Namboku Line — Tokyo subway
Emerald line from Meguro to Akabane-iwabuchi: deep, fully automatic, and sharing three stations with the Mita Line.
The Namboku Line at a glance
The Namboku Line, whose name means south–north, runs 21.3 km between Meguro in Shinagawa and Akabane-iwabuchi in Kita. It is one of Tokyo Metro’s newer lines and was built accordingly: full automatic train operation, platform screen doors at every station, and, because it had to thread below everything already there, deep stations throughout.
Its southern end is unusual. Between Shirokane-takanawa and Meguro the track and the stations are shared with the Toei Mita Line, the only stretch of the Tokyo subway where the two operators use common infrastructure rather than simply meeting at an interchange.
What to watch out for on the Namboku Line
Every station on the Namboku Line
19 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.
Meguro ↔ Akabane-iwabuchi
19 stations
Service hours on the Namboku Line
| Timetable | First – last departure on the line |
|---|---|
| Weekdays | 05:00 – 00:36 |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 05:00 – 00:36 |
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 | 3.4 min | 6 min | 6.8 min | Iidabashi |
| Saturdays, Sundays & holidays | 5 min | 6 min | 7.6 min | Iidabashi |
Average gap between trains in one direction at the busiest station of the line.
Where you can transfer
| Station | Other lines | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| N01 Meguro | IMita | Toei Subway |
| N02 Shirokanedai | IMita | Toei Subway |
| N03 Shirokane-takanawa | IMita | Toei Subway |
| N04 Azabu-juban | EOedo | Toei Subway |
| N06 Tameike-sanno | GGinza | Tokyo Metro |
| N07 Nagatacho | YYurakucho ZHanzomon | Tokyo Metro |
| N08 Yotsuya | MMarunouchi | Tokyo Metro |
| N09 Ichigaya | YYurakucho SShinjuku | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| N10 Iidabashi | TTozai YYurakucho EOedo | Toei Subway Tokyo Metro |
| N11 Korakuen | MMarunouchi | 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tameike-sanno | Kokkai-gijidomae | Marunouchi Line and Chiyoda Line | about 3 min |
| Nagatacho | Akasaka-mitsuke | Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line | about 4 min |
| Korakuen | Kasuga | Mita Line and Oedo Line | about 2 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
Line 7 was approved in 1962, running from Meguro through Nagatacho and Komagome to Akabane, but it took far longer to build than to draw. The Teito Rapid Transit Authority applied for a licence, the metropolitan government applied for a competing one in 1964, and the two proposals sat against each other for years. A 1972 report extended the idea into Saitama; a 1985 report settled that the Meguro to Shirokane-takanawa section would be shared with Line 6, the Mita Line. The full licence was granted on 20 April 1984, 22 years after the first application, and construction began in 1986.
The first segment, Komagome to Akabane-iwabuchi, opened on 29 November 1991 with four-car trains. They were lengthened to six when the line reached Yotsuya in March 1996, Tameike-sanno followed in September 1997, and the last stretch to Meguro opened on 26 September 2000, with through services onto the Tokyu Meguro Line from the same day. The second phase had been held up by Edo-period archaeology found between Tameike-sanno and Iidabashi and by opposition near Shirokanedai, pushing completion back five years. Through running with the Saitama Rapid Railway began in March 2001, eight-car trains on 1 April 2022, and through services to the Sotetsu network on 18 March 2023.
Trains and service
Two timetables are published, 平日 for weekdays and 土休日 for Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, with first trains about 05:00 and last trains about 00:36 on both; the line closes overnight. Measured at Iidabashi, weekday trains come about every three minutes in the morning peak, every six minutes at midday and every seven in the evening, with five to eight minute gaps on Saturdays and holidays. All trains call at every station. Through services run north onto the Saitama Rapid Railway Line for Urawa-Misono, and south from Meguro onto the Tokyu Meguro Line for Hiyoshi, continuing to Shin-yokohama and on to Ebina and Shonandai on the Sotetsu lines.
Rolling stock
Tokyo Metro supplies 9000 series trains in six- and eight-car formations. Through running brings in a good deal of other stock: Tokyu 3000, 3020 and 5080 series eight-car sets from the Meguro Line, Saitama Rapid Railway 2000 series six-car sets from the north, and Sotetsu 21000 series eight-car trains since 2023. All of it works with the line’s automatic train operation and its full-height platform screen doors.
Frequently asked questions
Between Meguro and Shirokane-takanawa the two lines share one pair of tracks and three stations, an arrangement unique on the Tokyo subway. It dates from a 1985 decision to build one railway instead of two parallel ones. Tokyo Metro and Toei remain separate companies, and which fare system applies on that stretch depends on where you are going.
A 2.5 km spur from Shirokane-takanawa to Shinagawa was announced on 28 January 2022 and is not expected to open before the mid-2030s. It is not in service and does not appear on the current network map; the intention is to improve connections to the Chuo Shinkansen.
It was built for full automatic train operation and every station has platform screen doors from the start, which is unusual for Tokyo. In practice staff are aboard, but the line was designed from the beginning around automatic operation rather than having it added later.