Sōbu Line (Rapid)

     Sōbu Line (Rapid)
総武快速線

E217 series EMU at Chiba Station
Overview
Type  Heavy rail
Locale Tokyo, Chiba prefectures
Termini Tōkyō
Chiba
Stations 10
Operation
Opened 1972
Operator(s) JR East
Technical
Line length 60.2 km (37.4 mi)
Track gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification 1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Operating speed 120 km/h (75 mph)

The Sōbu Line (Rapid) (総武快速線 Sōbu-kaisoku-sen?) is a railway service on the Sōbu Main Line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It connects Tōkyō in Chūō, Tokyo and Chiba in Chūō-ku, Chiba via the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, and Narashino. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network.

Contents

Services

Rapid services on the Sōbu Line are primarily operated between Tōkyō and Chiba, though there are many through services onto the Yokosuka Line as well as some through services operated from the Yokosuka Line via Tokyo terminating at Tsudanuma. During weekday morning peak periods Tōkyō-bound trains arrive once every 3-4 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. In addition, there is an hourly Airport Narita rapid service that runs to Narita Airport, parallel to the Narita Express.

Commuter rapid trains, operated during weekday peak periods in the mornings and evenings, make fewer stops that 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.

There are four Home Liner Chiba commuter liner services that operate every weekday evening, three of which start from Tōkyō and another which starts at Shinjuku. It stops at the stations shown in the list below (the service departing from Shinjuku stops once at Akihabara).

For information on the Narita Express, Shiosai, Ayame, and other limited express services, please see their respective articles.

Sōbu Line (Rapid) trains travel through onto the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna, Zushi, and Kurihama. Trains also travel through beyond Chiba to as far as:

Station list

Station Japanese Distance (km) Rapid Comm.
Rapid
Home Liner Chiba Transfers Location
Between
Stations
Total
Tōkyō 東京 - 0.0 Yokosuka Line (through service), Tōhoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Jōetsu Shinkansen, Nagano Shinkansen, Chūō Line, Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Tōkaidō Line, Keiyō Line
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-17)
Chiyoda Tokyo
Shin-Nihombashi 新日本橋 1.2 1.2 Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Mitsukoshimae: G-12), Hanzōmon Line (Mitsukoshimae: Z-09) Chūō
Bakurochō 馬喰町 1.1 2.3 Toei Asakusa Line (Higashi-Nihonbashi: A-15), Toei Shinjuku Line (Bakuro-Yokoyama: S-09)
Kinshichō 錦糸町 2.5 4.8 Chūō-Sōbu Line
Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line (Z-13)
Sumida
Shin-Koiwa 新小岩 5.2 10.0 Chūō-Sōbu Line Katsushika
Ichikawa 市川 5.4 15.4 Chūō-Sōbu Line Ichikawa Chiba
Funabashi 船橋 7.8 23.2 Chūō-Sōbu Line
Tōbu Noda Line
Keisei Main Line (Keisei Funabashi)
Funabashi
Tsudanuma 津田沼 3.5 26.7 Chūō-Sōbu Line
Shin-Keisei Line (Shin-Tsudanuma)
Narashino
Inage 稲毛 9.2 35.9 Chūō-Sōbu Line Inage-ku, Chiba
Chiba 千葉 3.3 39.2 Sōbu Main Line (for Chōshi), Chūō-Sōbu Line, Uchibō Line, Sotobō Line, Narita Line
Chiba Urban Monorail: Line 1, Line 2
Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Chiba)
Chūō-ku, Chiba

Rolling stock

References

External links