Nankai Main Line

Nankai Main Line
Nankai 1000 series EMU on local service
Overview
Native name	南海本線
Locale	Osaka Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture
Termini	Namba Wakayamashi
Operation
Operator(s)	Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Technical
Line length	64.2 km (39.9 mi)
Number of tracks	Quad (Namba - Suminoe) Double (Suminoe - Wakayamashi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Old gauge	Namba—Sakai (Azumabashi): 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) (1885—1897)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed	110 km/h (68 mph)

Route diagram

0.2 Namba-1980 0.0 Namba1980- 0.9 Imamiyaebisu 1.4 Shin-Imamiya 2.0 Haginochaya Tennōji Branch Line 3.0 Tengachaya "Shiomibashi Line" (part of Kōya Line) 3.9 Kishinosato-Tamade Tamade abandoned in 1993 consolidation to Kishinosato-Tamade Station Kōya Line 5.1 Kohama Hankai Tramway: Hankai Line Hankai Uemachi Line Sumiyoshi Sumiyoshikōen 5.7 Sumiyoshitaisha Sumiyoshi-Toriimae 6.5 Suminoe-1916 Suminoe Depot 6.7 Suminoe1928- Yamatogawa (first)-1888 Yamato River Yamatogawa (second)1889-1917 8.2 Shichidō Hankai Railway (later Osaka Municipal Tram Hankai Line) Sakai (first)-1955 9.8 Sakai (third)1985- Tate River Sakai (second)1955-1985 Ōhama-kitamachi Ohama Branch Line Ryujinabandoned in 1955 consolidation to Sakai Station Ōhama 11.2 Minato Dejima (Hankai Railway) 12.7 Ishizugawa Shimo-Ishizu (Hankai Railway) Ishizu River 13.8 Suwanomori Suwanohama Hankai Tramway: Hankai Line Left: Hamadera (Hankai Railway) Right: Kaidōbata Hamadera-ekimae 14.8 Hamaderakōen Hamaderakōen (Hankai) JR West: Hanwa Line ("Hagoromo Branch Line") 15.5 HagoromoHigashi-Hagoromo Nankai Takashinohama Line 16.6 Takashinohama-1918 17.4 Takaishi 18.5 Kita-Sukematsu 19.4 Matsunohama 20.4 Izumiōtsu Otsu River 22.3 Tadaoka 23.7 Haruki Haruki River 26.1 Izumi-ōmiya 25.0 Kishiwada 26.9 Takojizō Tsuda River 28.6 Kaizuka Mizuma Line 30.4 Nishikinohama 31.3 Tsuruhara 32.4 Iharanosato Sano River 34.0 Izumisano Airport Line JR West: Kansai Airport Line 35.9 Rinkū Town Kansai Airport Bridge 42.8 Kansai AirportKansai Airport 36.1 Hagurazaki Hagurazaki Depot 37.4 Yoshiminosato 38.8 Okadaura 40.6 Tarui 43.1 Ozaki 44.6 Tottorinoshō 46.6 Hakotsukuri 50.2 Tannowa 51.9 Misaki-kōen Tanagawa Line Fukeabandoned in 1958 56.3 Kyōshi ↑Osaka Prefecture Kyoshi Tunnel ↓Wakayama Prefecture 58.0 Wakayamadaigakumae Kada Kada Line 61.6 Kinokawa 62.5 Wakayama-kitaguchi-1903 Kinokawa River JR West: Kisei Main Line Wakayama Depot 64.2 Wakayamashi Wakayama Tram Line (Kainan Line) Kitajima Branch Line Wakayamakō Line 67.0 Wakayamakō Details of Namba area Subway: Yotsubashi Line (Y15) Subway: Midōsuji Line (M20) Subway: Sennichimae Line (S16) Kintetsu Namba Line (Osaka Namba) Hanshin Namba Line (Osaka Namba) Namba Subway: Sakaisuji Line Subway: Daikokuchō Imamiyaenisu Hankai Tramway: Ebisuchō Hankai Line Osaka Loop Line, Kansai Main Line (Yamatoji Line) Shin-Imamiya /Hankai: Minami-Kasumichō Subway: Midōsuji Line (M22) Subway: Dōbutsuen-mae Subway: Sakaisuji Line (K19) HaginochayaHankai: Imaike Tengachaya Nankai Line (left)/Koya Line (right)

The Nankai Main Line (南海本線, Nankai Honsen) is one of the two main railway lines of Japanese private railway company Nankai Electric Railway, together with Kōya Line. The route is from Namba Station in south downtown of Osaka to Wakayamashi Station in Wakayama via Sakai, Izumiōtsu, Kishiwada, Kaizuka, Izumisano, Sennan, Hannan and Misaki municipalities. The proper name is with the company's name, "the Nankai Main Line", not simply "the Main Line" often seen in other Japanese private railways. Lines of the Nankai Main Lane and the connecting lines excluded the Kōya Line and the Airport Line are named generically "the Nankai Line (南海線, Nankai Sen)". The line is shown with a pictogram of waves, or distinguished with blue from conifer or green Kōya Line.

