Hankyu Imazu Line

The Hankyu Imazu Line with the Takarazuka Grand Theater in the background

Overview

Native name

阪急今津線

Locale

Hyōgo Prefecture

Stations

Operation

Operator(s)

Hankyu Railway

Depot(s)

Nishinomiya Depot

Technical

Line length

9.3 km (5.8 mi)

Number of tracks

Double

Track gauge

1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)

Electrification

1,500 V DC, overhead lines

Operating speed

80 km/h (50 mph)

Route map

The Hankyu Imazu Line (阪急今津線, Hankyū Imazu-sen^?) is a 9.3 km long commuter rail line in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan owned and operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It is the longest of three branchlines of the Hankyu Kobe Line. The line connects the cities of Nishinomiya and Takarazuka.

The Imazu Line runs between Imazu Station and Takarazuka Station. However, no trains run directly from one end to the other because the tracks have split since 1984 at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, where the line crosses the Kobe Line. Typical Imazu Line trains stop every station between Imazu and Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi (south section) or Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and Takarazuka (north section).

A small number of trains, called Semi-Express (junkyū), run from Takarazuka Station to Umeda Station (Hankyu's main terminal in Osaka) on weekdays not via the Takarazuka Line, but via the Imazu Line and the Kobe Line. Semi-Express trains of this route do not stop at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station because of the layout of the track in the station; there is no platform for through trains. The distance between Takarazuka and Umeda stations via the Imazu Line is shorter than the route via the Takarazuka line.

The section between Takarazuka and Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi opened on 2 September 1921, named the Nishi-Takarazuka Line (西宝塚線^?). The section from Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi to Imazu opened on 18 December 1926, and the line was renamed the Imazu Line.

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