The Sōbu Line (Rapid) ( ja, 総武快速線, ) is a railway service on the

Sōbu Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It connects Tokyo with the east coast of Chiba Prefecture, passing through the cities of Funabashi, Chiba, and Chōshi. Its name derives from the ol ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

, Japan, operated by

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East). It connects

Tokyo Station Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is ...

Chūō, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward that forms part of the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo C ...

with

Chiba Station is a railway station in Chiba, Chiba, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and Chiba Urban Monorail. Lines Chiba Station is served by the following lines. JR East *Sobu Main Line ** Chūō-Sōbu Line ** Sobu Line (Rapi ...

Chūō-ku, Chiba is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and is the seat of the city government, and the location of the prefectural government offices for Chiba Prefecture. It is also the commercial center of Chiba. As of A ...

via the cities of Ichikawa,

Funabashi is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populated city (after p ...

, and

Narashino is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 175,292 in 81,985 households and a population density of 8400 persons per km². The total area of the city is Geography Narashino is located in far northw ...

Services

Rapid services on the Sōbu Line are primarily operated between Tokyo and Chiba, although there are many through services onto the

Yokosuka Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The Yokosuka Line connects Tokyo Station with in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. Officially, the name Yokosuka Line is assigned to the 23.9 km segment between and ...

as well as some through services operated from the Yokosuka Line via Tokyo terminating at . During weekday morning peak periods Tokyo-bound trains arrive once every 3.2 minutes; this is reduced to 10 Chiba-bound trains per hour during weekday evening peak periods. At other times there are approximately six trains per hour. There are many through services operated onto other lines. Commuter rapid trains, operated during weekday peak periods in the mornings and evenings, make fewer stops than normal rapid trains. There are two Zushi-bound trains from Narita in the morning and a single Narita-bound train from Tokyo in the evening. For information on the ''

Narita Express , abbreviated as N'EX, is a limited express train service operated in Japan since 1991 by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), serving Narita International Airport from various Greater Tokyo Area stations. Services run approximately half-hou ...

'', ''

Shiosai The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs from and to on the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture. Station stops ''Shiosai'' services operate over the Sōbu Main Line, stop ...

'', and other limited express services, see their respective articles. Sōbu Line (Rapid) trains travel through onto the

to , , and . Trains also travel through beyond Chiba to as far as: * on the

Sotobō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, on the eastern (i.e., outer) side of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Chiba Station in Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in Kamo ...

* on the

Uchibō Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to Tokyo Bay, paralleling the western (i.e., inner) shore of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Soga Station in the city of Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in ...

* via on the Narita Line * on the Kashima Line * on the

Past services

Home Liner Chiba

Before 16 March 2019, there were five ''

Home Liner Chiba The was a limited-stop reserved-seat "Home Liner" service for commuters on the Sobu Main Line and Chuo Main Line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The train operated in the weekday evenings only. All seats were reserved with a ...

'' commuter

liner A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...

services that operated every weekday evening, four of which started from Tokyo and another which started at Shinjuku. Stations served: (Shinjuku – Akihabara) / Tokyo – Tsudanuma – Inage – Chiba

Limited Express ''Ayame''

Station list

* For information on local services between Kinshichō and Chiba, see the Chūō-Sōbu Line article. * Trains stop at stations marked "●" and pass those marked "｜". Note: Special Rapid service was discontinued on 4 March 2017.

Rolling stock

JNR 113 Rapid Shiroi Suna at Kinshichō Station 1978

Rapid service

E217 series The is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in the Kantō region of Japan since 1994. Design Introduced in 1994 to replace the 113 series EMUs running on the Sōbu Line (Rapid) a ...

(from December 1994) * E235-1000 series (from 21 December 2020)

Limited express service

* 255 series (''

'') *

E257 series The is a DC electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated in Japan for limited express services by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and built jointly by Hitachi, Kinki Sharyo, and Tokyu Car Corporation. Variants * E257-0 series: ''Azu ...

(''Shiosai'') *

E259 series E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...

(''

'')

Former rolling stock

* 113 series (from October 1980 to December 1999)

References

External links

Stations of the Sōbu Line (Rapid)
(unofficial) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobu Line (Rapid) Lines of East Japan Railway Company Railway lines in Tokyo Railway lines in Chiba Prefecture Sōbu Main Line 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1972 1972 establishments in Japan