gunma to the port of Yokohama, a main export at that time. Using the existing line between Ueno and Shimbashi would have meant building through dense housing in the lowland, so the route went through the hills (山の手), where fewer people lived and local support was easier to get. The first section opened from Ueno on 28 July 1883. The Shinagawa to Akabane section opened on 1 March 1885. In 1901 the Shinagawa line and the planned Toshima line were joined under the Yamanote name. Ikebukuro Station opened on 1 April 1903.
In 1904 the Shinjuku to Ikebukuro section was doubled, and doubling continued until 1910. Freight grew because of events including the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Nippon Railway was nationalised on 1 November 1906. On 12 October 1909 the line was named Yamanote within the Tohoku Line. Electric trains began running on 16 December 1909. In 1923 the Kantō earthquake burned several stations, including Yurakuchō, Shimbashi, Hamamatsuchō, Uguisudani and Ueno, and stopped the line for a time. Normal running resumed, and trains reached Tokyo Station again from 13 January 1924. On 1 November 1925, when the Tohoku Line section between Kanda and Ueno opened, the line began running as a loop. At first one lap took 72 minutes.
During the Pacific War, air raids burned stations and depots in 1945. On 13 April Tabata, Uguisudani, Komagome, Takadanobaba and Ikebukuro stations were burned, along with the Ikebukuro electric train depot. On 25 May Tokyo Station was burned and the whole line was stopped. Service resumed on 29 May. On 1 June 1949 the Japanese National Railways (JNR) was formed. On 19 November 1956 the Keihin-Tohoku Line (京浜東北線) was separated from the Yamanote tracks between Tabata and Tamachi, a section of 11.7 km.
From 1961 the canary-yellow 101 series ran on the line. From December 1963 the green 103 series became the main type. On 31 July 1965 a Yamanote train hit an empty train from the side inside Shinagawa Station, and 15 people were hurt. On 1 October 1968 the line began running 10-car trains, and by 20 April 1971 all trains were 10 cars. The reading of the name was set as Yamanote-sen on 7 March 1971. On 15 July 1972 the line was moved to the Tokaido Line section, and it was listed as 20.6 km between Shinagawa and Tabata. The Ikebukuro to Akabane section was split off as the Akabane Line (赤羽線). Automatic train control (ATC) and train radio began on 6 December 1981. On 25 March 1985 the 205 series, the first stainless-steel commuter train of the national railway's electric fleet, began on the line. On 30 September 1985 the Akabane Line became part of the Saikyo Line (埼京線).
On 1 April 1987 the line passed to East Japan Railway Company (JR East) when the national railway was split up and privatised. On 26 June 1988 the last 103 series trains left the line, and all cars on the line became air-conditioned. On 21 April 1990 IO card (イオカード) ticket gates were first installed at Tokyo and Komagome stations, and other stations followed. The Tokyo-area train management system, ATOS (東京圏輸送管理システム), started on 4 July 1998. On 21 April 2002 E231 series 500 番台 trains began running on the line, and the 205 series ended on the line on 17 April 2005. On 30 July 2006 the digital ATC (D-ATC) started. On 18 March 2007 the first timetable after the change cut the fastest lap to 59 minutes, not counting stops at the end stations. On 26 August 2007 the line became the first JR conventional line to use digital train radio.
Platform doors were added station by station from 26 June 2010, starting at Ebisu. The 6-door cars were retired, and on 4 September 2011 all trains became 4-door cars. On 12 April 2015 a catenary pole that was being removed fell into the track area between Kanda and Akihabara. The Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines were stopped for a long time. E235 series trains began service on 30 November 2015. On 20 August 2016 station numbering began at Meguro, with the line code JY. On 7 January 2019 automatic train operation (ATO) was tested in the early morning, and the test was shown to the press.
On 14 March 2020 a new station opened between Tamachi and Shinagawa, together with the Keihin-Tohoku Line. On 20 January 2021 the government declared a state of emergency over COVID-19, and some late-night trains were cancelled. On 23 and 24 October 2021 the Shibuya track switch work ran on a special timetable. Similar work followed on 7 and 8 January 2023, and on 18 and 19 November 2023. From 19 to 20 April 2025 parts of the line were stopped for track work on the Haneda Airport access line at Tamachi. Events marked the 100th anniversary of ring running from 4 October to 3 November 2025. On 1 July 2026 JR East changed its regional structure from branch offices to business headquarters, and the line's sections were placed under new headquarters.
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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.