The Busiest Train Station In The World.
It’s no surprise that the Busiest Train Station In The World is also located in the Biggest City in The World – Tokyo, in Japan.
And that very, very busy train station is Shinjuku Train Station, right in the guts of Tokyo, in a business district area.
Note, this photo of one of the two hundred exits (yes, that’s right, 200!) was taken at an off peak time on a G Adventures trip when there weren’t too many people around on a Sunday morning!
To put things into perspective – Tokyo holds approximately 20 million people – which is like squeezing the entire population of Australia in one city.
However, 3 to 4 million people pass through Shinjuku Train Station every day – which is like the entire population of Sydney catching a train to just one single destination. Have a look at the numerous lines that operate in this official Shinjuku Station Map! Looks like a lot of multi coloured spaghetti to me.
I didn’t go there in peak hour – and it still felt like we were in a big building full of human dots buzzing around, but somehow avoiding each other.
But one thing I had to give credit for – the Japanese Public Transport System is the best I’ve experienced anywhere. But I guess it has to – with millions of people crammed into a couple of islands, people have to get around efficiently and smoothly so that everything works! It must work otherwise it would be complete hell!
No chaos at all! It just worked! A lot of much smaller, but completely chaotic cities could learn a lot from how the Japanese do things!
More Busiest Train Station In The World Stuff
Check out A Busy Day at the Train Station on Amazon. But if you’re in Japan any time soon, catch the metro or a train to Shinjuku station and soak in one of the world’s engineering marvels.
4 million people!!!! I couldn’t iagine how this train system could accomodate them. However, I believe Japan always has solution for everything for their wealth and power :))
It’s very impressive to see! Worth checking out! It just seems to work!
I can’t even imagine how busy it gets. I spent a lot of time living in Paris, and they get less than half of that. Was the G Adventures tour worth it? I’m thinking of booking something through them for later in the year.
I really enjoyed the trip. I liked the balance between guided and independence. I come from the independent traveller vein, but found the G Adventures Trip enjoyable. Have a look at my review of the trip here: https://www.thetraveltart.com/trips-and-tours-in-japan-the-g-adventures-option-and-review/
Wow! I thought the london underground was heavy going, not sure I could cope with that many people day in day out.