Hokusō Line

Hokusō Line 7500 series EMU

The Hokusō Line (北総線, Hokusō-sen) is a commuter rail line operated by the Hokusō Railway in Japan. It runs between Keisei-Takasago Station in Katsushika, Tokyo and Inba-Nihon-Idai Station in Inzai, Chiba.

In July 2010, an extension of the Hokusō Line, called the Narita Sky Access Line, opened to Narita Airport Station, making the line a new link between Tokyo and Narita Airport.

The rail line had been opened in March 1979 on a temporary basis. As other tracks were connected, it changed name to "Hokusō Kōdan Line" in April 1987. Over 17 years later, the railway properties of the HDC corporation transferred to Chiba New Town Railway (千葉ニュータウン鉄道, Chiba Nyūtaun Tetsudō), on July 1, 2004, and the whole line was renamed as the Hokusō Line.

Basic data

• Operator: Hokusō Railway
• Length: 32.3 kilometres (20.1 mi)
• Ownership:
  • Hokusō Railway between Keisei-Takasago and Komuro 19.8 km Category-1
  • Chiba New Town Railway between Komuro and Inba-Nihon-Idai 11.5 km Category-3 (Hokusō Category-2)
• Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)
• Stations: 15
• Track: Double
• Power: 1,500 V DC
• Block system: Automatic (ATS Type 1)
• Maximum speed: 105 kilometres per hour (65 mph), upgrading to 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph) for Narita Rapid.

History

Western section

The line was planned as a railway access to Chiba New Town. Initially planned by a committee of the then Ministry of Transport, the route was numbered "Line 1", as the northern extension of Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei) Line 1 (present Asakusa Line) to Komuro area of Chiba New Town. In 1979 the first phase section between Kita-Hatsutomi and Komuro opened. The through-operation via Shin-Keisei Line to Matsudo began, on a temporary basis until the second phase section could connect the town directly to the Keisei and Asakusa Line network.

The second phase line to Keisei-Takasago on Main Line opened in 1991, and through-operation began. In the following year, Shin-Keisei included Shin-Kamagaya Station for connection, and abandoned the temporary route.

Eastern section

The section east of Komuro was initially the eastern end of a once-planned Chiba Prefectural Railway (千葉県営鉄道, Chiba Ken'ei Tetsudō), a part of Line 10 (Shinjuku Line). The line was to be built from Motoyawata via Komuro to parallel to the line above, then to terminate at present Inba-Nihon-Idai. The first section between Komuro and Chiba New Town Chūō was opened in 1984, and the operations were commissioned to the present Hokusō Railway.

• March 9, 1979: Hokusō Line (first phase) of Hokusō Development Railway (北総開発鉄道, Hokusō Kaihatsu Tetsudō) Kita-Hatsutomi – Komuro. Through-operation via Shin-Keisei Line to Matsudo on temporary basis.
• March 19, 1984: Chiba New Town Line (千葉ニュータウン線, Chiba Nyūtaun sen) of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (住宅・都市整備公団, Jūtaku Toshi Seibi Kōdan) (HUDC onwards) Komuro – Chiba New Town Chūō
• April 1, 1987: On the section of Komuro – Chiba New Town Chūō, Hokusō Development Railway became the Category-2 Railway Business operator, while HUDC became Category-3 Railway Business. On the commencement of the Railway Business Act (鉄道事業法, Tetsudō Jigyō Hō), Act No. 92 of 1986) for the privatization of the Japan National Railways Simultaneously, the entire stretch was renamed to Hokusō Kōdan Line (北総・公団線, lit. Hokusō and the Corporation Line)
• March 31, 1991: Hokusō Line (phase 2) Keisei-Takasago – Shin-Kamagaya. Through-operations by four parties (Hokusō, Keisei Electric Railway, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei), Keihin Electric Express Railway (Keikyū) began.
• July 4, 1992: Shin-Keisei opened Shin-Kamagaya Station. Through-operation to Shin-Keisei terminated. The section of Kita-Hatsutomi – Shin-Kamagaya was abandoned.
• April 1, 1995: Chiba New Town Chūō – Inzai-Makinohara, as Hokusō Cat-2, HUDC Cat-3
• 1999: HUDC reorganized to the Urban Development Corporation (都市基盤整備公団, Toshi Kiban Seibi Kōdan) (HDC onwards), continued state of Cat-3 of the line.
• July 22, 2000: Inzai-Makinohara – Inba-Nihon-Idai, as Hokusō Cat-2, HDC Cat-3. Present stretch completed.
• July 1, 2004: Railway properties of HDC transferred to Chiba New Town Railway (千葉ニュータウン鉄道, Chiba Nyūtaun Tetsudō), and the whole line was renamed as the Hokusō Line.

Operation

Most trains are all-station "Local" services, but some limited-stop "Rapid" express trains have operated in morning and evening hours.

Local (普通Futsū) (L)

Stops at all stations, all day. Through to Keisei Electric Railway (Keisei) Main Line and Oshiage Line, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei) Asakusa Line, Keihin Electric Express Railway (Keikyū) Main, Airport, Kurihama lines.

Express (急行, Kyūkō) (Ex)

Evening, down from Keisei line.

Limited Express (特急, Tokkyū) (LE)

Morning, up toward Keisei line.

Stations

No.	Station	Japanese	L	Ex	LE	Transfers	Location
KS10	Keisei-Takasago	京成高砂	S	S	S	Keisei Main Line, Keisei Kanamachi Line	Katsushika	Tokyo
HS01	Shin-Shibamata	新柴又	S	S
HS02	Yagiri	矢切	S	S			Matsudo	Chiba
HS03	Kita-Kokubun	北国分	S				Ichikawa
HS04	Akiyama	秋山	S				Matsudo
HS05	Higashi-Matsudo	東松戸	S	S	S	Musashino Line
HS06	Matsuhidai	松飛台	S
HS07	Ōmachi	大町	S				Ichikawa
HS08	Shin-Kamagaya	新鎌ヶ谷	S	S	S	Shin-Keisei Line Tōbu Noda Line	Kamagaya
HS09	Nishi-Shiroi	西白井	S	S	S		Shiroi
HS10	Shiroi	白井	S	S	S
HS11	Komuro	小室	S	S	S		Funabashi
HS12	Chiba New Town Chūō	千葉ニュータウン中央	S	S	S		Inzai
HS13	Inzai-Makinohara	印西牧の原	S	S	S
HS14	Inba-Nihon-Idai	印旛日本医大	S	S	S

Extension to Narita Airport

After the abandonment of the planned Narita Shinkansen, routes of rapid transit to Narita Airport had long been discussed. For a utilization of partially completed tracks of the Shinkansen, JR East and Keisei lines to Narita Airport were realized. A much faster line had long been needed, and for that purpose the first priority was the Keisei – Hokusō route. In 2001, a new Cat-3 entity, Narita Rapid Rail Access (成田高速鉄道アクセス, Narita Kōsoku Tetsudō Access) commenced building of a new line connecting Inba-Nihon-Idai to the junction to Narita Airport Rapid Railway (成田空港高速鉄道, Narita Kūkō Kōsoku Tetsudō) which is a Cat-3 company of existing access railways, the tracks of the formerly planned Narita Shinkansen. The express trains are operated by Keisei as a Cat-2 operator with maximum speed at 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph), the fastest in Japanese private railway together with Hokuetsu Express, which enables a 34-minute journey from Nippori to Narita Airport. The line opened in July 2010.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)