Native name 阪急神戸本線 Termini Umeda
Kōbe Sannomiya Operator(s) Hankyu Railway | Locale Kansai Stations 16 Depot(s) Nishinomiya Depot | |
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The Kōbe Main Line (神戸本線, Kōbe Honsen) of Hankyu Railway is one of the three major commuter heavy rail lines in the Keihanshin conurbation of Japan. It links the urban centres of Osaka and Kobe by connecting the major stations of Umeda in Osaka and Sannomiya in Kobe.
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The Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Tokaido Main Line (this section nicknamed JR Kobe Line) are the two lines parallel to the Hankyu Kobe Line within a short distance of each other.
Definition
The line is commonly called Kobe Line (神戸線, Kōbe sen) for short, but in the broader sense 'Kobe Line' refers to the entire network of the trunk Kobe Main Line and connecting branch lines of Itami, Imazu and Kōyō Lines.
Network
At the Kobe end of the line some trains continue through onto the Kobe Rapid Railway, an underground line allowing interchange between the lines of several commuter rail companies operating in Kobe.
The Kobe Main Line has interchanges at several of its stations with other lines operated by Hankyu. The Hankyu main lines to Kyoto and Takarazuka share stations at Umeda and Juso with the Kobe Line. The other lines with connections to the Kobe line are smaller lines with only local trains: the Itami Line connects at Tsukaguchi, the Imazu Line at Nishinomiya-kitaguchi and the Koyo Line at Shukugawa.
History
The Umeda - Juso section was opened in 1910 as part of the Hankyu Takarazuka Line.
The Juso - Oji-Koen section opened as a 1435mm gauge line electrified at 600 VDC in 1920. In 1926 the line was duplicated, and in 1936 it was extended to Kobe Sannomiya. In 1967 the voltage was increased to 1500 VDC.
Until 1936, the line's terminal in Kobe was in Kamitsutsui. As a branch of the main line, the 1 km line between Oji-Koen Station and Kamitsutsui Station continued to provide a connection to the Kobe tram network until 1941.
Train services
Regular train services on the lines come in two kinds: the local trains (普通) which stop at all stations, and the limited express trains (特急) which stop only at major stations along the line. Other commuter and express services operate only during limited time periods: