The is a Japanese railway line owned and operated by the

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as , is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railway network connects Osaka, Nara, Kyot ...

, a

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 ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...

operator. It connects the cities of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Uji is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Founded on March 1, 1951, Uji is between the two ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. The city sits on the Uji River, which has its source in Lake Biwa. ...

, and

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

, and competes with the

Nara Line The is a commuter rail line in the Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto metropolitan area, operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Its official termini are Kizu Station in Kizugawa and Kyōto Station in Kyoto, within Kyoto Prefecture; however ...

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , 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 ...

(JR-West), which also connects those cities. Many trains on the line continue to the

Kintetsu Nara Station is a railway station on the Nara Line in Nara, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Kintetsu Railway. Lines The station is the terminal station on the Nara Line. Kintetsu operates through expresses and limited expresses from Ky ...

or the

Kashihara Line The is a north-south bound railway line in Nara Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by the Kintetsu Railway, a private railway operator. It connects Yamato-Saidaiji Station and Kashiharajingu-mae Station. Service outline Most Express and Li ...

via

Yamato-Saidaiji Station is a railway station owned by Kintetsu Railway and located in Saidaiji Kunimichō Itchōme, a suburb of the city of Nara in Japan. The station is also called or . Lines *Kintetsu **Nara Line (A26) ** Kyoto Line, Kashihara Line (B26) Yamato-Sai ...

. The line also provides the through train services with the

Karasuma Line The is one of the two lines of the Kyoto Municipal Subway operated by Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau in Kyoto, Japan. On maps, diagrams and signboards, the line is colored green, and its stations are given numbers following the letter " ...

Kyoto Municipal Subway The , also known as Kyoto City Subway, is the rapid transit network in the city of Kyoto, Japan. Operated by the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau, it has two lines. Lines The Kyoto Municipal Subway is made up of two lines: the long, 15 ...

History

The Kyoto Line was built by in November 1928 as dual track electrified at

600 V DC This is a list of the power supply systems that are, or have been, used for tramway and railway electrification systems. Note that the voltages are nominal and vary depending on load and distance from the substation. Many modern trams and trains ...

. The track between Kyoto Station and Horiuchi Station (present-day

Kintetsu-Tambabashi Station is a railway station on Kintetsu Railway's Kyoto Line in Fushimi, Kyoto, Japan. It is closely connected by a sheltered pedestrian bridge to Tambabashi Station on the Keihan Electric Railway Keihan Line. Lines *Kintetsu Railway ** Kyoto Line ...

) was placed on the site of a removed railway, which had been rerouted and is now called the JR Nara Line. The railway provided the through services to the lines of Kintetsu (originally, Osaka Electric Tramway) from the beginning. As of September 1961, Kintetsu was the largest shareholder of Nara Electric Railway with 980,000 shares out of the company's 1.9 million shares, while

Keihan Electric Railway , known colloquially as the , , or simply , is a major Japanese private railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. The transit network includes seven lines; four main lines with heavy rolling stock, two interurban lines, and a funic ...

owned 710,000 shares. Through a deal between the two major shareholders, the shares owned by Keihan were transferred to Kintetsu in April 1962 and the company was merged into Kintetsu from October 1963. Between 1945 and 1968, there were through services with the

Keihan Main Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by Keihan Electric Railway. The line runs between Sanjō Station in Kyoto and Yodoyabashi Station in Osaka. There are through services to the Keihan Ōtō Line and the Keihan Nakanoshima Line. Trains from ...

using crossovers at Tambabashi. The line voltage was increased to 1,500 V DC in 1969, and in 1988 through services with the Karasuma Line were introduced.

Stations

*S: All trains stop *M: Only express trains operated from Kyoto to Kintetsu Miyazu stop *X: limited stop of limited express trains (northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening and night) *, : Trains pass *Local trains stop at every station between Kyoto and Yamato-Saidaiji. *''SE'': Semi-express *''Ex'': Express *''LE'': Limited express Trains down to *Local:

, Kashiharajingū-mae *Express: Nara, Tenri, Kashiharajingū-mae *Limited Express: Nara, Kashiharajingū-mae, Kashikojima

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the

Japanese Wikipedia The is the Japanese-language edition of Wikipedia, a free, open-source online encyclopedia. Started on 11 May 2001, the edition attained the 200,000 article mark in April 2006 and the 500,000 article mark in June 2008. As of , it has over ar ...

External links

Tourist Guide of Kintetsu
{{Kintetsu Lines Kyoto Line Kyoto Municipal Subway Rail transport in Kyoto Prefecture Rail transport in Nara Prefecture Standard gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1928 1928 establishments in Japan