Chiyoda Line — Tokyo subway
Green line from Yoyogi-uehara to Ayase with a short branch to Kita-ayase, and Odakyu and JR trains running through.
The Chiyoda Line at a glance
The Chiyoda Line runs 24.0 km through Adachi, Arakawa, Bunkyo, Chiyoda, Minato and Shibuya, plus a length of tunnel under Taito with no station on it. It was built as a bypass for the Hibiya Line, which it shadows and meets at three stations, and it is named after the ward it crosses.
It has through services at both ends: more than half its trains continue beyond Ayase onto the JR Joban Line, and the rest run beyond Yoyogi-uehara onto the Odakyu Odawara Line. A short branch links Ayase with Kita-ayase. It has a direct interchange with every other Tokyo Metro and Toei line except the Oedo Line — Yushima is close to Ueno-okachimachi, but the two have never been made an official transfer.
What to watch out for on the Chiyoda Line
Every station on the Chiyoda Line
20 stations in order with their station numbers. A ringed dot marks a station where you can transfer; the small coloured dots are the other lines there.
Yoyogi-uehara ↔ Ayase
19 stations
Service hours on the Chiyoda Line
| Timetable | First – last departure on the line |
|---|---|
| Weekdays | 04:38 – 00:48 |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 04:38 – 00:48 |
Departure times come from the operators’ own GTFS timetables (ODPT GTFS Toei-Train-GTFS (version 20261009, valid 2026-03-14..2027-03-12) + TokyoMetro-Train-GTFS (version 20261008, valid 2026-09-19..2027-03-12)). Japan publishes two subway timetables: 平日 weekdays and 土休日 Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. There is no separate Sunday timetable, and the December 30 – January 3 period runs the holiday timetable. Each station page gives its own first and last train by direction.
How often trains run
| Timetable | Morning peak (08:00) | Midday (12:00) | Evening (21:00) | Measured at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | 2.4 min | 5 min | 4.7 min | Nijubashimae |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 5 min | 5 min | 6 min | Nijubashimae |
Average gap between trains in one direction at the busiest station of the line.
Where you can transfer
| Station | Other lines | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| C03 Meiji-jingumae (Harajuku) | FFukutoshin | Tokyo Metro |
| C04 Omote-sando | GGinza ZHanzomon | Tokyo Metro |
| C07 Kokkai-gijidomae | MMarunouchi | Tokyo Metro |
| C08 Kasumigaseki | MMarunouchi HHibiya | Tokyo Metro |
| C09 Hibiya | HHibiya IMita | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| C11 Otemachi | MMarunouchi TTozai ZHanzomon IMita | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| C18 Kita-senju | HHibiya | Tokyo Metro |
A transfer to a line of the other company is a change of railway as well as of platform: your fare is the sum of the two, less the connecting discount. See fares.
Transfers on foot to a differently named station
| From | To | Lines there | On foot (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kokkai-gijidomae | Tameike-sanno | Ginza Line and Namboku Line | about 3 min |
| Hibiya | Yurakucho | Yurakucho Line | about 3 min |
| Shin-ochanomizu | Awajicho | Marunouchi Line | about 5 min |
| Shin-ochanomizu | Ogawamachi | Shinjuku Line | about 4 min |
These are official transfers recorded by the operators between stations with different names. The walking time is our estimate from the distance between the platforms — no operator publishes transfer walking times.
History
The line was proposed in 1962 as Line 8, running from Kitami through Harajuku and Hibiya to Matsudo. Revisions in 1964 tied its northern end to the Joban Line beyond Ayase and arranged for Odakyu to extend from Kitami to Yoyogi-uehara rather than have a separate subway branch; on 16 December 1964 it was formally redesignated Line 9. It was built ahead of the Namboku and Yurakucho lines because the Joban Line had reached its capacity, overcrowding that lay behind the conditions of the Mikawashima crash.
The name came from the first staff naming competition the Teito Rapid Transit Authority held. Of 1,443 submissions covering 205 different names, Chiyoda Line drew the most support with 208 employees proposing it, ahead of Otemachi Line and Namboku Line. Construction began on 30 July 1966 and the first stretch, Kita-senju to Otemachi, opened on 20 December 1969. The line had almost reached its western end by 10 October 1972, when it got to Yoyogi-koen, but the last kilometre to Yoyogi-uehara took until 31 March 1978. The Kita-ayase branch, built mainly to reach Ayase depot, followed on 20 December 1979. The line was among those attacked with sarin in 1995; Odakyu Romancecar services began running onto it on 18 March 2008, the first reserved-seat trains on a Japanese subway; and ten-car trains reached Kita-ayase on 16 March 2019 after its platform was lengthened by 135 m.
Trains and service
Two timetables apply, 平日 for weekdays and 土休日 for Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. First trains leave about 04:38 and the last about 00:48; nothing runs overnight. Measured at Nijubashimae, weekday trains come roughly every two to three minutes in the morning peak, every five minutes at midday and about every five in the evening, with a five to six minute gap through the Saturday and holiday day. Through trains run beyond Ayase to Abiko on the JR Joban Line, and to Toride in the rush hour, and beyond Yoyogi-uehara to Isehara on the Odakyu Odawara Line and Karakida on the Tama Line. The Kita-ayase branch is worked by a mixture of shuttles to Ayase and through trains to Yoyogi-uehara.
Rolling stock
Tokyo Metro runs 16000 series ten-car trains, in service since November 2010, and a small fleet of three-car 05 series sets on the Kita-ayase branch. Because of the through services you will also see JR East E233-2000 series trains, used since summer 2009, and Odakyu 4000 series sets from 2007. Odakyu 60000 series MSE trains work the Romancecar services. The 6000 series that opened the line ran from 1971 until November 2018.
Frequently asked questions
Reserved-seat limited express trains run by Odakyu over the subway: Metro Morning Way and Metro Homeway between Hon-Atsugi and Kita-senju, and Metro Hakone, which runs the other way to Hakone-Yumoto in about two hours. They need a seat reservation and a limited express fee on top of the ordinary fare, and you may not use them for a journey entirely inside the Chiyoda Line.
No. Yushima is the one place where the Chiyoda Line comes close to the Oedo Line without meeting it: Ueno-okachimachi is a short walk away but is not marked as an official transfer. Every other Tokyo Metro and Toei line has a direct interchange with the Chiyoda Line somewhere.
A single-stop spur from Ayase, opened on 20 December 1979 and built chiefly as the approach to Ayase depot, with a station added for the district it passes. It was worked by three-car shuttles for decades; since 16 March 2019 ten-car trains can use it, running right through to Yoyogi-uehara.