Hanshin Main Line

Main Line
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
Locale	2 prefectures in the Kansai region, Japan (Osaka and Hyogo)
Termini	Umeda Motomachi
Stations	33
Operation
Opened	April 12, 1905
Operator(s)	Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Depot(s)	Amagasaki
Technical
Line length	32.1 km (19.9 mi)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed	106 km/h (66 mph)

Route map

Legend Lines are of Hanshin unless noted Osaka/Kitashinchi 0.0 Umedaconnecions are shown below JR-W: JR Tōzai Line JR-W: Tōkaidō Line     (JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line) Deiribashiabandoned in 1949 1.1 Fukushima (Hanshin) Fukushima (JR West) Keihan: Nakanoshima Line Shin-Fukushima/Nakanoshima JR-W: Osaka Loop Line JR-W: Umeda freight Line Osaka Subway: Sennichimae Line 2.3 NodaS11: Nodahanshin Kita-Osaka Line Ebie Kokudō Line 3.3 Yodogawa Yodo River 4.4 Himejima 5.6 Ōwada-1921 Kanzaki River 5.9 Chibune 5.9 Tsukuda-1921 Prefectural border (Osaka/Hyogo) 6.8 Kuise Kokudo Line/Kuise Connection Line Kintetsu Nara Kintetsu Nara Line Kintetsu Osaka Line Kintetsu Namba Line Osaka Namba Hanshin Namba Line 8.0 Daimotsu Amagasaki depot and workshop 8.9 Amagasaki 10.1 Deyashiki Amagasaki Kaigan Line 10.8 Amagasaki Center Pool-mae 12.0 MukogawaMukogawa River Mukogawa Line Mukogawa S.B. 13.2 Naruo 14.1 KōshienKōshien Line 14.8 Kusugawa 15.4 Imazu Hankyu: Imazu Line Nishinomiya higashiguchi-2001 16.7 Nishinomiya2001- 16.9 Nishinomiya-2001 27.1 Ebisu 17.8 Kōroen Shukugawa River Horikiri Maintenance Base Horikiri S.B. 19.0 Uchide 20.2 Ashiya Ashiya River 21.5 Fukae 22.6 Ōgi 23.8 Uozaki Sumiyoshi River Kobe New Transit: Rokkō Island Line 24.6 Sumiyoshi 25.1 Mikage 25.7 Ishiyagawa Ishiya River Tomei Depot Ishiyagawa Depot 26.6 Shinzaike (second) Shinzaike (first)-1929 Toga River 27.6 Ōishi Kokudō Line 28.2 Nishi-Nada Nishi-Nada(temporary station) 28.8 Iwaya Wakihama-1933 29.9 Kasuganomichi (second)1934- Kasuganomichi (first)-1933 Shin-Ikutagawa-1933 Shin-Ikuta River Asahi-dōri-1933 JR-W: Tōkaidō Line (JR Kobe Line) Hankyū: Kobe Main Line 31.2 Sannomiyaconnections shown below Kobe (Takimichi) Main Line 32.1 Motomachi Kobe Kosoku Line Hanakuma Nishi-Motomachi Kobe Subway: Kaigan Line Kobe, K04: Harbor Land Kōsoku Kobe Kobe Subway: Kaigan Line JR-W: Sanyō Line (JR Kobe Line) Shinkaichi Shintetsu: Kobe Kosoku Line Daikai Kobe Subway: Seishin-Yamate Line Kōsoku NagataS08: Nagata Kobe Kosoku Line Nishidai Sanyō: Main Line Sanyo Himeji Connections at Umeda Subway: Osaka Subway JR-W: Tōkaidō Line (JR Kyoto Line) JR-W: Osaka Loop Line Subway: Tanimachi Line (T20: Higashi-Umeda) Hankyū: Kobe, Kyoto, Takarazuka main lines Subway: Midōsuji Line (M16) UmedaOsaka Y11: Nishi-Umeda, Kitashinchi Subway: Yotsubashi Line     (Extention planned) JR-W: Tōkaidō Line     (JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line) JR-W: Osaka Loop, JR Tōzai lines Main Line of Hanshin Connections at Sannomiya Kobe City Tramway: Sakaemachi Line Kobe Municipal Subway: Seishin-Yamate Line (S03) Hankyū: Kobe Main Line JR-W: Tōkaidō Line (JR Kobe Line) (R) Kobe New Transit: Port Island Line (P01) Main Line of Hanshin (L) Sannomiya-Hanshin-mae K01: Sannomiya-Hanadokeimae Kobe Municipal Subway: Kaigan Line

The Main Line (阪神電気鉄道本線, Hanshin Denki Tetsudō Honsen) is a railway line of a Japanese private railway company Hanshin Electric Railway, connecting two Japanese cities of Osaka and Kobe, between Umeda and Sannomiya stations respectively.

Outline

The Main Line of Hanshin is the southernmost railway of the three to connect Osaka and Kobe, with more stations through the earliest inhabited area. The others are Hankyu Corporation's Kobe Main Line in northernmost, and in the midst the Tōkaidō Main Line of present West Japan Railway Company (JR West).

Although the Tōkaidō Main Line has connected the cities earlier as a part of the national railway network, but had been less significant in the interurban connection of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. Privatized West Japan Railway Company (JR West) has focused the area as its "Urban Network", and has become competitive with private railways.

