The is the

spur line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

of the

Sanyō Main Line , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...

, operated by

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) and connecting Hyogo on the main line and Wadamisaki.

Operation

The line has only two stops, and only operates during morning and evening, and mainly serves commuters to the

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

and

Mitsubishi Electric , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...

factories in the Wadamisaki industrial area of

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

. Although the line is officially part of the

Sanyo Main Line , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded b ...

, there is no regular through service between the branch and the main line, and Wadamisaki Branch trains depart from a separate platform at Hyogo. Because the line has no intermediate station and Wadamisaki Station is unmanned, all fare collection is conducted at Hyogo. The line makes just two daily roundtrips on weekends, with additional trips for events at Noevir Stadium, the home stadium of

J-League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

football club

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Noevir Stadium Kobe, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home match ...

Stations

Rolling stock

Current

* 6-car

103 series 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

EMUs (since 2001) * 3+3 car 207 series (often substituted if 103 series not available for service)

Former

60 series 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

passenger coaches (sometimes substituted by

SuHa 43 series Suha may refer to: * Suha (given name), a Sanskrit or Arabic feminine given name. Meaning "Star" * Suha (Bratunac), a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Suha, Živinice, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Suha, Iran, a village in Ardabil Provin ...

passenger coaches), hauled by

DE10 The is a class of Japanese C-B wheel arrangement diesel-hydraulic locomotives. 708 locomotives were built between 1966 and 1978. , 138 locomotives remained in operation. Variants DE10-0 subclass 158 DE10-0 locomotives were built with steam ...

locomotive (until 1990) *

KiHa 35 series The , along with the similar KiHa 30 and KiHa 36 series, are Japanese diesel multiple unit (DMU) train types formerly operated by the Japanese National Railways (JNR) and JR Group of companies, and later operated by the private railway operator ...

(from 1990 until 2001)

History

The line was opened on 8 July 1890, and electrified in 2001. There is also a spur to the now-defunct Hyōgo Kaigan Line (operated 1910–1984) about 1 km away from Hyōgo Station and a link to the

shipbuilding facility at Kobe Shipyard just after Wadamisaki Station. {{Kōbe Line Lines of West Japan Railway Company Sanyō Main Line Rail transport in Hyōgo Prefecture 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan