The of

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

is one of the three major commuter heavy rail lines in the

Keihanshin is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 ov ...

conurbation of Japan. It links the urban centres of

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

by connecting the major stations of

Umeda is a major commercial, business, shopping and entertainment district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, where the city's main northern railway termini ( Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station) are located. The district's name means "plum field". History Umeda ...

in Osaka and

Sannomiya is a district of Chūō-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Sannomiya serves as the financial, commercial, and the entertainment center of Kobe. The district takes the name from Sannomiya Shrine, a branch of Ikuta Shrine. Before the 192 ...

in Kobe. The

Hanshin Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway company owned by Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka (大阪) combine to form ...

Main Line and

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, ...

(JR West) Tokaido Main Line (this section nicknamed

JR Kobe Line JR, J. R. or Jr. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' J R'', a 1975 novel by William Gaddis * J. R. Ewing, a ''Dallas'' television character * JR Chandler, an ''All My Children'' television character * '' Jornal da Record'', a Brazilian ne ...

) are the two lines parallel to the Hankyu Kobe Line within a short distance of each other.

Definition

The line is commonly called for short, but in the broader sense 'Kobe Line' refers to the entire network of the trunk Kobe Main Line and connecting branch lines of

Itami is a cities of Japan, city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 197,215 in 83,580 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Geography Itami is located in south-east ...

, Imazu and

Kōyō Kōyō, Koyo or Kouyou (written: 光洋, 光陽, 紅葉, 紅陽, 晃洋, 浩陽 or 昂洋) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese astronomer *, Ame ...

Lines.

Network

At the Kobe end of the line some trains continue through onto the

Kobe Rapid Railway Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 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 the Kansai re ...

, an underground line allowing interchange between the lines of several commuter rail companies operating in Kobe. The Kobe Main Line has interchanges at several of its stations with other lines operated by Hankyu. The Hankyu main lines to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

and Takarazuka share stations at Umeda and Juso with the Kobe Line. The other lines with connections to the Kobe line are smaller lines with only local trains: the Itami Line connects at Tsukaguchi, the

Imazu Line Imazu may refer to: People * Eddie Imazu (1897–1979), Japanese art director * Hiroshi Imazu (born 1946), Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet Places *Ōmi-Imazu Station is a ...

at Nishinomiya-kitaguchi and the Koyo Line at Shukugawa.

History

The Umeda - Juso section was opened in 1910 as part of the

Hankyu Takarazuka Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Umeda Station in downtown Osaka with Takarazuka Station (Hankyu), Takarazuka Station in Takarazuka, Hyogo. It has a branch line, the Hankyu M ...

. The Juso - Oji-Koen section opened as a 1435mm gauge line electrified at in 1920. In 1926 the line was duplicated, and in 1936 it was extended to Kobe Sannomiya. In 1967 the voltage was increased to . Until 1936, the line's terminal in Kobe was in Kamitsutsui. As a branch of the main line, the line between Oji-Koen Station and Kamitsutsui Station continued to provide a connection to the Kobe tram network until 1941. The Kobe Main Line was damaged by the

Great Hanshin earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake (, ) occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 o ...

in January 1995. Restoration work on the Kobe Line took 7 months to complete. Station numbering was introduced on 21 December 2013.

Future plans

A new station will be built near the

Muko River The is a river in the south-eastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture. This river was selected as the second most important river in the region by the prefecture governor. Its total length is 66 kilometers, and the drainage area is 496 square kilometers. ...

between Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and Tsukaguchi. The project, which includes a bicycle parking lot and reconstruction of the surrounding roads, is expected to cost . Agreements to build the station were signed by the railway and the national treasury was signed in October 2022. By 11 April 2025, the station had reached the initial construction stage, including the awarding of contracts and the establishment of a memorandum of understanding; further design work is expected later in the year with an opening date set for 2031.

Train services

During the day, only local trains (普通) and limited express trains (特急) which stop only at major stations along the line, are operated. Other commuter and express services operate only early mornings, commuting times, and late nights. *Local trains (普通) stop at all stations, all times of the day. Most operate between Osaka-Umeda and Kobe-Sannomiya, but some start and end at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi. *Semi-Express trains (準急) are operated from Takarazuka to Osaka-Umeda via the

and the Kobe Line on weekday mornings. *Commuter Express trains (通勤急行) operate on weekdays, from Kobe-Sannomiya to Osaka-Umeda in the morning, and from Osaka-Umeda to Kobe-Sannomiya in the evening rush hour. *Express trains (急行) operate from Osaka-Umeda to Kobe-Sannomiya or Shinkaichi late nights, as well as one eastbound train on weekend mornings. *Semi-Limited Express (準特急) operate from Osaka-Umeda to Kosoku Kobe or Shinkaichi in the evenings as well as one early morning train towards Osaka-Umeda. *Commuter Limited Express trains (通勤特急) operate in both directions on weekday mornings. Some trains consist of 10 cars, of which the last car (to Osaka-Umeda) or the first car (to Kobe-Sannomiya) is for women only. *Limited Express trains (特急) operate in both directions, all day except early morning and late night. *Maximum speed:

Stations

*● : All trains stop * : All trains pass *◆ : Extra services to the Imazu Line pass

Rolling stock

* 1000 series EMU (from November 2013) * 6000 series EMU *

7000 series 7000 series may refer to: Japanese trains * Chichibu Railway 7000 series electric multiple unit (EMU) * Echizen Railway 7000 series EMU * Hankyu 7000 series EMU * Hokushin Kyuko Electric Railway 7000 series EMU operating for the Kobe Munici ...

EMU * 8000 series EMU * 8200 series EMU (

Rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

only) * 9000 series EMU

Former

* 1000 series EMU (1954) * 1010 series EMU * 1200 series EMU * 2000 series EMU * 2200 series EMU * 2300 series EMU (Temporary) * 3000 series EMU * 5000 series EMU * 5100 series EMU * 5200 series EMU

References

External links

Official website (in English)

Official website (in Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankyu Kobe Main Line K Rail transport in Osaka Prefecture Rail transport in Hyōgo Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1936