Tobu Urban Park Line

Tobu Urban Park Line
A lineup of Tobu Urban Park Line rolling stock at the line's Nankodai Depot, June 2013
Overview
Native name	東武アーバンパークライン
Type	Commuter rail
Locale	Kantō Region
Termini	Ōmiya Funabashi
Stations	35
Daily ridership	448,528 (FY2010)[1]
Operation
Opened	1911
Owner	Tobu Railway
Depot(s)	Nanakōdai
Rolling stock	Tobu 8000 series, Tobu 10000 series, Tobu 60000 series
Technical
Line length	62.7 km (39.0 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead catenary
Operating speed	100 km/h (60 mph)
Route map Legend New Shuttle Joetsu Shinkansen, Tohoku Shinkansen Saikyo Line / Kawagoe Line Tohoku Main Line / Takasaki Line Keihin-Tohoku Line 0.0 Ōmiya 1.2 Kita-Ōmiya Tohoku Main Line 2.2 Ōmiya-kōen 4.0 Ōwada 5.6 Nanasato Kakuraabandoned in 1950 8.5 Iwatsuki Shibue 10.9 Higashi-Iwatsuki 12.2 Toyoharu 14.1 Yagisaki Tobu Skytree Line 15.2 Kasukabe Skytree Line Doiabandoned in 1947 17.8 Fujino-ushijima Naganumaabandoned in 1956 20.6 Minami-Sakurai Edo River 22.9 Kawama Nanakōdai depot 25.1 Nanakōdai 26.6 Shimizu-kōen 27.7 Atago 28.6 Nodashi 30.9 Umesato 33.2 Unga 35.1 Edogawadai 36.8 Hatsuishi Tsukuba Express Nagareyama-Ōtakanomori 39.7 Toyoshiki Kita-Kashiwaabandoned in 1955 42.9 Kashiwa Jōban Line Jōban Line 45.8 Shin-Kashiwa 47.1 Masuo 48.0 Sakasai 50.2 Takayanagi 51.9 Mutsumi 53.3 Shin-Kamagaya Hokusō Line Shin-Keisei Line Hatsutomi 55.2 Kamagaya 57.7 Magomezawa 60.1 Tsukada 61.3 Shin-Funabashi KaijinBypass abandoned in 1934 Keisei Main Line Tōyō Rapid Line 62.7 Funabashi Sōbu Main Line Chūō-Sōbu Line Keisei Main Line Keisei-Funabashi

The Tobu Urban Park Line (東武アーバンパークライン, Tōbu Ābanpāku-rain), formally known as the Tobu Noda Line (東武野田線, Tōbu Noda-sen), is a 62.7 km (39.0 mi) long railway line in Saitama and Chiba Prefectures operated by the Japanese private railway company Tobu Railway. It connects the satellite cities of Tokyo, such as Saitama, Kasukabe, Noda, Nagareyama, Matsudo, Kamagaya, Kashiwa, and Funabashi.^[2]

Description

• Track
  • Double: Ōmiya - Kasukabe, Unga - Sakasai, Mutsumi - Funabashi
  • Single: the rest

Operation

All trains are operated as all-stations "Local" services. Most trains, excluding a few from/to train depots, originate or terminate at Kashiwa Station which has a switchback. During the daytime, six trains run per hour. All trains stop at all stations.

From spring 2016, limited-stop "Express" services are scheduled to be introduced on the line. During the daytime off-peak, these will run at 30-minute intervals, stopping only at Iwatsuki between Ōmiya and Kasukabe, and all-stations between Kasukabe and Funabashi. The journey time between Omiya and Kasukabe will be reduced by 6 minutes compared with all-stations "Local" services.^[3]

Stations

Rolling stock

• 8000 series 6-car (including 2+4-car) EMUs (since 3 June 1977)^[4]
• 10030/10050 series 6-car EMUs (since 20 April 2013)
• 60000 series 6-car EMUs (since 15 June 2013)

