Saikyō Line
Saikyō Line | |||
---|---|---|---|
JA | |||
Train protection system | ATS-P (Osaki–Ikebukuro), ATACS (IKebukuro–Ōmiya) | ||
|
The Saikyō Line (
At the northern end of the line, some trains continue beyond Ōmiya as far as
Basic data
- Operator: East Japan Railway Company (JR East) (Services and tracks)
- Ōsaki – Ikebukuro – Akabane – Musashi-Urawa – Ōmiya: 36.9 km (22.9 mi)
- Ōsaki – Ikebukuro: 13.4 km (8.3 mi) (Yamanote Line freight line)
- Ikebukuro – Akabane: 5.5 km (3.4 mi) (Akabane Line)
- Akabane – Musashi-Urawa – Ōmiya: 18.0 km (11.2 mi) (Tōhoku Main Line branch)
- Ōsaki – Ikebukuro – Akabane – Musashi-Urawa – Ōmiya: 36.9 km (22.9 mi)
- Double-tracking: Entire line
- Railway signalling:
- Ōsaki – Ikebukuro: Automatic Block System, ATS-P
- Ikebukuro – Ōmiya: ATACS, Formerly ATC-6
- Maximum speed:
- Akabane – Ōmiya: 100 km/h (62 mph)
- Itabashi – Akabane: 90 km/h (56 mph)
- All other sections: 95 km/h (59 mph)
Route
The line runs parallel to the Yamanote Line between Ōsaki and Ikebukuro, where it is formally called the Yamanote Freight Line (Japanese: 山手貨物線), and as an alternate route to the Tōhoku Main Line between Akabane and Ōmiya, where it is unofficially called the Tōhoku Honsen Secondary Line (Japanese: 東北本線支線). The portion between Ikebukuro and Akabane is officially known as the Akabane Line (Japanese: 赤羽線). For most purposes, JR refers to all of these as part of the "Saikyō Line" when being used for Saikyō Line services.[2]
Service
There are three types of trains on the Saikyō Line: "Local" (各駅停車, Kakueki-Teisha), "Rapid" (快速, kaisoku), and "Commuter Rapid" (通勤快速, tsūkin kaisoku). Between Akabane and Musashi-Urawa, Rapid trains stop only at Toda-Kōen, while Commuter Rapid trains, which run during rush hours, stop only at Musashi-Urawa between Akabane and Ōmiya. Between Akabane and Ikebukuro, as well as on the Kawagoe and Rinkai lines, all trains stop at all stations. Between Ikebukuro and Osaki on the Yamanote Freight Line, all trains run limited-stop in both directions, with the Yamanote Line providing all-stations service.[3]
Station list
- Local trains stop at all stations.
- Rapid and commuter rapid trains stop at stations marked "●" and pass those marked "|".
Line name |
No. | Station | Japanese | Distance (km) | Rapid | Comm. Rapid |
Transfers | Location | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Between stations |
Total | ||||||||||
Through service to Shin-Kiba via the R Rinkai Line
Through service to Shōnan-Shinjuku Line
| |||||||||||
Yamanote Line | OSKJA08
|
Ōsaki | 大崎 | - | from Shinagawa 2.0 |
from Ōsaki 0.0 |
● | ● |
|
Shinagawa
|
Tokyo |
EBSJA09
|
Ebisu | 恵比寿 | 3.6 | 5.6 | 3.6 | ● | ● |
|
Shibuya
| ||
SBYJA10
|
Shibuya | 渋谷[a] | 1.6 | 7.2 | 5.2 | ● | ● |
| |||
SJKJA11
|
Shinjuku | 新宿 | 3.4 | 10.6 | 8.6 | ● | ● |
| |||
Shinjuku
| |||||||||||
IKBJA12
|
Ikebukuro | 池袋 | 4.8 | 15.4 | 13.4 | ● | ● |
|
Toshima
| ||
Akabane Line | from Ikebukuro 0.0 | ||||||||||
JA13 | Itabashi | 板橋 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 15.2 | ● | ● | I Tobu Tojo Line (Shimo-Itabashi )
|
Itabashi
| ||
JA14 | Jūjō | 十条 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 16.9 | ● | | | Kita | |||
ABNJA15
|
Akabane | 赤羽 | 2.0 | 5.5 | 18.9 | ● | ● |
| |||
Tohoku Main Line (branch)
|
from Akabane 0.0 | ||||||||||
JA16 | Kita-Akabane | 北赤羽 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 20.4 | | | | | ||||
JA17 | Ukima-Funado | 浮間舟渡 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 22.0 | | | | | ||||
JA18 | Toda-Kōen | 戸田公園 | 2.4 | 5.5 | 24.4 | ● | | | Toda | Saitama | ||
JA19 | Toda | 戸田 | 1.3 | 6.8 | 25.7 | | | | | ||||
JA20 | Kita-Toda | 北戸田 | 1.4 | 8.2 | 27.1 | | | | | ||||
JA21 | Musashi-Urawa | 武蔵浦和 | 2.4 | 10.6 | 29.5 | ● | ● | JM Musashino Line | Minami-ku, Saitama | ||
JA22 | Naka-Urawa | 中浦和 | 1.2 | 11.8 | 30.7 | ● | ● | ||||
JA23 | Minami-Yono | 南与野 | 1.7 | 13.5 | 32.4 | ● | | | Chūō-ku, Saitama | |||
JA24 | Yonohommachi | 与野本町 | 1.6 | 15.1 | 34.0 | ● | | | ||||
JA25 | Kita-Yono | 北与野 | 1.1 | 16.2 | 35.1 | ● | | | ||||
OMYJA26
|
Ōmiya | 大宮[b] | 1.8 | 18.0 | 36.9 | ● | ● |
|
Ōmiya-ku, Saitama | ||
Through service to Kawagoe on the Kawagoe Line |
Rolling stock
- JR East 205 series 10-car EMUs (July 1989 – October 2016)
- JR East E233-7000 series10-car EMUs (since June 2013)
- TWR 70-000 series 10-car EMUs (since 1996)
- Sotetsu 12000 series 10-car EMUs (since 30 November 2019)
-
A 205 series EMU
-