Route data

• Line length: 64.2 km (39.9 mi)
• Track: quadruple from Namba to Suminoe (to Kishinosato-Tamade, eastern two tracks are for Kōya Line exclusively), double from Suminoe to Wakayamashi

Express and rapid service

Nankai and Kintetsu are the only two private railway operators in Kansai that offer charged Limited Express trains.

Limited Express Southern (特急サザン, Tokkyū "Sazan") (So)

Limited express trains named "Southern" are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi or Wakayamakō. They are operated with 8-car formations and 4 cars of 8 are charged for seat reservation. Trains to and from Wakayamakō connect to Nankai Ferry services to and from the Shikoku region.

Airport Limited Express Rapi:t (空港特急ラピート, Kūkō Tokkyū "Rapīto") (R)

Airport limited express trains named "Rapi:t" are operated between Namba and Kansai Airport and exclusively with 50000 series 6-car formations. All cars are charged for seat reservation. Rapi:t α trains stop at only stations marked with S, and Rapi:t β trains at stations marked with S and S*. They have been operated since Kansai International Airport opened in 1994.

Express (急行Kyūkō) (Ex)

Express trains are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi or Wakayamakō before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on weekdays and in morning on Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, and pass Haruki Station. They are operated with 6 or 8-car formations. The fourth car of 8-car trains for Namba is only for women in the morning until arriving at Tengachaya by 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.

Before November 26, 2005, operated all day, two per hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Airport Express (空港急行, Kūkō Kyūkō) (AE)

Airport express trains are operated between Namba and Kansai Airport all day and stop at Haruki. 4 trains are operated per direction per hour from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. They are operated with 6 or 8-car formations. The fourth car of 8-car trains for Namba is only for women in the morning until arriving at Tengachaya by 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.

Sub Express (区間急行, Kukan Kyūkō) (SbE)

Sub express trains are operated between Namba and Hagurazaki, Misakikoen or Wakayamashi in the morning, evening, and night. They stop at airport express stations between Namba and Izumisano, and every station between Izumisano and Wakayamashi. Namba-bound trains are operated every morning and weekday rush hours in the evening.

Semi-Express (準急, Junkyū) (SE)

Semi-express trains are operated from Hagurazaki or Haruki to Namba only on weekday mornings.

Local (普通, Futsū) (L)

Local trains are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi all day. They also return to Namba at Hagurazaki, Tarui, Misakikōen or Kansai Airport in the rush hours and midnight. Only 1 northbound train is operated from Wakayamashi to Hagurazaki in the midnight. Trains pass Imamiyaebisu and Haginochaya stations due to absence of platforms on the tracks of the Nankai Line. Those stations are served by local trains of the Kōya Line.

In Japanese railway operation, "Futsū" (literally "ordinary, normal") and "Kakueki Teisha" (literally "train that stops at every station", "Kakutei" for short) are used interchangeably for trains that stop at every station. On the Nankai Railway alone, however, the two words are used for different classes of train. The former is for Locals of Nankai Main Line that do not stop at the above two stations, while the latter is for Kōya Line trains that do stop there, true to the meaning of the Japanese name of the service class.

Stations

• S: Trains stop.
• π: Rapi:t α trains pass, β trains stop.
• s: Trains stop in the off-peak hours from January 1 until 3 every year.
• ↑: one direction
• Wakayamadaigakumae became one of the Southern stations on October 18, 2014.^[1]

Rolling stock

50000 series EMU on a rapi:t limited express service

12000 series EMU on a Southern limited express service bound for Wakayamakō

• 9000 series exclusively for Southern (non-reserved car)
• 8300 series (from Autumn 2015) exclusively for Southern (non-reserved car)
• 8000 series exclusively for Southern (non-reserved car)
• 7100 series exclusively for Southern (non-reserved car)
• 7000 series (until October 2015)
• 3000 series
• 2000 series
• 1000 series
• 10000 series exclusively for Southern (reserved car)
• 12000 series exclusively for Southern (reserved car)
• 50000 series exclusively for rapi:t

History

One of the oldest private railway lines still existing, the 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) gauge Namba - Yamatogawa (since closed) section was opened in 1885 by Hankai Railway (阪堺鉄道, Hankai Tetsudō) (separate from the present-day Hankai Tramway).^[2] The line was extended to Sakai in 1888, and the Namba - Sumiyoshitaisha section was duplicated in 1892.

In 1897 the then separate Nankai Railway opened the Sakai - Sano (present-day Izumisano) section as 1067mm gauge, with the Namba - Sano section regauged to match, and the Sumiyoshitaisha - Sano section duplicated the same year. The following year the Hankai Co. merged with Nankai Railway, and the line was extended to Wakayama. The present line to Wakayamashi was completed in 1903, and in 1906 the first dining car on a private railway in Japan was introduced on the Wakayama express.

The duplication of the line extended to Hamaderakoen in 1907, Kaizuka in 1911, Takako in 1915 and to Wakayama in 1922.

Electrification at 600 VDC began in 1907 on the section from Namba to Hamaderakōen, and was completed in 1911. The voltage was increased to 1500 VDC in 1973.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia