Hibiya Line

Planning

In 1925, the original plan for what is now the Hibiya Line was included in the five-line subway plan designated by the Ministry of Home Affairs Notification No. 56 of 1925 (大正14年内務省告示第56号), the Hibiya Line, then the Line 2 was outlined as a 16.1 km (10 mi) underground route connecting "Meguro – Nishikubo – Iwaidacho – Hongokucho – Asakusaabashi – Tawaramachi – Minami-senju".^[4]

Tokyo City obtained route licenses for Lines 3 and 4, but construction approval was denied due to opposition from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance over the city's heavy public debt. No further construction plans were pursued thereafter. In 1941, all route licenses held by the Tokyo City Government were transferred to the newly established Teito Rapid Transit Authority for a fee.^[5]

Construction

The Hibiya Line was the fourth subway line built in Tokyo after the Ginza Line, Marunouchi Line, and Toei Asakusa Line.

Work began in 1959, with the original section from Minami-Senju to Naka-okachimachi Station opening in March 1961.^[7] The line opened in stages: the northern section was operational in May 1962 between Kita-Senju and Ningyōchō and in February 1963 between Ningyōchō and Higashi-ginza; the southern section, between Naka-Meguro and Kasumigaseki, opened in March 1964.^[7]

The final segment, bridging Higashi-Ginza and Kasumigaseki, opened on 29 August 1964, just weeks before the opening ceremony for the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[7] Through service to the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line also began operations on this date.^[7] This was something of a coup for the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (the predecessor of today's Tokyo Metro), as the Toei Asakusa Line, which was also to be completed in time for the Olympics, had fallen behind schedule and remained under construction for the duration of the Games.^{[citation needed]}

The Hibiya Line was one of the lines targeted in the 1995 Aum sarin gas attack.

On 8 March 2000, five people were killed and 63 were injured when a derailed Hibiya Line train was sideswiped by a second train near Naka-Meguro Station.^[8]

The line, station facilities, rolling stock, and other assets were inherited by Tokyo Metro after the privatization of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (TRTA) in 2004.^[9]

16 March 2013 marked the end of through service with Tōkyū Tōyoko Line. All Hibiya Line trains now terminate Naka-Meguro Station.^[10]

Past

• TRTA 3000 series (from 1961 until July 1994)
• Tobu 2000 series (from 1962 until 1993)
• Tokyu 7000 series (original) [ja] (from 1964 until March 1991)
• Tokyu 1000 series (from 1991 until September 2013)
• Tokyo Metro 03 series (from 1988 until March 2020)^[15]
• Tobu 20000 series (8-car EMUs, 1988 until February 2020)

• 
  TRTA 3000 series in 1988
• 
  Tobu 2000 series
• 
  Tokyu 7000 series
• 
  Tokyu 1000 series
• 
  Tokyo Metro 03 series
• 
  Tobu 20000 series