Nambu Line

Nambu Line
JN
A Nambu Line E233-8000 series EMU in October 2014
Overview
Native name	南武線
Type	Commuter rail
Locale	Tokyo, Kanagawa prefectures
Termini	Kawasaki Tachikawa
Stations	26 (main line), 3 (branch line)
Operation
Opened	1927
Owner	JR East
Rolling stock	205 series, E233-8000 series, E233-8500 series
Technical
Line length	45.0 km (28.0 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Route map

The Nambu Line (南武線, Nanbu-sen) is a Japanese railway line which connects Tachikawa Station in Tachikawa, Tokyo and Kawasaki Station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. For most of its length, it parallels the Tama River, the natural border between Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. It lies along the Tama Hills. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network. The line forms part of what JR East refers to as the "Tokyo Mega Loop" (東京メガループ) around Tokyo, consisting of the Keiyo Line, Musashino Line, Nambu Line, and Yokohama Line.^[1] The name refers to the southern (南, nan) part of the ancient province of Musashi (武蔵) (now Tokyo and northern Kanagawa prefectures), through which the Nambu Line runs.

Basic data

• Operators, distances:
  • Total: 45.0 km (28.0 mi)
    • Passenger: 39.6 km (24.6 mi)
    • Freight: 39.4 km (24.5 mi)
  • East Japan Railway Company (JR East) (Services and tracks)
    • Kawasaki – Tachikawa: 35.5 km (22.1 mi)
    • Shitte – Hama-Kawasaki: 4.1 km (2.5 mi)
    • Shitte – Shin-Tsurumi Signal Station – Tsurumi: 5.4 km (3.4 mi) (no regular service)
  • Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) (Services only)
    • Shitte – Tachikawa: 33.8 km (21.0 mi)
    • Shitte – Hama-Kawasaki: 4.1 km (2.5 mi)
    • Shitte – Shin-Tsurumi Signal Station: 1.5 km (0.9 mi)
• Stations: 29
  • Main line: 26
  • Branch line: 3
• Double-tracking: Kawasaki – Tachikawa
• Railway signalling: Automatic Block System

Station list

Main line

"Rapid" service trains (two trains per hour between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m) do not stop at Shitte, Yakō, Hirama, Mukaigawara, Tsudayama, Kuji, Shukugawara, Nakanoshima, or Yanokuchi. All other trains except for some seasonal services are "Local" services, stopping at all stations. From the start of the revised timetable introduced on March 14, 2015, "Rapid" services will no longer stop at Minami-Tama, Nishifu, Yaho, Yagawa, or Nishi-Kunitachi.

Nambu Branch Line

• All stations are located in Kanagawa Prefecture.
• Trains can pass each other only at Kawasaki-Shinmachi.

Freight branch

The "Shitte crossover" (尻手短絡線, Shitte-tanraku-sen) connects Shitte Station and Shin-Tsurumi Yard on the Tōkaidō Main Line (Hinkaku Line) and the Musashino Line. Freight trains operating between Tokyo Freight Terminal and northern Japan operate on both branch lines.

Rolling stock

Nambu Line rolling stock at Nakahara Depot

As of 1 October 2016 the following fleet of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains is used on Nambu Line services, with all trainsets based at Nakahara Depot.^[3]

• 205-1000 series 3 x 2-car EMUs (Nambu Branch Line services, since August 2002)
• E233-8000 series 35 x 6-car EMUs (since 4 October 2014)
• E233-8500 series 1 x 6-car EMU (since 15 March 2017)

From 15 March 2017, the last remaining 209 series trainset, set 53, was replaced by a six-car Ome Line and Itsukaichi Line E233-0 series set 670 modified and renumbered to become E233-8500 series set N36.^[4]

• 
  A Nambu Branch Line 205-1000 series in August 2009
• 
  A Nambu Line E233-8000 series in September 2014
• 
  Nambu Line E233-8500 series set N36 in March 2017

Previously used

• 72/73 series 4/6-car EMUs (from 1963 until 1978)
• 101 series 4/6-car EMUs (from 1969 until January 1991)
• 103 series 6-car EMUs (from 1982 until December 2004)
• 101 series 2-car EMUs (Nambu Branchline services, until November 2003)
• 205-0 series 6-car EMUs from (March 1989 until December 2015)^[5]
• 205-1200 series 6-car EMUs (from 2004 until January 2016)
• 209-0 series 6-car EMUs (from April 1993 until February 2015)
• 209-2200 series 6-car EMUs (from 2010 until March 2017)

• 
  A 73 series EMU on the Nambu Line in January 1975
• 
  Nambu Branch Line 101 series in July 2002
• 
  A Nambu Line 103 series in June 2001
• 
  Nambu Line 205-0 series set 36 in April 2011
• 
  A Nambu Line 205-1200 series in October 2014
• 
  A Nambu Line 209-0 series in January 2008
• 
  A Nambu Line 209-2200 series in April 2011

History

The private Nambu Railway opened the line in five stages between 1927 and 1930 (freight branches are omitted):^[6]

• March 27, 1927: Kawasaki – Noborito
• November 1, 1927: Noborito – Ōmaru (near Minami-Tama)
• December 11, 1928: Ōmaru – Bubaigawara (then called Yashikibun)
• December 11, 1929: Bubaigawara – Tachikawa
• March 25, 1930: Shitte – Hama-Kawasaki

Passenger trains utilised electric multiple units (EMUs) from the beginning. Freight initially consisted primarily of gravel hauled from the Tama River. When the railway reached Tachikawa and made connection with the Ōme Electric Railway, limestone became one of the main freight commodities. The railway was controlled by Asano zaibatsu, which enabled the transport of limestone from its own quarry in Western Tokyo to its cement plant in Kawasaki without using the government railways.^[7]

On April 1, 1944, the railway was nationalised by the imperial government and became the Nambu Line of Japanese Government Railways. After the end of World War II, there were several calls for the privatisation of the line, but the line remained a part of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) until its privatization in 1987.^[7]

The postwar growth of the Tokyo urban area resulted in the conversion of most of the farmlands along the Nambu Line into residential areas and increased the passenger traffic on the line. Freight traffic reduced after the opening of the Musashino Line (parallel to the Nambu Line) in 1976 and the discontinuance of the limestone freight in 1998, except for the Nambu Branchline, which remains a major freight route.^[7]

Limited-stop "Rapid" services between Kawasaki and Noborito with stops at Musashi-Kosugi and Musashi-Mizonokuchi started on December 15, 1969, but were discontinued by the timetable revision on October 2, 1978.^[8] After 33 years, Rapid services between Kawasaki and Tachikawa with more stops started on April 9, 2011, postponed from the originally scheduled March 12 due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[9]

Future developments

Construction of a new station on the Nambu Branch Line is under consideration by JR East in conjunction with the city of Kawasaki. Provisionally named Odasakae-Shin Station (小田栄新駅), the new low-cost station is planned to be built between Kawasaki-Shinmachi and Hama-Kawasaki, with opening scheduled for the end of fiscal year 2015.^[10]

See also

• List of railway lines in Japan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nambu Line.

• Stations of the Nambu Line (JR East) (in Japanese)