An E233-7000 series EMU
-
A TWR 70-000 series EMU
-
A Sotetsu 12000 series EMU
Per 30 November 2019 schedule change, services on the Saikyo Line,
Before the establishment of the Saikyo Line, rolling stock used on the
- 72 series 8-car EMUs (1953–1967)
- 101 series 8-car EMUs (1967–1978)
- 103 series 8/10-car EMUs (1978–1985)
-
An Akabane Line 103 series train in 1979
History
The Akabane Line opened on 1 March 1885 as a segment of the Nippon Railway Shinagawa Line. The company was nationalized in 1906. Electric services on the line began in 1909. From 1972 to 1985, the line was the known as the Akabane Line after being a branch of Yamanote Line.
Before the Saikyo Line, there were several attempts to improve commuter rail service between Saitama and Tokyo. One of the earliest, the Tokyo-Ōmiya Electric Railway (東京大宮電気鉄道, Tōkyō-Ōmiya Denki Tetsudō), was founded in 1928 but went bankrupt shortly thereafter due to rising land values in the area. Later, in 1968, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Transportation proposed to run the new Toei Mita Line to central Ōmiya.
Development of the Saikyo Line began as a
The new line, tentatively called the "New Commuter Line" (通勤新線, Tsūkin Shinsen), was built between Ōmiya and Akabane. Through service to Ikebukuro via the existing
When the Tōhoku Main Line portion of the Saikyō Line was being built, the stations from Kita-Akabane to Kita-Yono were designated with numbers from 1 to 10; Kita-Akabane Station was known as "New Commuter Line Station No. 1". However, even after names were assigned, passengers complained that each station looked just like the next due to their identical construction. As a result, JNR, in an unusual move, assigned colors to those stations so that they could be told apart from one another.
On 3 March 1986, the Saikyo Line began through service to Shinjuku via the Yamanote Freight Line, which had seen less use by freight services since the opening of the Musashino Line in 1973.[3] Freight services on the former Akabane Line ended in 1999. Services southward to Shibuya and Ebisu did not begin until 16 March 1996, when new platforms were completed to accommodate passenger service.[3] Through services to Ōsaki and the Rinkai Line began on 1 December 2002.[3]
The Saikyo Line has had a particularly severe problem of overcrowding during peak periods, especially during weekday mornings. The opening of the
On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced with stations being assigned station numbers between JA08 and JA26.[7][8] Numbers increase towards in the northbound direction towards Omiya.
Beginning 30 November 2019, some Saikyo Line trains travel through to
References
- ^ "平成27年 大都市交通センサス 首都圏報告書" (PDF). P.92. 国土交通省.
- ^ JR Timetable, December 2008 issue
- ^ ISBN 978-4-575-45414-7.
- ^ a b Saka, Masahiro (October 2015). 埼京線・川越線・八高線・相模線車両の変遷 [Rolling stock transitions on the Saikyo/Kawagoe/Hachiko/Sagami Lines]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 44, no. 378. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. pp. 18–27.
- ^ JR車両ファイル2016 [JR Rolling Stock File 2016]. Japan Railfan Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 56, no. 663. Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. July 2016. p. 34.
- ^ "Worst for Chikan in Tokyo is Saikyo Line" Yomiuri Shimbun, 2005-02-08, retrieved 2006-06-19
- ^ "⾸都圏エリアへ 「駅ナンバリング」を導⼊します" [Introduce “station numbering” to the Tokyo metropolitan area] (PDF). jreast.co.jp (in Japanese). 6 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
- ^ Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (7 April 2016). "JA・JK・JT・AKB…JR東日本、首都圏で駅ナンバリングなど導入へ" [JA, JK, JT, AKB … JR East to introduce station numbering in the Tokyo metropolitan area]. Response Automotive Media (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
Notes
- Shonan Shinjuku Line, until 2020, was quite far from the Yamanote Line platform, and thus was ridiculed as "Minami Shibuya Station" (Japanese: 南渋谷駅, Hepburn: Minami-Shibuya-eki, means South Shibuya Station).
- ^ There are many trains that run directly from here to Kawagoe on the Kawagoe Line.
Further reading
- Osano, Kagetoshi (October 2015). 埼京線 その歴史とあらまし [History and overview of the Saikyo Line]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 44, no. 378. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. pp. 10–17.
External links
- Stations of the Saikyō Line (JR East) (in Japanese)