Ikebukuro Station

Ikebukuro Station () is a major railway station located in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima, Tokyo, Japan, shared by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Tokyo subway operator Tokyo Metro, and the two private railway operators Seibu Railway and Tobu Railway. With 2.3 million daily passengers on average in 2023, it is the third-busiest railway station in the world (after Shinjuku Station and Shibuya Station), and the busiest station in the Tobu, Seibu, and Tokyo Metro networks. It primarily serves commuters from Saitama Prefecture and other residential areas northwest of the city center. It is the Tokyo terminal of the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and the Tobu Tojo Line.

Lines

JR East

Seibu Railway

18px Seibu Ikebukuro Line (Ikebukuro to Agano) - limited through service to Seibu Chichibu Line; branches to Seibu Toshima Line, Seibu Yūrakuchō Line, and Seibu Sayama Line

Tobu Railway

Tōbu Tōjō Line (Ikebukuro to Yorii)

Tokyo Metro

On weekdays, S-Train (Seibu) services skip this station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line. However, on weekends or holidays, S-Train (Seibu) services stop here on the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line platforms for alighting passengers only.

Station layout

In Ikebukuro Station, there are two main entrances; the East Exit and the West Exit. There are a number of other secondary entrances such as the JR North Exit, the Metropolitan Exit, the various Seibu exits, and multiple subway exits.

The JR lines run north/south through the center. The Tobu platforms are to the northwest and the Seibu platforms are to the southeast. Both Tobu and Seibu operate department stores adjacent to their terminal stations. (Despite their names, "Seibu" (西武) starts with the kanji for "west" (西), but its platforms are on the eastern side of the station, while "Tōbu" (東武) starts with the character for "east" (東), but its platforms are on the western side of the station.)

The Marunouchi Line and Yurakucho Line run east/west two stories underground, while the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line is four stories underground, to the west of the main station complex. The latter line runs south toward Shinjuku and Shibuya along Meiji-dori, and offers through services to Motomachi-Chūkagai Station in Yokohama via the Tokyu Toyoko Line and Minatomirai Line.

Tokyo Metro's underground mall "Echika" is also located inside the station.

JR East

thumb|JR East track and platform layout

Chest-high platform edge doors were introduced on the Yamanote Line platforms on 2 March 2013.

File:Ikebukuro station Metropolitan entrance.jpg|The Metropolitan Exit on the second-floor level

File:Ikebukuro Station Metropolitan concourse 20160323.JPG|The Metropolitan concourse in March 2016

File:Ikebukuro-Sta-JR-Centralgate2.JPG|The Central No. 2 Gate ticket barriers in June 2016

File:Ikebukuro Station platform 1-2 20140824.JPG|Platform 1/2 (with Saikyo Line on the right) in August 2014

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Tobu Railway

Platforms

thumb|Tobu track and platform layout

The Tobu station has three terminating tracks served by platforms 1 to 5, arranged as shown in the diagram on the right.

Platforms 3 and 5 are normally used for disembarking passengers, although platform 5 is also used for passengers boarding the evening TJ Liner services, which require payment of a supplementary fare. From 14 June 2015, the departure melodies used when trains are about to depart from the station are to be changed to classical themes, with "Allegro" from "Divertimento in D major, K. 136" by Mozart used for platforms 1/2, "Menuetto" from "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" by Mozart used for platforms 3/4, and "Allegro ma non troppo" from the "Pastoral Symphony" by Beethoven used for TJ Liner services departing from platform 5.

File:Tobu-Ikebukuro-STA Home1-2.jpg|Platform 1 and 2 in July 2021

File:Tobu-Ikebukuro-STA Home3-4.jpg|Platform 3 and 4 in July 2021

File:Tobu-Ikebukuro-STA Home5.jpg|Platform 5 in July 2021

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Chest-high platform edge doors are scheduled to be added by the end of fiscal 2020. Platform doors protecting platform 1 are in use since 21 April 2018. It is planned to have platform doors protecting platforms 2 and 3 in operation from 2 March 2019.

Ticket barriers

There are three sets of ticket barriers giving access to the platforms: the "South Gate" at ground level (signposted in red), and the "Central Gate" (signposted in blue) and "North Gate" (signposted in green) on the first basement level.