Trains are formed of 6-car (or 4+2-car) 8000 series EMUs, introduced from 1997. New 6-car 60000 series EMUs were introduced on the line from 15 June 2013, replacing the older 8000 series sets.^[5][6] Eight sets are scheduled to be delivered by the end of fiscal 2013.^[7]

From 3 March 2012, test running using 10030 series EMUs commenced on the line,^[8] with the first reliveried set entering revenue service from 20 April 2013.^[9]

• 

  A 6-car 8000 series, May 2013

• 

  Refurbished 10030 series 6-car set 11632 in new colour scheme, June 2013

• 

  Non-refurbished 10050 series 6-car set 11652 in new colour scheme, May 2013

• 

  60000 series set 61601 undergoing test-running, May 2013

Former rolling stock

• 1000 series 16 m long electric cars (1001–1004, 1101–1104,1201–1202), built in 1929 by Nippon Sharyo^[4]
• 6300 series 20 m long electric cars (former JNR 63000 series), from March 1947 until 1950^[4]
• 3200 series^[4]
• 7800 series 20 m long electric cars, from February 1958^[4]
• 7300 series 20 m long electric cars (rebuilt from 6300 series), from 1963^[4]
• 3000 series 6-car (including 2+4-car) EMUs, rebuilt from 3200 series, from May 1965 until 1992^[10]
• 5400 series EMUs, from November 1967 until 1972^[4]
• 3050 series EMUs, rebuilt from 5400 series, from March 1971 until 1992^[4]
• 3070 series EMUs, rebuilt from 5300 series, from 1974 until 1992^[4]
• 5000 series 6-car (including 2+4-car) EMUs, rebuilt from 7800 series, from March 1983 until November 1994^[4][10]
• 2080 series 6-car EMUs x2, from May 1988 until November 1992^[4]

• 

  7800 series

• 

  7300 series

• 

  3070 series

• 

  A Noda Line 5070 series, September 2004

History

The Chiba Prefectural Railway Noda Line

The line first opened as the Chiba Prefectural Railway Noda Line (千葉県営鉄道野田線, Chiba Ken'ei Tetsudō Noda-sen) on 9 May 1911, from Kashiwa to Nodamachi (now Nodashi), a distance of 14.7 kilometres (9 miles 10 chains) using steam haulage.^[2] In 1923, the line was privatized and the operator was named Hokusō Railway (北総鉄道, Hokusō Tetsudō) (separate from the present Hokusō Railway), and also opened its own line from Funabashi Station to Kashiwa Station, a distance of 19.6 km (12 mi 14 ch).

The company gradually extended the line to Ōmiya, and changed its name in 1929 to Sōbu Railway (総武鉄道, Sōbu Tetsudō) (not to be confused with the present Sōbu Main Line). The line was completed in 1930 with the completion of the bridge over the Edo River.

On 1 March 1944, the company merged with the Tobu Railway, and the line became the Tobu Noda Line.^[4] 6-car trains were introduced from November 1972.^[2]

Electrification was commenced in 1929 between Kasukabe and Ōmiya,^[2] and while the section from Kashiwa to Funabashi was still unelectrified when the operation of the line was taken over by Tobu in 1944, the remaining section was electrified by 1 March 1947.^[4]

The Omiya to Kasukabe section was double-tracked between 1957 and 2011, the Nodashi to Umesato section in 2011, the Unga to Sakasai section between 1960 and 1991, and the Mutsumi to Funabashi section between 1964 and 1999.

Six-car 8000 series EMUs were phased in from 1997, displaced by new 30000 series EMUs introduced on the Tobu Isesaki Line.^[11] The last remaining 5070 series EMUs were withdrawn from the start of the revised timetable on 19 October 2004, and the line's maximum speed was raised from 90 km/h to 100 km/h at the same time.^[11]

From 17 March 2012, station numbering was introduced on all Tobu lines, with Noda Line stations receiving numbers prefixed with the letters "TD".^[12]

From 1 April 2014, the line was rebranded the Tobu Urban Park Line (東武アーバンパークライン).^[7]

See also

• List of railway lines in Japan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tōbu Noda Line.

• Tobu Urban Park Line information page (Japanese)

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