Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line

Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line
Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line
	A 6000 series EMU on a "Local" service for Hibarigaoka-Hanayashiki
Overview
Native name	阪急宝塚本線
Locale	Kansai
Termini	Osaka-umeda; Takarazuka;
Stations	19
Service
Operator(s)	Hankyu Railway
Depot(s)	Hirai Depot
Technical
Line length	24.5 km (15.2 mi)
Number of tracks	Quad (Osaka-umeda - Jūsō); Double (Jūsō - Takarazuka)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed	100 km/h (62 mph)
Route map

Route diagram

Legend

				0.3	Umeda (first)
					JR West lines (Tokaido Line (JR Kyoto Line), etc.)
				0.0	Osaka-umeda (second) For connections, see below
					Osaka Subway Midōsuji Line
					Hanshin Kita-Osaka Line
					Chayamachi -1926
				0.5	Kitano -1926
					Umeda Freight Line
				0.9	Nakatsu
				1.3	Shin-Yodogawa -1926
					Yodo River

					returning track for the Kyoto Line


				2.4	Jūsō
					Hankyu Kyoto Main Line, Hankyū Kōbe Main Line

					Hoppō Freight Line of Tōkaidō Main Line
					Sanyō Shinkansen
					Old route -2000
				4.4	Mikuni
					Kanzaki River

				6.0	Shōnai
				7.5	Hattori-tenjin

				8.7	Sone
				9.5	Okamachi
				10.5	Toyonaka

					Osaka Monorail Main Line
				11.9	Hotarugaike
					Itami Airport

				13.5	Ishibashi Handai-Mae
					Hankyū Minoo Line
					Minoo
				15.9	Ikeda
					Ina River Osaka/Hyogo
					Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line)
					Noseden: Myōken Line
				17.2	Kawanishi-Noseguchi
					Kawanishi Kokutetsu-mae -1981
					Kawanishi-Ikeda

				17.8	Hanayashiki -1962
				18.2	Hibarigaoka-Hanayashiki
				18.3	Hibarigaoka -1961
					Hirai depot
				19.4	Hirai -1944
				19.7	Yamamoto (2) 1944-
				20.2	Yamamoto (1) -1944
				21.5	Nakayama-kannon
				22.4	Mefu-Jinja
				23.3	Kiyoshikōjin


					Hankyū Imazu Line
				24.5	Takarazuka

Connections at Umeda

					Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kyoto Line)
					Osaka Subway Tanimachi Line
					Osaka Loop Line
					Hankyu: Umeda /Osaka Subway: Higashi-Umeda
					Osaka Subway Midōsuji Line (Umeda)
					Ōsaka, Kitashinchi/Hanshin: Umeda
					Osaka Subway Yotsubashi Line (Nishi-Umeda)
					(extension planned)
					Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line)
					JR Tōzai Line
					Hanshin Main Line
					Osaka Loop Line

The Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line (阪急宝塚本線, Hankyū Takarazuka Honsen) is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Umeda Station in downtown Osaka with Takarazuka Station in Takarazuka, Hyogo.

It has a branch line, the Minoo Line, and the Nose Electric Railway is another longer branch line. The Imazu Line connects at Takarazuka, but it is treated as a branch of the Kobe Line.^{[citation needed]}

The Takarazuka Main Line is commonly called the Takarazuka Line (宝塚線, Takarazuka sen) for short, but the name Takarazuka Line is sometimes used as the name for the network composed of the main line and the branches.^{[citation needed]}

The line has numerous sharp curves from the line's origins as a tramway, built and opened by its predecessor Minoo Arima Electric Tramway (箕面有馬電気軌道, Minoo Arima Denki Kido). The sharp curves have long hindered high speed operation, contrasting to the Hankyu's other main lines, Kobe and Kyoto.^{[citation needed]}

History

The Minoo Arima Electric Tramway opened the entire line on 10 March 1910 as 1435mm gauge dual track, electrified at 600 VDC. Although the line was not a prospect interurban as Takarazuka was not a big city, it saw initial success thanks to the company's aggressive measures. It strategically developed housing areas along the line for the increasing white-collar population who would commute to central Osaka by train. It also opened a zoo in Minoo (on the Minoo Line) in November 1910, a hot spring in Takarazuka in May 1911, and a ballpark in Toyonaka in 1913.^[1]

The track between Umeda and Jūsō was shared with the Kobe Line from 1920 to 1926 when the original double track was replaced by an elevated four-track line.^[1]

In comparison with the Kobe Line, cars used on the Takarazuka Line were small and old. Larger (Kobe Line standard) cars could not operate on the line until 1952 due to its small structure gauge.^[1] Small cars were eliminated in December 1963.^[2] On 24 August 1969 the voltage was raised to 1500 VDC. As the commuters increased, Hankyu's first 10-car operation began on the Takarazuka Line in March 1982, but 10 car trains were discontinued again in December 2022.^[2]^[3]

Following the elevation work of Kawanishi-Noseguchi Station, through services to Nose Electric Railway began on 17 November 1997.^[4]

Since the 1970s there have been plans to build a spur line to Itami Airport from Sone Station. Although Hankyu shelved the plans in the 1980s due to capacity constraints, the plans were reportedly revived in 2017 and remain under consideration as of 2018.^[5]^[6]

Service patterns

As of 17 December 2022^[3]

Local (普通, Futsū): All-stations service
Semi-Express (準急, Junkyū): Operated on weekday mornings from Takarazuka to Osaka-Umeda
Express (急行, Kyūkō)
Commuter Limited Express (通勤特急, Tsūkin Tokkyū): Operated on weekday mornings from Kawanishi-Noseguchi to Osaka-Umeda. The last car (Kawanishi side) is only for women.
Limited Express (特急日生エクスプレス, Tokkyū Nissei Express): From Nissei-Chūō on Nose Electric Railway to Umeda in the morning and vice versa on weekday evenings.

