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 List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

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 t ...

, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (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 Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far from the Ginza ...

in Chūō, Tokyo 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 ...

in Chūō-ku, Chiba via the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, 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 an ...

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'', '' Shiosai'', 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'' commuter liner 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 The , branded , is a DC electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was introduced into commercial service on 2 July 1993, and was specifically designed to be used limited express servi ...

('' Shiosai'') *

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 ...

('' Narita Express'')

Former rolling stock

113 series The is a Japanese suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type introduced in 1963 by Japanese National Railways (JNR), currently operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) and Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku), and formerly also op ...

(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