The is a line of Kobe Municipal Subway connecting Tanigami in

Kita-ku, Kobe is one of 9 wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 241.84 km², and a population of 226,402 (2008). ''Kita'' in Japanese means North. Kita-ku is the biggest ward which occupies the northeastern part of the city. Arima Onsen is an onsen, o ...

and Shin-Kobe in

Chūō-ku, Kobe is one of 9 wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 28.46 km², and a population of 127,602 with 74,814 households as of January 31, 2012. The ward was formed from the 1980 merger of the former Fukiai-ku () and Ikuta-ku (). The Consu ...

. The line has only these two stations. Formerly operated by the third-sector Hokushin Kyuko Railway (a subsidiary of Hankyu railway), in 2020 the company was absorbed by the Kobe Municipal Transportation Bureau, and the Hokushin Line became part of the subway network.

Operations

All trains of the line operate through to the

Seishin-Yamate Line The , also known by its nickname of "Midori no U-Line" ( ja, みどりのUライン, lit=The green "U" line), is one of the two lines of the Kobe Municipal Subway. It links the central districts to the east and western suburbs of Kobe. The line c ...

beyond Shin-Kobe Station.

Stations

History

The Hokushin Line opened on 2 April 1988, including the 7,179m Hokushin Tunnel. The line was built by , a private railway company in Kobe, Japan. It was headquartered in Kita-ku, Kobe. Investors in the company included

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Gro ...

and

Kobe Electric Railway , often called , is a Japanese private railway A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector. Japan In Japan, , commonly simply ''priva ...

, and it was a subsidiary of

Hankyu Hanshin Holdings is a Japanese multinational '' keiretsu'' holding company which owns Hankyu Corporation, the Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Toho Co., Ltd., and affiliate companies. On October 1, 2006, Hankyu Holdings changed its name to the present c ...

. On 4 March 2020, the Kobe Municipal Transportation Bureau announced that it would acquire Hokushin Kyuko Railway Co., Ltd. due to financial issues that had been incurred by Hokushin Kyuko; the transaction was completed on 31 May, after which operation of the Hokushin Line was transferred to the transportation bureau.

References

External links

* (Hokushin Kyuko Electric Railway) Transport in Kobe Railway companies of Japan Companies based in Kobe Railway companies established in 1979 Railway companies disestablished in 2020 1979 establishments in Japan 2020 disestablishments in Japan Hankyu Hanshin Holdings {{Japan-rail-company-stub