File:Tobu-Ikebukuro-STA South-Gate in.jpg|The ground-level south entrance and ticket barriers in July 2021

File:Ikebukuro Station north gate 20140419.JPG|The north gate ticket barriers in April 2014

File:Ikebukuro Station platform 5 stairs 20140419.JPG|The stairs leading from the central gate to platform 5 for TJ Liner passengers in April 2014

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Seibu Railway

Platforms 1, 4, and 6 are normally used for disembarking passengers only.

File:西武池袋線池袋駅 2016 (29337760873).jpg|The basement entrance and ticket barriers in 2016

File:Seibu-ikebukuro-sta 1st-floor.JPG|The Seibu Ikebukuro Line platforms in July 2014

File:Rail Tracks map Seibu Ikebukuro Station.svg|Seibu track and platform layout

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Tokyo Metro

Platform

This station consists of three separate island platforms for the Marunouchi Line, Yurakucho Line, and Fukutoshin Line.

Station layout

The Tokyo Metro platforms are equipped with chest-height platform edge doors.

File:Ikebukuro-Sta-Yurakucholine-Platform.JPG|The Yurakucho Line platforms in June 2016

File:TokyoMetro-F09-Ikebukuro-station-platform.jpg|The Fukutoshin Line platforms in June 2008

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History

thumbnail|JGR Ikebukuro Station in the early 20th century

thumb|Ikebukuro Station in the early 1960s

thumb|The underground "Shinsen Ikebukuro" platforms in 2005 before they became part of the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line

The station was opened on 1 April 1903 by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR). The Tōjō Railway Line (present-day Tobu Tojo Line) station opened on 1 May 1914 with the opening of the line to in Saitama Prefecture (located between the present stations of Kawagoeshi and Kasumigaseki). As the Tokyo terminus of the line was originally planned to be at Shimo-Itabashi, Ikebukuro Station is to this day marked by km post "-1.9" (the distance from Shimo-Itabashi Station where the "0 km" post for the line is located).

In June 2008, the Tobu station ticket barriers were color-coded into three "zones": North, Central, and South.

On 1 March 2024, the departure melody on both Yamanote Line platforms was changed to the theme song of Bic Camera. The company has its head office and a major store building in the area.

Passenger statistics

The figures below are the official number of passengers entering and exiting each day released by each train operator.

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan=2 | Operator !! Number !! Fiscal year !! Note

| colspan=2 | JR East || 550,350 || 2013 || Boarding passengers only. Second busiest JR East station.

| colspan=2 | Tobu || 472,132 || 2014 || Busiest Tobu station.

| colspan=2 | Seibu || 484,446 || 2013 || Busiest Seibu station.

| colspan=2 | Tokyo Metro || 523,834 || 2013 || Busiest Tokyo Metro station. <br /><small>(Excludes stations which allow through services onto non-Tokyo Metro lines)</small>

Annual passenger figures for the station between fiscal 1903 and 1965 are as shown below. Note that the figures only consider boarding passengers and a blank indicates that no data is available.

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2"|Fiscal year !! colspan="4"|Annual total !! rowspan="2"|References

! JGR/JNR !!Tobu !!Musashino/Seibu!! TRTA

| 1903|| 27,941 ||rowspan="2"| Not in operation ||rowspan="2"| Not in operation ||rowspan="5"| Not in operation ||

| 1905|| 33,877 ||

| 1915|| 545,473 || || ||

| 1925|| 6,842,992|| 192,380|| 1,228,881||

| 1935|| 11,554,661 || 500,476 || 3,558,958||

| 1955|| 34,428,803 || || || ||

| 1965|| 144,996,156 || 72,559,157|| 77,873,226|| 55,093,466||

The daily passenger figures for the JR East, Seibu, Tobu, and Tokyo Metro station after fiscal 2000 are as shown below. Note that the JR East figures only consider boarding passengers whereas the Seibu, Tobu, and Tokyo Metro figures consider both entering and exiting passengers.

{| class="wikitable"

! Fiscal year !! JR East !! Seibu !! Tobu !! Tokyo Metro

| 2000|| 570,255|| || ||

| 2005|| 564,669||511,078|| ||

| 2010 || 544,222||476,989|| 467,770 ||

| 2011 || 544,762||472,022 || 464,908 ||470,284

| 2012 || 550,756|| 479,467 || 471,990 || 483,952

| 2013 || 550,350 || 523,834 || || 472,132