Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Hankyu Railway

Hankyu Railway (阪急電鉄, Hankyū Dentetsu) is a Japanese private railway that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region. Its main terminal is at Umeda Station in Osaka. The signature color of Hankyu cars is maroon. IC cards (PiTaPa and ICOCA) are accepted.

The Hankyu network serves 1,950,000 people every weekday and offers several types of express service with no extra charge.

History

Foundation

, a forerunner of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc., was established by Ichizō Kobayashi in 1907 and opened the rail lines from Umeda to Takarazuka (the Takarazuka Line) and from Ishibashi to Minoo (the Minoo Line) on March 10, 1910.

Expansion to Kobe

On Feburary 4, 1918, Minoo Arima Electric Tramway Company was renamed . Then, the Kobe Line from Jūso to Kobe (later, renamed Kamitsutsui) and the Itami Line from Tsukaguchi to Itami were opened on July 16, 1920. On April 1, 1936, the Kobe Line was extended from Nishi-Nada (present: Oji-Koen) to the new terminal in Kōbe (present: Sannomiya Station), and the Kobe Line from Nishi-Nada to Kamitsutsui was named the Kamitsutsui Line, which was abandoned on May 20, 1940.

In 1936, the company established a professional baseball team. The Nishinomiya Stadium as the team's home field was completed near Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station in 1937. The Hankyu Braves (named in 1947) are the predecessors of the present-day Orix Buffaloes.

Merger and separation with Keihan

On October 1, 1943, under the order of the government, Hanshin Kyūkō and Keihan Electric Railway were merged, and renamed . The merged lines included the Keihan Main Line, the Uji Line, the Shinkeihan Line (present-day Kyoto Main Line), the Senriyama Line (present-day Senri Line), the Jūsō Line (part of Kyoto Main Line), the Arashiyama Line, the Keishin Line and the Ishiyama Sakamoto Line. In 1945, the Katano Line was also added.

On December 1, 1949, the Keihan Main Line, the Katano Line, the Uji Line, the Keishin Line, and the Ishiyama-Sakamoto Line were split off to become part of the newly-established Keihan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. Although this revived the former Keihan Electric Railway, Keihan was now smaller than before the 1943 merger, because the Shinkeihan Line and its branches were not given up by Keihanshin. The present structure of the Hankyu network with the three main lines was fixed by this transaction. The abbreviation of Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway was changed from "Keihanshin" to "Hankyū".

Postwar development

On April 7, 1968, the Kobe Line started through service to the Kobe Rapid Transit Railway Tozai Line and the Sanyo Electric Railway Main Line.

On December 6, 1969, the Kyoto Line and the Senri Line started through service to the Osaka Municipal Subway Sakaisuji Line.

On April 1, 1973, Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway Company was renamed .

On October 31, 1988, Hankyu transferred the Hankyu Braves to Orient Liesing Co., Ltd. (present: ORIX Corporation)

On April 1, 2005, the company became a holding company and was renamed . The railway business was ceded to a subsidiary, now named Hankyu Corporation (before the restructuring, the new company, which reused a dormant company founded on December 7, 1989, was called Hankyū Dentetsu Bunkatsu Junbi K.K. (阪急電鉄分割準備株式会社)).

On October 1, 2006, Hankyu Holdings started wholly owning Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd. and the holdings were renamed "". Hankyu's stock purchase of Hanshin shares was completed on June 20 2006.

Now the head office of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. and Hankyu Corp. is at 1-16-1, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka; its registered headquarters are at 1-1, Sakaemachi, Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.

Rail Lines

Hankyu operates three main trunk lines, connecting Osaka with Kobe, Takarazuka and Kyoto respectively, and their branches. Nose Electric Railway works as a feeder of Hankyu line although it is a separate railway company under control of Hankyu.

The three groups of the lines, the Kobe Lines, the Takarazuka Lines and the Kyoto Lines, can be further grouped into two, the Kobe-Takarazuka Lines and the Kyoto Lines from a historical reason. Hankyu have two groups of rolling stock, one for the Kobe-Takarazuka Lines and the other for the Kyoto Lines.

Rolling stock

Most have six doors and bench seating facing the center of the train, however limited express and rapid express on Kyoto Line often use four-door cars with rows of seats aligned with the direction of the train (reversible).

Kobe Line and Takarazuka Line use almost the same types of fleet, instead, by historical reason Kyoto Line is served by another types of rolling stock.

Kobe Line / Takarazuka Line

9000 series
8200 series
8000 series
7000 series
6000 series
5100 series
5000 series
3100 series (transferred to Nose Electric Railway)
3000 series
2000 series (transferred to Nose Electric Railway)

Kyoto Line

Fare

Single fare (adult) fare in JPY by travel distance (km)

1-4 km: 150
5-9 km: 180
10-14 km: 220
15-19 km: 260
20-26 km: 270
27-33 km: 310
34-42 km: 360
43-51 km: 390
52-60 km: 450
61-70 km: 510
71-76 km: 600

Etymology

The name Hankyu stands for Keihanshin Kyuko (京阪神急行). Keihanshin (京阪神) means the cities of Kyoto (京都), Osaka (大阪), Kobe (神戸), and the suburbs of theirs. Kyuko (急行) means express train.