For nearly a century, the line or the company had competed with the Hankyū Kobe Main Line with numerous stories, tales and talks, however, in 2006 Hanshin and Hankyū were subsidiarized under a single share holding company, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings.

History

The Main Line started operation on April 12, 1905 by the company. It is one of the oldest interurban railways in Japan, which found a solution to construct a competing line with a governmental line using the Tram Act which first intended to provide supplementary ways of road traffic. Among the followers are Keihan Electric Railway, Minoo Arima Electric Tramway (presnt Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.), Osaka Electric Tramway (present Kintetsu), Keihin Electric Railway (present Keihin Electric Express Railway).

The rivaling Hankyū (then Hanshin Kyuko Railway) Kobe Main Line opened in 1920, and tramways like Hanshin built new tracks to abandon tracks partly laid on road, and introduced express trains.

In 1968 Kobe Rapid Railway opened its Tōzai Line, and Hanshin began through operations to Sumaura-Kōen of Sanyo Electric Railway via Kobe Rapid (And Sanyo trains to Ōishi of Hanshin and Rokkō of Hankyū).

Through limited express trains to Sanyo Himeji were introduced in 2001. Then, the Hanshin Namba Line was extended to Namba, a major junction in southern Osaka. The company announced through trains from Sannomiya to Kintetsu Nara in Nara on Kintetsu Nara Line would be operated.

Operation

Some trains run through the Sanyō Railway Main Line to Sanyō Himeji Station in Himeji, Hyōgo beyond Motomachi terminal via Kobe Rapid Railway.

The Main Line operates 8 types of trains, one of the most types in Japanese railway. This is in some part to equalize the load of each train especially in the morning for Osaka (Umeda station) with short length of EMU length and with few (only double) tracks. For the extending of the Hanshin Namba Line from Nishikujo to Osaka Namba on March 20, 2009, the diagrams of Hanshin Railway was revised.

Abbreviations are tentative for this article.

Local (普通, Futsū) (L)

Trains stop all stations, farthest down to Shinkaichi in the rush hour, and Kosoku Kobe in the off-peak hour.

Express (急行, Kyūkō) (Ex)

Trains are operated between Umeda and Nishinomiya or between Umeda and Amagasaki.

Morning Express (区間急行, Kukan Kyūkō) (ME)

Trains are operated between Kōshien for Umeda in the morning on weekdays.

Rapid Express (快速急行, Kaisoku Kyūkō) (RE)

Trains are through trains to and from the Hanshin Namba Line and the Kintetsu Nara Line. They also stop at Mukogawa Station in the non-rush hour on weekdays, and at Mukogawa and Imazu Stations all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays.

Hanshin Limited Express (特急, Tokkyū) (HL)

Trains are operated down to Sumaura-kōen in the day and late night on weekdays and after day hours on holidays.

Hanshin-Sanyō Through Limited Express (直通特急, Chokutsū Tokkyū) (SL)

Trains are operated between Umeda and Sanyō Himeji. Eastbound trains for Umeda pass Koshien in the morning on weekdays.

Morning Limited Express (区間特急, Kukan Tokkyū) (ML)

Trains are operated only from Ogi to Umeda in the morning on weekdays.

Stations

The Main Line, having 33 stations, is noted for its "high density" of stations. In comparison, Sannomiya Station is the 16th station on the Hankyū Kobe Main Line from Umeda Station and Motomachi Station is the 15th station on the JR Kobe Line from Osaka Station.

For connections and distances, see the route diagram.

• S: trains stop
• s: limited stop
• ^: only in one direction

Station	L	ME	Ex	RE	ML	HL	SL	Location
Main Line
Umeda	S	S	S	Hanshin Namba Line	S^	S	S	Kita-ku, Osaka	Osaka Prefecture
Fukushima	S	S						Fukushima-ku, Osaka
Noda	S	S	S
Yodogawa	S
Himejima	S							Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka
Chibune	S	S
Kuise	S							Amagasaki	Hyōgo Prefecture
Daimotsu	S
Amagasaki	S	S	S	S		S	S
Deyashiki	S
Amagasaki Center Pool-mae	S		s	s
Mukogawa	S	S	S	s
Naruo	S	S						Nishinomiya
Kōshien	S	S	S	S	S^	S	s
Kusugawa	S
Imazu	S		S	s	S^
Nishinomiya	S		S	S		S	S
Kōroen	S				S^
Uchide	S				S^			Ashiya
Ashiya	S			S	S^	S	S
Fukae	S				S^			Higashinada-ku, Kobe
Ōgi	S				S^
Uozaki	S			S		S	S
Sumiyoshi	S
Mikage	S					S	S
Ishiyagawa	S
Shinzaike	S							Nada-ku, Kobe
Ōishi	S
Nishi-Nada	S
Iwaya (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art)	S
Kasuganomichi	S							Chūō-ku, Kobe
Sannomiya	S			S		S	S
Motomachi	S					S	S
Kobe Kosoku Line
Nishi-Motomachi	S					S	s	Chūō-ku, Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture
Kōsoku Kobe	S					S	S
Shinkaichi	S					S	S	Hyōgo-ku, Kobe
Daikai						S	s
Kōsoku Nagata						S	S	Nagata-ku, Kobe
Nishidai						S	s