Tōbu Nikkō Line

The Tobu Nikko Line (東武日光線, Tōbu Nikkō-sen) is a 94.5-kilometre (58.7 mi) railway line in Japan operated by the private railway company Tobu Railway. It branches from Tōbu Dōbutsu Kōen Station in Miyashiro, Saitama on the Skytree Line, extending north to Tōbu Nikkō Station in Nikkō, Tochigi.

Tobu Nikko Line
TN
A 500 series set "Revaty" on the Nikko Line in April 2017
Overview
OwnerTobu Railway
LocaleKantō Region
TerminiTōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen
Tōbu Nikkō
Stations26
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Depot(s)Minami-Kurihashi
History
Opened1929
Technical
Line length94.5 km (58.7 mi)
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification1,500 V DC, overhead catenary
Operating speed120 km/h (75 mph)

The line has two branch lines: the Utsunomiya Line at Shin-Tochigi Station in Tochigi, Tochigi, and the Kinugawa Line at Shimo-Imaichi Station in Nikkō.

Service patterns

As of March 2013, stops and service patterns are

  • Local (普通, Futsū): Stops at all stations on the Nikko Line. Through to/from Naka-Meguro on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line;
  • Section Semi-Express (区間準急, Kukan Junkyū): Stops at all stations on the Nikko Line, limited-stop service on the Skytree Line;
  • Semi-Express (準急, Junkyū): Stops at all stations on the Nikko Line, limited-stop service on the Skytree Line. Through to/from Chūō-Rinkan on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line via the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line;
  • Section Express (区間急行, Kukan Kyūkō): Stops at all stations on the Nikko Line, limited-stop service on the Skytree Line;
  • Express (急行, Kyūkō): Stops at all stations on the Nikko Line, express service on the Skytree Line. Through to/from Chūō-Rinkan on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line via the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line.
  • Limited Express (特急, Tokkyū): Stops at partly stations on the Nikko Line, Limited express also service on the Skytree Line. There are Limited Express which are 4 types of KN/KG (スペーシアきぬ・けごん, SPACIA KINU・KEGON)・RV (リバティきぬ・けごん・会津, REVATY KINU・KEGON・AIZU)・KF (きりふり, KIRIFURI)・JR (日光・きぬがわ・スペーシアきぬがわ, JR NIKKO・KINUGAWA).
  • SL Taiju Futara (SL大樹ふたら, Esueru Taiju Futara):[1] Stops at partly stations. Runs between Tobu-Nikko and Shimo-Imaichi. When passengers ride on this train you have to purchase the package tour[2] on Tobu Top Tours and so on. Runs once a month.

Stations
Station Japanese Distance
(in km)		  Local Section Semi-Express  Semi-
 Express		    Section    Express  Express  Limited
Express		 Transfer Location
  A C A C C    
Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen 東武動物公園 0.0 O O O O O ｜
Miyashiro Saitama
Sugito-Takanodai 杉戸高野台 3.2 O O O O O KG/KN*5・RV*5   Sugito
Satte 幸手 5.8 O O O O O | Satte
Minami-Kurihashi 南栗橋 10.4 O
*1		 O O O
*2/*4		 O
*3/*4		 | Kuki
Kurihashi 栗橋 13.9 O     O O | JU Tohoku Main Line
Shin-Koga 新古河 20.6 O | | |   Kazo
Yagyū 柳生 23.6 O | | |
Itakura Tōyōdai-mae 板倉東洋大前 25.6 O O O KG/KN*5・RV*5 Itakura Gunma
Fujioka 藤岡 29.5 O | | | Tochigi Tochigi
Shizuwa 静和 37.3 O | | |
Shin-Ōhirashita 新大平下 40.1 O O O |
Tochigi 栃木 44.9 O O O KN/KG・RV・KF・JR
  • JU Tohoku Main Line
Shin-Tochigi 新栃木 47.9 O O O KN/KG*5・RV*5・KF
  • TN Tobu Utsunomiya Line
Kassemba 合戦場 50.0 O O | |  
Ienaka 家中 52.4 O O | |
Tōbu Kanasaki 東武金崎 56.6 O O | |
Niregi 楡木 61.2 O O | | Kanuma
Momiyama 樅山 64.2 O O | |
Shin-Kanuma 新鹿沼 66.8 O O O KN/KG・RV・KF・JR
Kita-Kanuma 北鹿沼 69.8 O O | |
Itaga 板荷 74.9 O O | |
Shimo-Goshiro 下小代 78.5 O O | | Nikkō
Myōjin 明神 81.3 O O | |
Shimo-Imaichi 下今市 87.4 O O O KN/KG・RV・KF・JR
Kami-Imaichi 上今市 88.4 O O | |  
Tōbu Nikkō 東武日光 94.5 O O O KG・RV・KF・JR

Notes:

History

The Nikko Line opened (dual track and electrified) on 1 October 1929.[3]

In 1943, the section north of Kassemba was reduced to single track and the recovered rails used to build the Tobu Kumagaya Line.[4]

Electric limited express services first started operating from February 1949.[3] From October 1960, new 1720 series "Deluxe Romance car" EMUs were introduced on limited express services to and from Nikko.[3]

From 1 June 1990, new 100 series "Spacia" EMUs were introduced on limited express services, and the maximum speed of these was raised to 120 km/h in 1992.[3]

A connecting track at Kurihashi was built to the JR-East Tōhoku Main Line (Utsunomiya Line) from 18 March 2006, allowing through-operations of Nikkō and Kinugawa limited express services to/from Ōmiya, Ikebukuro, and Shinjuku.

From 17 March 2012, station numbering was introduced on all Tobu lines, with Tobu Nikko Line stations adopting the prefix "TN" in orange.[5]

The former Skytree Train and 300 series limited express trains, Rapid, and Section Rapid services were discontinued from the start of the revised timetable on 21 April 2017.[6]

See also

References
  1. Timetable
  2. Detail
  3. Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 557. ISBN 4-87366-874-3.
  4. 歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線NO.5 東武鉄道２ [Railway Line History No. 5: Tobu Railway 2]. Japan: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. September 2010. p. 24. ISBN 978-4-02-340135-8.
  5. 「東武スカイツリーライン」誕生！ あわせて駅ナンバリングを導入し、よりわかりやすくご案内します [Tobu Sky Tree Line created! Station numbering to be introduced at same time] (pdf). Tobu News (in Japanese). Tobu Railway. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  6. Ueshin, Daisuke (20 April 2017). 東武スカイツリーライン快速・区間快速ラストラン、300型が最後の定期運行 [Final run for Tobu Skytree Line Rapid and Section Rapid and last regular runs for 300 series]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Japan: Mynavi Corporation. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
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