History
Akihabara Station opened on 1 November 1890 as a Nippon Railway freight terminal at the southern end of the Ueno line, soon connected on 1 May 1893 to a custom-cut Kanda River dock used by transfer cranes. Passenger service began on 1 November 1925 when the elevated electric track between Ueno and Kanda was completed, and the four-lobed high-level freight platforms were finished on 10 April 1931. The Sōbu Main Line extension from Ryōgoku to Ochanomizu opened the upper Sōbu platforms on 1 July 1932, creating a three-tier interchange. The Hibiya Line platform opened on 31 May 1962. JR East's facilities were rebuilt for the Tsukuba Express terminus that opened underground on 24 August 2005.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
When the elevated freight platforms were planned in the 1920s, JNR weighed building ground-level docks with vehicle lifts against a US-style elevated cargo platform; the latter cost more, but renting out the high-arch underdeck space tipped the balance, and the four-platform installation was designed to handle 1.09 million tonnes a year.