Hokusō Line

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Hokusō 7500 seriies trainset
Hokusō 7500 seriies trainset

The Hokusō Line (北総線 Hokusō-sen?) is a commuter rail line of Hokusō Railway that runs between Keisei-Takasago Station in Katsushika, Tokyo and Inba-Nihon-Idai Station in Inba Village, Chiba.

In 2010, the extension line called Keisei Narita New Rapid Line will reach Narita Airport Station, making the line a new link between Tokyo and Narita Airport.

Contents

[edit] Basic data

  • Operator: Hokusō Railway
  • Length: 32.3 km
  • Possession:
    • Hokusō Railway between Keisei-Takasago and Komuro 19.8 km Category-1
    • Chiba New Town Railway between Komuro and Inba-Nihon-Idai 11.5 km Category-3 (Hokusō Category-2)
  • Gauge: 1435 mm
  • Stations: 15
  • Track: Double
  • Power: Electric (1500 V DC)
  • Block system: Automatic (ATS Type 1)
  • Maximum speed at service: 105 km/h

[edit] History

[edit] Western part

The line was planned as a railway access to Chiba New Town. Initially planned by a committee of the then Ministry of Transport, the route was numbered "Line 1", the northern extension of Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei) Line 1 (present Asakusa Line) to Komuro area of Chiba New Town. In 1979 the first phase section between Kita-Hatsutomi and Komuro opened. Through operation via Shin-Keisei Line to Matsudo began, on temporal basis until the second phase section connects the town directly to the Keisei and Asakusa Line network.

The second phase line to Keisei-Takasago on Main Line opened in 1991 and through operaion began. In the following year Shin-Keisei made Shin-Kamagaya Station for connection, and abandoned the temporal route.

[edit] Eastern Part

The section east of Komuro was initially the eastern end of a once planned Chiba Prefectural Railway (千葉県営鉄道 Chiba Kenei Tetsudō?), a part of Line 10 (Shinjuku Line). The line was to be built from Motoyawata via Komuro to palarell to the line above, then to terminate at present Inba-Nihon-Idai. The first section between Komuro and Chiba New Town Chūō was opened in 1984, the operations were commissioned to the present Hokusō Railway.

  • March 9, 1979: Hokusō Line (first phase) of Hokusō Development Railway (北総開発鉄道 Hokusō Kaihatsu Tetsudō?) Kita-Hatsutomi - Komuro. Through operation via Shin-Keisei Line to Matsudo as temporal basis
  • March 19, 1984: Chiba New Town Line (千葉ニュータウン線 Chiba New Town-sen?) of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (住宅・都市整備公団 Jūtaku Toshi Seibi Kōdan?) (HUDC onwards) Komuro - Chiba New Town Chūō
  • April 1, 1987: On the section of Komuro - Chiba New Town Chūō, Hokusō Development Railway became the Category-2 Railway Business operator, while HUDC became Category-3 Railway Business.[1] Simultaneously, the entire stretch was renamed to Hokusō Kōdan Line (北総・公団線? lit. Hokusō and the Corporation Line)
  • March 31, 1991: Hokusō Line (phase 2) Keisei-Takasago - Shin-Kamagaya. Through operations by four parties (Hokusō, Keisei Electric Railway, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei), Keihin Electric Express Railway (Keikyū) began.
  • July 4, 1992: Shin-Keisei opened Shin-Kamagaya Station. Through operation to Shin-Keisei terminated. The section of Kita-Hatsutomi - Shin-Kamagaya abandoned
  • April 1, 1995: Chiba New Town Chūō - Inzai-Makinohara, as Hokusō Cat-2, HUDC Cat-3
  • 1999: HUDC reorganized to the Urban Development Corporation (都市基盤整備公団 Toshi Kiban Seibi Kōdan?) (HDC onwards), continued state of Cat-3 of the line
  • July 22, 2000: Inzai-Makinohara - Inba-Nihon-Idai, as Hokusō Cat-2, HDC Cat-3. Present stretch completed
  • July 1, 2004 Railway properties of HDC transferred to Chiba New Town Railway (千葉ニュータウン鉄道 Chiba New Town Tetsudō?)[2], renamed whole line to Hokusō Line

[edit] Footnote

  1. ^ On the commencement of the Railway Business Act (鉄道事業法 Tetsudō Jigyō Hō?), Act No. 92 of 1986) for the privatization of the Japan National Railways
  2. ^ Due to re-organization of HDC

[edit] Operation

Most trains are Locals but a few rapid trains are opeerated in morning and evening hours.

Local (普通Futsū?) (L)
Stops at all stations. All day. Through to Keisei Electric Railway (Keisei) Main Line and Oshiage Line, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei) Asakusa Line, Keihin Electric Express Railway (Keikyū) Main, Airport, Kurihama lines.
Express (急行 Kyūkō?) (Ex)
Evening, down from Keisei line
Limited Express (特急 Tokkyū?) (LE)
Morning, up toward Keisei line

[edit] Stations

Station L Ex LE Transfers Location
Up to *1  
Keisei-Takasago 京成高砂 S S S Katsushika Tokyo
Shin-Shibamata 新柴又 S S    
Yagiri 矢切 S S     Matsudo Chiba
Kita-Kokubun 北国分 S       Ichikawa
Akiyama 秋山 S       Matsudo
Higashi-Matsudo 東松戸 S     East Japan Railway Company (JR East): Musashino Line
Matsuhidai 松飛台 S      
Ōmachi 大町 S       Ichikawa
Shin-Kamagaya 新鎌ヶ谷 S S S Kamagaya
Nishi-Shiroi 西白井 S S S   Shiroi
Shiroi 白井 S S S  
Komuro 小室 S S S   Funabashi
Chiba New Town Chūō 千葉ニュータウン中央 S S S   Inzai
Inzai-Makinohara 印西牧の原 S S S  
Inba-Nihon-Idai 印旛日本医大 S S S *2 Inba

[edit] Extension to Narita Airport

Before the turn of the century, long after abandonment of Narita Shinkansen, routes of rapid transit to Narita Airport had long been discussed. For an utilisation of partially completed tracks of the Shinkansen, JR East and Keisei lines to Narita Airport were realized. A much faster line had long been needed, and for that purpose the first priority was the Keisei - Hokusō route. In 2001 a new Cat-3 entity, Narita Rapid Rail Access (成田高速鉄道アクセス Narita Kōsoku Tetsudō Access?) commenced building of new line connecting Inba-Nihon-Idai to the junction to Narita Airport Rapid Railway (成田空港高速鉄道 Narita Kūkō Kōsoku Tetsudō?) which is a Cat-3 company of existing access railways, tracks of Narita Shinkansen to be. The express trains will be operated by Keisei as a Cat-2 operator with maximum speed at 160 km/h, the fastest in Japanese private railway together with Hokuetsu Express, which enables 34-minute travel of Nippori - Narita Airport. Probable completion in 2010 is announced.

[edit] External links

[edit] References and footnotes

  1. ^ On the commencement of the Railway Business Act (鉄道事業法 Tetsudō Jigyō Hō?), Act No. 92 of 1986) for the privatization of the Japan National Railways
  2. ^ Due to re-organization of HDC
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