Hankyu Kyoto Main Line

Hankyu Kyoto Main Line
A 9300 series EMU on a limited express service
Overview
Native name	阪急京都本線
Locale	Kansai
Termini	Jūsō Kawaramachi
Stations	26
Operation
Operator(s)	Hankyu Railway
Depot(s)	Shōjaku Katsura
Technical
Line length
No. of tracks	Double
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead line
Operating speed	115 km/h (70 mph)
Route map

Route map

Legend Umeda (first) Tokaido Line, Osaka Loop Line 2.4 Umeda (second)for connections, see below Osaka Subway: Midōsuji Line Hanshin Kita-Osaka Line Umeda Freight Line Nakatsu Shin-Yodogawa abandoned in 1926 Yodo River 0.0 Jūsō Hankyu Kobe Line Hankyu Takarazuka Line Osaka Subway: Midōsuji Line Nishinakajima-Minamigata 1.9 Minamikata Tokaido Line (JR Kyoto Line) Tokaido Line old route 3.2 Sōzenji Hankyu Senri Line for Tenjimbashisuji Rokuchōme and Tengachaya 4.2 Awaji Joto Freight Line Senri Line / Tokaido Line old route Tōkaidō Shinkansen 6.3 Kami-Shinjō 7.2 Aikawa Kanzaki River Higashi-Suita Signal Box Osaka Municipal Subway Higashi-Suita Depot 9.4 Shōjaku Shojaku Workshop 10.9 Settsu-shi 12.9 Minami-Ibaraki Osaka Monorail Main Line Tōkaidō Line Freight Branch 14.8 Ibaraki-shi 16.8 Sōjiji 17.3 Tonda 20.6 Takatsuki-shi 22.2 Higashi-Takatsuki Signal Box (Temporary)-1993 Tōkaidō Shinkansen 24.9 Kammaki 25.7 Minase Osaka/Kyoto 27.7 Ōyamazaki Tōkaidō Line (JR Kyōto Line) 30.2 Nishiyama Tennozan 31.7 Nagaoka-Tenjin 33.6 Nishi-Mukō 35.0 Higashi-Mukō Mozume1946-1948 36.3 Rakusaiguchi 38.0 Katsura/Katsura Depot Hankyu Arashiyama Line Katsura River 40.1 Nishi-Kyōgoku Kyoto Tram Nishioji Line 41.9 Saiin Keifuku Arashiyama Main Line Sai Sanin Main Line (Sagano Line) Shijō-Ōmiya 43.3 Ōmiya Kyoto Subway: Karasuma Line (Shijō) Kyoto Tram Karasuma Line 44.4 Karasuma 45.3 Kawaramachi Kyoto Tram Kawaramachi Line Kamo River Keihan Main Line (Gion-Shijō) Connections at Umeda Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kyoto Line) Subway: Tanimachi Line Osaka Loop Line Umeda/Subway: Higashi-Umeda Subway: Midōsuji Line (Umeda) JR-W: Ōsaka/Hanshin Umeda/JR-W: Kitashinchi Subway: Yotsubashi Line (Nishi-Umeda) (Extension planned) Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line) Hanshin Main Line Osaka Loop Line, JR Tōzai Line

The Hankyu Kyoto Main Line (阪急京都本線, Hankyū Kyōto Honsen) is a railway line in Japan operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Umeda Station, Osaka and Kawaramachi Station, Kyoto.

Definition

The Kyoto Main Line is often called the Kyoto Line (京都線, Kyōto-sen) for short, and in a broader sense its two branch lines, the Senri Line and the Arashiyama Line, are included to the Kyoto Line by historical, geographical and structural reasons. The other two sections of Hankyu, the Kobe Line and the Takarazuka Line are called the Shinpōsen (神宝線) as a whole.

Officially, the Kyoto Main Line is from Jūsō to Kawaramachi, however, all trains run beyond Jūsō to Umeda terminal, using the eastern tracks of the section exclusively. Hankyu treats the Kyoto Main Line in the same way as the passengers do, i.e. as the line between Umeda and Kawaramachi (except for special circumstances such as governmental procedures).

History

The Umeda - Juso section was opened in 1910 as part of the Hankyu Takarazuka Line.

