Hanshin Namba Line

Ajigawa Bridge under construction (Aug. 2007)

The Nishi-Osaka Line (西大阪線, Nishi-Ōsaka sen) is a rail line of Hanshin Electric Railway connecting Amagasaki Station in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture and Nishikujo Station in Konohana-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.

History

The Denpō Line (伝法線), the predesessor of the Nishi-Osaka Line, was planned as the bypass of the Hanshin Railway Main Line, and to connect from Amagasaki to Noda via Denpō. Then the plan was changed to connect to Nishikujō.

• January 20, 1924 - The Denpō Line was opened (Daimotsu - Denpō).
• August 1, 1924 - The line was extended from Denpō to Chidoribashi.
• December 28, 1928 - The line was extended from Daimotsu to Amagasaki.
• June 1960 - The first term of the construction of the extending line to Namba was started (Chidoribashi - Nishikujō).
• May 20, 1964 - The first term of the construction of the extending line to Namba was completed, thus, the Nishi-Osaka Line was extended from Chidoribashi to Nishikujō. The line was renamed the Nishi-Osaka Line.
• September 1965 - Nishi-Osaka limited express service started.
• August 10, 1967 - The second term of the construction of the extending line to Namba was started (Nishikujō - Kujō).
• September 1967 - The second term of the construction of the extending line to Namba was cancelled.
• December 1, 1974 - Nishi-Osaka limited express service was abandoned.
• July 10, 2001 - Nishi-Osaka Railway Co., Ltd. was estublished to restart the extention from Nishikujō to Namba.
• October 7, 2003 - The construction of the extending line from Nishikujō to Namba was restarted.
• March 20, 2009 - The line from Nishikujō to Namba will open, and the rail line will be renamed the Hanshin Namba Line.

Extention to Namba

On August 1, 2008, Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd. announced that the extending line will be opened on March 20, 2009 and the Nishi-Osaka Line will be renamed "the Hanshin Namba Line (阪神なんば線, Hanshin Nanba sen)" on the same day.

When the Nishi-Osaka Line is renamed the Hanshin Namba Line, there will be through rapid express operations between Sannomiya Station on the Main Line in Kobe and Kintetsu Nara Station on the Kintetsu Nara Line in Nara via the Hanshin Namba Line, and through local, semi-express, and suburban semi-express operations between Amagasaki Station and Kintetsu Nara Station.

Operations (from March 20, 2009)

• rapid express
  • 3 to 5 trains per hour on weekdays, and 3 trains per hour on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
  • Trains will stop at Sannomiya, Uozaki, Ashiya, Nishinomiya, Koshien, Amagasaki, Nishikujo, Kujo, Dome-mae, Sakuragawa, Osaka Namba, Kintetsu Nippombashi, Osaka Uehommachi, Tsuruhashi, Ikoma, Gakuen-mae, Yamato-Saidaiji, Shin-Omiya and Kintetsu Nara. In addition to those stations, there will be stops of rapid express at Mukogawa, Daimotsu, Dekijima, Fuku, Denpo and Chidoribashi in the non-rush hour on weekdays, and at Imazu and Mukogawa on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
  • 6, 8 or 10 cars (6 cars between Sannomiya and Amagasaki)
• local, semi-express, suburban semi-express
  • 3 to 6 trains per hour on weekdays, and 6 trains per hour on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
  • Local trains will stop at every station on the Hanshin Namba Line, the Kintetsu Namba Line, and the Kitntetsu Nara Line.
  • Semi-express trains will stop at every station between Amagasaki and Tsuruhashi, Fuse, Kawachi-Kosaka, Higashi-Hanazono, and every station between Ishikiri and Kintetsu Nara. In addition to those stations, suburban semi-express trains will stop at Hyotan-yama, Hiraoka and Nukata.
  • 6 cars

Stations

Under the incumbent timetable, all trains are Local (普通, futsū) operating between Amagasaki and Nishikujō with stops at all stations.

Station Name	Distance (km)		Connecting lines	Location
	between stations	from start
Hanshin 尼崎	-	0.0	Hanshin Railway Main Line	Amagasaki	Hyōgo
Daimotsu 大物	0.9	0.9	Hanshin Railway Main Line
Dekijima 出来島	1.4	2.3		Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka	Osaka
Fuku 福	1.0	3.3
Denpō 伝法	1.5	4.8		Konohana-ku, Osaka
Chidoribashi 千鳥橋	0.7	5.5
Nishikujō 西九条	0.8	6.3	JR Osaka Loop Line and Sakurajima Line (JR Yumesaki Line)
The following stations on the section between Nishikujō Station and Ōsaka Namba Station will open on March 20, 2009.
Osaka 九条	1.3	7.6	Osaka Municipal Subway Chuo Line	Nishi-ku, Osaka	Osaka
Dome-mae ドーム前	0.6	8.2	Osaka Municipal Subway Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line (Dome-mae Chiyozaki Station)
Osaka 桜川	0.8	9.0	Osaka Municipal Subway Sennichimae Line and the Nankai Kōya Line (Shiomibashi Line) (Shiomibashi Station)	Naniwa-ku, Osaka
Osaka Namba 大阪難波	1.1	10.1	Kintetsu Namba Line (with through trains), the Nankai Electric Railway Nankai Main Line and Kōya Line (Namba Station), the Osaka Municipal Subway Midōsuji Line, Yotsubashi Line, and the Sennichimae Line (Namba Station), the JR West Kansai Main Line (Yamatoji Line) (JR Namba Station) Note: This station is the existing Kintetsu Namba Station, which is to be renamed.	Chūō-ku, Osaka