page_title: Ikebukuro Station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ikebukuro Station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Ikebukuro circa 1960日本語: 1960年頃の池袋眺望
context_page_description: Ikebukuro Station is a major railway station located in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima, Tokyo, Japan, shared by East Japan Railway Company, Tokyo subway operator Tokyo Metro, and the two private railway operators Seibu Railway and Tobu Railway. With 2.71 million passengers on an average daily in 2007, it is the second-busiest railway station in the world, and the busiest station in the Tobu, Seibu, and Tokyo Metro networks. It primarily serves commuters from Saitama Prefecture and other residential areas northwest of the city centre. It is the Tokyo terminal of the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and the Tobu Tojo Line.
context_section_description: The station was opened on April 1, 1903 by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR). The Tōjō Railway Line (present-day Tobu Tojo Line) station opened on 1 May 1914 with the opening of the 33.5 km line to Tanomosawa (田面沢駅) in Saitama Prefecture (located between the present stations of Kawagoeshi and Kasumigaseki). As the Tokyo terminus of the line was originally planned to be at Shimo-Itabashi, Ikebukuro Station is to this day marked by km post "-1.9" (the distance from Shimo-Itabashi Station where the "0 km" post for the line is located).
  Tobu opened a department store adjoining its station on 29 May 1962. Around the same time, the Tobu station platforms were expanded with three tracks.
  In March 1992, automatic ticket barriers were installed at the north exit of the Tobu Station, and in June of the same year, the Tobu Department Store was expanded with the addition of the Metropolitan Plaza annex located on the south side.
  In June 2008, the Tobu station ticket barriers were colour-coded into three "zones": North, Central, and South.
  Chest-height platform edge doors were installed on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line platforms in January 2011.
caption: Ikebukuro Station in the early 1960s
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