The Northern Osaka Electric Railway Co. opened the Juso - Awaji section as 1435mm gauge dual track electrified at 600 VDC in 1921, and the company merged with Hankyu in 1923.

The Awaji - Saiin section was opened in 1928, the year the voltage was increased to 1500 VDC.

The Saiin - Omiya section opened in 1931, and the line was extended to Kawaramachi in 1963.

Proposed connecting line

A loop line from Juso to Awaji via Shin-Osaka station, to provide a direct connection to the Shinkansen has been proposed, but is not currently scheduled for construction.

Service types

In the timetable revised on December 21, 2013, regular trains are classified in nine types:

• Local (普通, futsū)
• Semi-Express (準急, junkyū) (abbreviated as "S" in the table below)
• Sakaisuji Semi-Express (堺筋準急, sakaisuji junkyū) ("SS")
• Rapid Service (快速, kaisoku) ("R")
• Rapid Express (快速急行, kaisoku kyūkō) ("E")
• Limited Express (特急, tokkyū) ("L")
• Limited Express (通勤特急, tsūkin tokkyū) ("C")
• Limited Express (快速特急, kaisoku tokkyū) ("SL") - including extra trains named "Sagano" and "Ogura"
• Limited Express (直通特急, chokutsū tokkyū) ("A") - named "Atago", "Togetsu" and "Hozu" (See below)

The four types of Limited Express differ in Japanese and have different stops, but the operator translates them all into English as simply "Limited Express". In this article tokkyū is translated as Regular Limited Express, tsūkin tokkyū as Commutation Limited Express, the kaisoku tokkyū as Sightseeing Limited Express, and the chokutsū tokkyū as Arashiyama Limited Express. Note that these are not official translations.

The following limited express trains are named follows;

• Umeda - Arashiyama: "Sagano (さがの, named after the district in Ukyo-ku, Kyoto)"
• Kawaramachi - Arashiyama: "Ogura (おぐら, named after Mount Ogura)"
• Kosoku Kobe - Arashiyama: "Atago (あたご, named after Mount Atago)"
• Takarazuka - Arashiyama (via the Imazu Line): "Togetsu (とげつ, named after Togetsukyo Bridge)"
• Tengachaya - Arashiyama: "Hozu (ほづ, named after the Hozu River)"

Through services

In addition to intra-line services, the line operates through services to/from other lines as follows:

Local

All-stations "Local" trains operate between Umeda and Kita-Senri (on the Senri Line, connected at Awaji) and between Takatsuki-shi and Tengachaya (on the Sakaisuji Line, via the Senri Line).

Sakaisuji Semi-Express

Sakaisuji Semi-Express trains operate between Kawaramachi or Takatsuki-shi and Tengachaya.

Arashiyama Limited Express

Arashiyama Limited Express trains (only on special timetable) operate between Arashiyama (on the Arashiyama Line, connected at Katsura) and Tengachaya, Kōsoku Kōbe (via the Kobe Main Line and the Kobe Kōsoku Line) and Takarazuka (via the Kobe Main Line and the Imazu Line).

Stations

In the table below, service types that stop at the station are shown by the abbreviations (see the section above). Blank means that the service type passes the station. In addition to the types shown here, local trains stop at all stations (not including Higashi-Suita Signal Stop, where only a garage of Osaka Subway cars exists).

No trains stop at Nakatsu which is served by Local trains on the Kobe Line and the Takarazuka Line, because of the absence of platform, thus, in operation, there is no Nakatsu Station on the Kyoto Line. There are also through trains to the Senri Line from Awaji Station and the Osaka Municipal Subway Sakaisuji Line. Sakaisuji Semi-Express trains are routed from Tengachaya Station to Kawaramachi Station and operated on weekday rush hours and Saturdays and holidays.

The starting point of the distances (km) shown is Jūsō Station, which is officially the starting point of the Kyoto Main Line.

