Umeda Station

infobox japan station
name=梅田
namerom=Umeda

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pref=Osaka
city=Osaka
ward=Kita
open=1906 (Hanshin)
1910 (Hankyu)
1928 (JR Freight)
1933 (Osaka Municipal Subway)
bus=t4
operator=Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. (Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Hankyu Corporation)
Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau
Japan Freight Railway Company
line=Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line
Hankyu Railway Kobe Line, Takarazuka Line, Kyoto Line
Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line
Japan Freight Railway Tōkaidō Main Line
West Japan Railway Company (Osaka Station, Kitashinchi Station)
Osaka Municipal Subway Tanimachi Line (Higashi-Umeda Station), Yotsubashi Line (Nishi-Umeda Station)

Umeda Station (梅田駅 "Umeda-eki") is a railway station located in Kita-ku in the northern commercial center of Osaka, Japan. It is the busiest station in Western Japan, serving 2,343,727 passengers daily in 2005.

Umeda Station is served by the following railways:

*Hankyu Railway (Kobe Line, Kyoto Line, Takarazuka Line)
*Hanshin Electric Railway (Main Line)
*Osaka Municipal Subway (Midosuji Line, Station number: M16)
*Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) (Umeda Feright Branch of Tōkaidō Main Line) - freight only

The nearby stations Osaka (JR West), Kitashinchi (JR West Tozai Line), Nishi-Umeda (Osaka Subway Yotsubashi Line, Y11) and Higashi-Umeda (Osaka Subway Tanimachi Line, T20) are within walking distance and connected by a large complex of underground malls.

Hanshin Electric Railway

Coordinates: coord|34.700924|N|135.496455|E|region:JP_type:railwaystation|format=dms|display=inline

The underground Umeda terminal of Hanshin Electric Railway (officially Umeda Station, but commonly called Hanshin Umeda Station) is located south of Osaka Station, next to underground of Hanshin Department Store. The Hanshin station first opened on December 21, 1906 as a ground level station and moved to the present underground location on March 21, 1939.

Layout

*There are five bay platforms and four tracks on the second basement. There are east ticket gates on the second basement and center ticket gates and west ticket gates on the first basement.

tations on the Hanshin Railway Main Line next to Umeda

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Hankyu Railway

Coordinates: coord|34.705515|N|135.498301|E|region:JP_type:railwaystation|format=dms|display=inline

The Umeda terminal of Hankyu Railway (officially Umeda Station, but commonly called Hankyu Umeda Station) is located northeast of Osaka Station.

The station first opened on March 10, 1910 as a ground-level station. The original location of the station was southeast of Osaka Station and the Hankyu (then Minoo-Arima Electric Tramway) tracks crossed the Tōkaidō Main Line by an overpass. The station was elevated on July 5, 1926.

When Osaka Station was elevated in 1934, Hankyu's elevated tracks were forced to be removed and new Umeda Station was built to handle new ground-level tracks. The switching of tracks were carried out on June 1, 1934. This station facility was used until November 28, 1971 when the move of station to the present location was completed. This move was because of a sharp increase of transit which forced Hankyu to operate 8-car trains. The existence of JNR tracks on the northern end of the 1934 station prevented the expansion of the station so that the station could not handle long trains.

After the opening of the current huge elevated station, spaces around and beneath the station, as well as the site of former station, were extensively redeveloped. One of the symbols of the commercial complex surrounding the station is the BIG MAN video screen above the Kinokuniya bookshop, common and necessary places to meet in this bustling railway station.

The Hankyu Department Store, built next to the station in 1929, was a pioneer of the successful business model of department stores run by urban railway companies in Japan. The store is still in business at the original location even after the move of the station (as of 2007, the reconstruction of the store building is in progress).

Layout

*There are ten bay platforms and nine tracks on the third floor. There are south ticket gates on the third floor and center ticket gates and on Chayamachi ticket gates on the second floor.

tations on the Hankyu Lines next to Umeda

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Osaka Municipal Subway

Coordinates: coord|34.702812|N|135.497743|E|region:JP_type:railwaystation|format=dms|display=inline

Umeda is the transferring point of three lines of the municipal subway: the Midōsuji Line, the Tanimachi Line and the Yotsubashi Line. Among them, only the Midōsuji Line station is named Umeda, with the station number M16. The Tanimachi Line station is Higashi-Umeda (meaning "East Umeda") and the Yotsubashi Line station is Nishi-Umeda (meaning "West Umeda"). These three stations are connected with each other by underground walkways. A regular ticket of the subway is only valid until the passenger gets out the ticket barrier of the station. The transfer between the three Umeda stations is an exception of this principle; the fare can be calculated as one travel as if the passengers do not exit the station provided the passengers transfer within 30 minutes. [cite web| url = http://www.kotsu.city.osaka.jp/foreign/english/subway/umeda.html | title = How to Transfer to Other Subway Lines at Three Stations in Umeda | author = Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau |accessdate =September 23 |accessyear =2007 |language = English]

Umeda Station on the Midōsuji Line started its operation on May 20, 1933 as a temporary station. The station was moved to the present location on October 6, 1935. Originally the station with an island platform and two tracks was built amid one tunnel, but on November 5, 1989, the station was expanded to a tunnel existed next to the station (built for Tanimachi Line but due to change of plan remained unused for decades). The two tunnels are separated by a wall with some passages.

Layout

*There are an island platform and two tracks on the second basement. There are walls with passages in the center of the platform. On upper level of the platform, there are north, center-north-west, center-north-east, center-south and south ticket gates.

tations on the Midosuji Line next to Umeda

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Japan Freight Railway

Umeda Station of Japan Freight Railway Company is a freight-only station on the Umeda Branchline (unofficial name) of the Tōkaidō Main Line. The station was built to separate freight services from Osaka Station and began operation on December 1, 1928. [Teishajo|II|p. 56

] The yard of the station is located to the north, literally in the backyard, of the Osaka Station.

As of 2007, the relocation work of the freight station to the suburban yards is ongoing. The site, commonly called nihongo|Osaka Station North Area|大阪駅北地区|Ōsaka-eki Kita-chiku or nihongo|Umeda North Yard|梅田北ヤード|Umeda Kita-yādo, will be redeveloped. [cite web| url = http://www.kitaumeda-osaka.jp/ | title = Osaka Kita-Umeda Project|language = Japanese|accessdate=September 23|accessyear=2007]

The JR West Limited Express trains also use the freight line to transfer from the Osaka Loop Line to the JR Kyoto Line bypassing Osaka Station.

urroundings

*Hankyu Department Stores, Inc.
*Hanshin Department Store
*Diamor Osaka
*Acty Osaka (Daimaru Umeda, Hotel Granvia Osaka)
*HEP NAVIO
**Hankyu Men's
**TOHO Cinemas Umeda
*HEP FIVE
*Hankyu San-Bengai
*Umeda Center Building
*Yodobashi Umeda (Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Umeda, etc.)
*NU Chayamachi
*the headquarters of Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. (MBS)
*Osaka Marubiru
*Umeda DT Tower
*E-ma
*Whity Umeda
*the Hilton Plaza East
**Hilton Osaka
**Junkudo Umeda
*the Hilton Plaza West
*Osaka Garden City
**HERBIS OSAKA
***the Ritz-Carlton Osaka
**HERBIS ENT
***Osaka Shiki Theatre
***Billboard live Osaka
*Shin Umeda City
**Umeda Sky Building
**the Westin Osaka

References