Evening Rush on the Platform, Shinjuku Station, Tokyo

Passengers wait on both platforms at a Japanese railway station during evening hours.
Passengers wait on both platforms at a Japanese railway station during evening hours.

Shinjuku Station handles roughly 3.5 million passengers a day, the busiest transit hub on the planet. The station serves multiple operators, including JR East, Odakyu, Keio, and the Tokyo Metro and Toei subway systems, through a maze of more than 200 exits. Its curved platforms and tight track geometry, a legacy of the station's piecemeal expansion since it opened in 1885, are still in daily use today. Commuters bound for Tokyo's western suburbs pass through here on lines like the Chuo, Sobu, and Odakyu, making the evening rush one of the densest recurring crowd events anywhere in the city.

Photo taken in March 2023.

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Tokyo
Transit infrastructure and urban life across central and western Tokyo districts
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Tokyo rail network: Metro and JR lines, major stations, platforms and transit facilities
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