Stations

● : Trains stop.
| : Trains pass.
↑: Trains pass only in one direction.

No.	Station	Japanese	Semi-Express	Express	Commuter Limited Express	Limited Express	Connections	Location
HK-01	Osaka-umeda	大阪梅田	●	●	●	●	Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line (HS 01: Osaka-Umeda Station) Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line (M16: Umeda Station) Tanimachi Line (T20: Higashi-Umeda Station) Yotsubashi Line (Y11: Nishi-Umeda Station) JR West (Ōsaka Station) Tōkaidō Main Line JR Kyoto Line (JR-A47) JR Kobe Line (JR-A47) JR Takarazuka Line (JR-G47) Osaka Higashi Line (JR-F01) Osaka Loop Line (JR-O11) JR Tōzai Line (JR-H44: Kitashinchi Station)	Kita-ku, Osaka	Osaka Prefecture
HK-02	Nakatsu	中津	●	\|	↑	\|		Kita-ku, Osaka
HK-03	Jūsō	十三	●	●	●	●	Hankyu Kobe Line, Hankyu Kyoto Line	Yodogawa-ku, Osaka
HK-41	Mikuni	三国	↑	\|	↑	\|		Yodogawa-ku, Osaka
HK-42	Shōnai	庄内	↑	\|	↑	\|		Toyonaka
HK-43	Hattori-tenjin	服部天神	↑	\|	↑	\|
HK-44	Sone	曽根	●	\|	↑	\|
HK-45	Okamachi	岡町	●	\|	↑	\|
HK-46	Toyonaka	豊中	●	●	●	\|
HK-47	Hotarugaike	蛍池	●	●	↑	\|	■ Osaka Monorail Main Line (12)
HK-48	Ishibashi handai-mae	石橋阪大前	●	●	●	●	Hankyū Minoo Line	Ikeda
HK-49	Ikeda	池田	●	●	●	\|		Ikeda
HK-50	Kawanishi-noseguchi	川西能勢口	●	●	●	●	Nose Railway Myoken Line (NS01) JR West Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line) (JR-G54: Kawanishi-Ikeda Station)	Kawanishi	Hyōgo Prefecture
HK-51	Hibarigaoka-Hanayashiki	雲雀丘花屋敷	●	●				Takarazuka
HK-52	Yamamoto	山本 (平井)	●	●
HK-53	Nakayama-kannon	中山観音	●	●
HK-54	Mefu-Jinja	売布神社	●	●
HK-55	Kiyoshikōjin	清荒神	●	●
HK-56	Takarazuka	宝塚 (宝塚大劇場前)	●	●			Hankyu Imazu Line JR West Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line) (JR-G56)
Through service:			From Kawanishi-Noseguchi: Limited Express trains to/from Nose Railway Myoken & Nissei Lines for Nissei-Chuo

Rolling stock

1000 series EMU (from 28 November 2013)^[7]
5100 series EMU
6000 series EMU
7000 series EMU
8000 series EMU
9000 series EMU
Nose Electric Railway 6000 series EMU

1000 series, December 2013
Nose Electric Railway 6000 series, August 2014

Former

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

^ ^a ^b ^c Miki, Masafumi (March 2015). "阪急宝塚線の歴史過程". The Railway Pictorial (in Japanese) (901). Denkisha Kenkyūkai Tetsudōtosho Kankōkai: 10.
^ ^a ^b Shinohara, Susumu (March 2015). "宝塚線車両・運転のエピソード". The Railway Pictorial (in Japanese) (901). Denkisha Kenkyūkai Tetsudōtosho Kankōkai: 56.
^ ^a ^b Hankyu Corporation (12 October 2022). "２０２２年１２月１７日（土）初発より阪急全線（神戸線・宝塚線・京都線）でダイヤ改正を実施" (PDF). Hankyu Railway. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
^ Nose Electric Railway Co., Ltd. "沿革・年譜". Retrieved 1 March 2015.
^ "阪急電鉄、伊丹空港への乗り入れを検討か大阪・梅田と直通 - ライブドアニュース". ライブドアニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^ "「40年で黒字」が難しい、阪急・大阪空港線どうすれば実現できるか (1/4)". ITmedia ビジネスオンライン (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^ 阪急電鉄、新型車両1000系営業運転開始－ファンに見守られ梅田駅出発 [New Hankyu 1000 series trains enter service - Departure from Umeda Station seen off by railfans]. Umeda Keizai Shimbun (in Japanese). Japan: Riccrea, Inc. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.