No.	Station		Distance (km)	S	SS	R	E	L	C	SL	A	Transfers	Location
HK-01	Umeda	梅田	(2.4)	S		R	E	L	C	SL		Hanshin Main Line Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line Tanimachi Line (Higashi-Umeda Station) Yotsubashi Line (Nishi-Umeda Station) JR West (Ōsaka Station) Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kyoto Line, JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line) Osaka Loop Line JR Tōzai Line (Kitashinchi Station)	Kita-ku, Osaka	Osaka Prefecture
HK-03	Jūsō	十三	0.0	S		R	E	L	C	SL	A	Hankyu Kobe Main Line Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line	Yodogawa-ku, Osaka
HK-61	Minamikata	南方	1.9	S		R						Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line (Nishinakajima-Minamigata Station)
HK-62	Sōzenji	崇禅寺	3.2										Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka
HK-63	Awaji	淡路	4.2	S	SS	R	E	L		SL	A	Hankyū Senri Line JR West Osaka Higashi Line (opening 2018)
HK-64	Kami-Shinjō	上新庄	6.3	S	SS	R
HK-65	Aikawa	相川	7.2
HK-66	Shōjaku	正雀	9.4										Settsu
HK-67	Settsu-shi	摂津市	10.9
HK-68	Minami-Ibaraki	南茨木	12.9	S	SS	R						Osaka Monorail Main Line	Ibaraki
HK-69	Ibaraki-shi	茨木市	14.8	S	SS	R	E	L	C
HK-70	Sōjiji	総持寺	16.8
HK-71	Tonda	富田	17.3										Takatsuki
HK-72	Takatsuki-shi	高槻市	20.6	S	SS	R	E	L	C
HK-73	Kammaki	上牧	24.9	S	SS
HK-74	Minase	水無瀬	25.7	S	SS								Shimamoto
HK-75	Ōyamazaki	大山崎	27.7	S	SS								Ōyamazaki	Kyoto Prefecture
HK-76	Nishiyama Tennozan	西山天王山	30.2	S	SS								Nagaokakyō
HK-77	Nagaoka-Tenjin	長岡天神	31.7	S	SS	R	E	L	C
HK-78	Nishi-Mukō	西向日	33.6	S	SS								Mukō
HK-79	Higashi-Mukō	東向日	35.0	S	SS
HK-80	Rakusaiguchi	洛西口	36.3	S	SS								Nishikyō-ku, Kyoto
HK-81	Katsura	桂	38.0	S	SS	R	E	L	C	SL	A	Hankyu Arashiyama Line
HK-82	Nishi-Kyōgoku	西京極	40.1	S	SS								Ukyō-ku, Kyoto
HK-83	Saiin	西院	41.9	S	SS	R	E		C			Keifuku Electric Railroad Arashiyama Main Line
HK-84	Ōmiya	大宮	43.3	S	SS	R	E		C			Keifuku Electric Railroad Arashiyama Main Line (Shijō-Ōmiya Station)	Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto
HK-85	Karasuma	烏丸	44.4	S	SS	R	E	L	C	SL		Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line (Shijō Station)	Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto
HK-86	Kawaramachi	河原町	45.3	S	SS	R	E	L	C	SL		Keihan Main Line (Gion-Shijō Station)

Rolling stock

Hankyu 6300 series EMU on a limited express service

• 1300 series EMU (from 30 March 2014)
• 2300 series EMU
• 3300 series EMU
• 5300 series EMU
• 6300 series EMU (Kyō-Train)
• 7300 series EMU
• 8300 series EMU
• 9300 series EMU
• Osaka Municipal Subway 66 series EMU (Awaji - Takatsuki-shi)

History

The Kyoto Main Line was constructed in the following phases:

• April 1, 1921: Jūsō – Awaji (by Kita-Osaka Electric Railway)
• January 16, 1928: Awaji – Takatsuki-shi (by Shin-Keihan Railway)
• November 1, 1928: Takatsuki-shi – Saiin (by Shin-Keihan Railway)
• March 31, 1931: Saiin – Ōmiya (by Keihan Electric Railway)
• February 18, 1959: The additional double tracks of the Takarazuka Main Line between Umeda and Jūso now used exclusively by the Kyoto Main Line
• June 17, 1963: Ōmiya – Kawaramachi

Prior to the merger of Hankyu Railway (then Hanshin Kyūkō Railway) and Keihan Electric Railway in 1943, the line and its branches were owned by the latter and called the Shin-Keihan (New Keihan) Line. In the breakup of the merger in 1949, the line was not ceded to Keihan and became a competitor of the Keihan Main Line.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia