The Hanshin Main Line ( 阪神電気鉄道本線 , Hanshin Denki Tetsudō Honsen ) is a railway line operated by the private railway company Hanshin Electric Railway in Japan . It connects the two cities of Osaka and Kobe , between Umeda and Kobe-Sannomiya stations respectively.
17-719: The Main Line of Hanshin is the southernmost railway to connect Osaka and Kobe. The other two lines, from south to north, are the West Japan Railway Company ‘s Tōkaidō Main Line (known as the JR Kobe Line ), and the Hankyu Railway 's Kobe Main Line . For nearly a century, the line served as a primary competitor to the Hankyū Kobe Line. However, in 2006, Hanshin and Hankyū were subsidiarized under
34-852: A similar fashion. Then another competing railway company, Hankyū (then Hanshin Kyuko Railway), opened the Kobe Main Line in 1920. The Kobe Main Line was designed as a faster electric mainline railway, and in response Hanshin began upgrading its interurban mainline to become more railway like. Operations included realigning and grade separating street running portions, using high platforms, and introducing 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,
51-956: A single share holding company, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings . The Main Line started operation on April 12, 1905, by the company. The company found a solution to construct a competing line to the then JNR owned Kobe Line using a loophole in the Tram Act, allowing large portions of the line to be built using street running . It became the first interurban in Japan. This inspired other railways such as Keihan Electric Railway , Minoo Arima Electric Tramway (present Hankyu Hanshin Holdings , Inc.), Osaka Electric Tramway (present Kintetsu ), Keihin Electric Railway (present Keihin Electric Express Railway ) to build their first lines in
68-806: Is a rapid transit system in Kobe , Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Like other large Japanese cities, Kobe's subway system is heavily complemented by suburban rail. In addition, two people mover lines also serve the Kobe area: the Port Island Line and the Rokko Island Line . Construction of the first line of the subway system, the Seishin Line, began on November 25, 1971. The line opened on March 13, 1977, running for 5.7 km (3.5 mi) between Myōdani and Shin-Nagata stations. A second line,
85-676: Is highly automated, and during peak hours trains run as often as every two minutes. JR-West's Urban Network competes with a number of private commuter rail operators around Osaka, the "Big 4" being Hankyu Railway / Hanshin Railway (Hankyu bought Hanshin in April 2005), Keihan Railway , Kintetsu , and Nankai Railway . JR-West's market share in the region is roughly equal to that of the Big 4 put together, largely due to its comprehensive network and high-speed commuter trains (Special Rapid Service trains on
102-842: Is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu . It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka . It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange , is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is also one of only three Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index: the others are JR East and JR Central . It was also listed in the Nagoya and Fukuoka stock exchanges until late 2020. JR-West's highest-grossing line
119-793: Is the Sanyo Shinkansen high-speed rail line between Osaka and Fukuoka . The Sanyo Shinkansen alone accounts for about 40% of JR-West's passenger revenues. The company also operates Hakata Minami Line , a short commuter line with Shinkansen trains in Fukuoka . The "Urban Network" is JR-West's name for its commuter rail lines in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. These lines together comprise 610 km of track, have 245 stations and account for about 43% of JR-West's passenger revenues. Urban Network stations are equipped to handle ICOCA fare cards. Train control on these lines
136-661: The Hanshin Namba Line was extended to Namba , a major junction in southern Osaka. The company announced through trains from Kobe-Sannomiya to Kintetsu Nara in Nara on Kintetsu Nara Line would be operated. 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 eight types of trains, one of
153-772: The Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT) as part of a bureaucratic reform package in October 2003. JRTT offered all of its shares in JR-West to the public in an international IPO in 2004, ending the era of government ownership of JR-West. JR-West is now listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange , Osaka Securities Exchange and Fukuoka Stock Exchange . Kobe Municipal Subway The Kobe Municipal Subway ( 神戸市営地下鉄 , Kōbe-shiei chikatetsu )
170-537: The Sanyō Shinkansen , from the separate Shinkansen Holding Corporation. JR-West purchased the line in October 1991 at a cost of 974.1 billion JPY (about US$ 7.2 billion) in long-term debt. JNRSC sold 68.3% of JR-West in an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 1996. After JNRSC was dissolved in October 1998, its shares of JR-West were transferred to the government-owned Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC), which merged into
187-595: The 7.5 km (4.7 mi) Hokushin Line extension between Shin-Kobe and Tanigami on April 2, 1988; services on the Hokushin Line have through service onto the Seishin-Yamate Line. On January 17, 1995, the Seishin-Yamate Line was damaged in the Great Hanshin earthquake . The day after the earthquake, limited services resumed between Seishin-Chuo and Itayado ; full service was restored to
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#1732780937614204-727: The Kobe Kosoku Line), is noted for its "high density" of stations. In comparison, Kobe-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. H JR Tōzai Line (JR-H45: Shin-Fukushima Station ) [REDACTED] Osaka Metro Sennichimae Line (S11: Noda-Hanshin Station ) ※Note: Except
221-415: The Kobe and Kyoto lines operate at up to 130 km/h). Those in italics are announcement names. A number of other lines account for more than half of JR-West's track mileage. These lines mainly handle business and leisure travel between smaller cities and rural areas in western Japan. They account for about 20% of the company's passenger revenues. JR-West subsidiaries include the following. JR-West
238-994: The Rapid Express, all other through trains on the Namba Line terminate at Amagasaki, but not further west on the Hanshin Main Line [REDACTED] Kobe New Transit Port Island Line (P01) [REDACTED] Kobe Municipal Subway Seishin-Yamate Line (S03) [REDACTED] Kobe Municipal Subway Kaigan Line (K01: Sannomiya-Hanadokeimae Station ) [REDACTED] JR Kobe Line (JR-A61: Sannomiya Station ) [REDACTED] Kobe Municipal Subway Kaigan Line (K04: Harborland Station ) Hanshin Limited Express for Sumaura-koen Direct Limited Express for Sanyo-Himeji West Japan Railway Company The West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as JR West ( JR西日本 , Jeiāru Nishi-Nihon ) ,
255-663: The Yamate Line, opened on June 17, 1983, running for 4.3 km (2.7 mi) between Shin-Nagata and Ōkurayama stations. On June 18, 1985, the Yamate Line was extended to Shin-Kobe and the Seishin Line was extended to Gakuen-toshi . When the final stage of the Seishin Line, an extension to Seishin-Chuo , opened on March 18, 1987, the Seishin Line and the Yamate Line were merged into the Seishin-Yamate Line . The Hokushin Kyūkō Electric Railway opened
272-541: The most types among Japanese railways. 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 extension of the Hanshin Namba Line, from Nishikujo to Osaka Namba, on March 20, 2009, the diagrams of the Hanshin Railway were revised. The Main Line, having 39 stations (including
289-529: Was incorporated as a business corporation ( kabushiki kaisha ) on April 1, 1987, as part of the breakup of the state-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR). Initially, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of the JNR Settlement Corporation (JNRSC), a special company created to hold the assets of the former JNR while they were shuffled among the new JR companies. For the first four years of its existence, JR-West leased its highest-revenue line,
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