Hankyu Arashiyama Line

The line was promoted not by Hankyu but by the Shin-Keihan Railway, a subsidiary of the Keihan Electric Railway, which took over a railway licence originally held by the Kyoto Electric Light Company (Kyoto Dentō). That licence, covering a route between Matsuo village in Kadono County and Kaiinji village in Otokuni County, had been granted to Kyoto Dentō on 13 May 1924, and the construction right was transferred to the Shin-Keihan Railway on 13 October 1927.

Shin-Keihan opened the whole line, from Katsura to Arashiyama, on 9 November 1928, building it as a double-tracked route; Arashiyama Station was laid out on a generous scale with six platform faces and five tracks. Ridership, however, fell well short of expectations. On 15 September 1930 the Shin-Keihan Railway was absorbed into the Keihan Electric Railway, and around the same time, with passenger numbers slumping, the line was switched to single-track operation using just one side of the double track, the other set of rails being left in place.

Wartime consolidation then brought the line into the Hankyu fold. On 1 October 1943 the Keihan Electric Railway merged with the Hanshin Kyūkō Electric Railway to form Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu — the company later known as Hankyu — which thereafter owned the line. In January 1944, as the Pacific War turned against Japan and metal grew scarce, one set of the line's rails was physically removed under the metal-requisition programme, leaving the single track that survives today; the embankments and catenary masts, however, are still built to double-track width, and some bridge abutments and girders from the original second track remain.

After the war the line settled into the compact branch operation recognisable today. The intermediate station Matsuo-jinja-mae was renamed Matsuo on 1 January 1948, and on 13 March 1950 passing loops were installed at the two intermediate stations, Kami-Katsura and Matsuo, restoring the ability to cross trains on the single-track line. Around 1965 the last through local trains that had run from the Kyoto Main Line at Kawaramachi to Arashiyama ceased operating, and the branch increasingly ran only its own internal shuttle services.

For much of the post-war era the line's main link to the wider network was a seasonal excursion express from Umeda (now Osaka-umeda). Reconstruction work at Katsura in the autumn of 1982 forced this Umeda–Arashiyama express to be suspended and replaced for a time by an Umeda–Katsura working, and a rearrangement of Katsura's track layout in June 1984 moved the Arashiyama Line's platforms. From the autumn of 1992 the excursion express was given the nickname “Sagano Express,” which was restyled the following spring; the service made its final run on 26 November 2000.

In the twenty-first century the line has been steadily modernised. On 2 April 2009 four-car sets of 6300 series stock — refurbished former Kyoto Line limited-express cars — entered service, and on 21 December 2013 Matsuo Station was renamed Matsuo-taisha and station numbering was introduced across the line. Refurbished four-car 8300 series trains began running on 14 April 2026, and Hankyu has announced that one-man (driver-only) operation is to begin on the Arashiyama Line in the spring of 2027. Today the line normally runs only short shuttle locals — about six round trips an hour at the morning and evening peaks and about four an hour at midday, usually in four-car formations — swelling to six-car trains and extra services on holiday peaks and on the day of the Daimonji bonfires.

• 192413 May: a railway licence for the route (Matsuo village, Kadono County – Kaiinji village, Otokuni County) is granted to the Kyoto Electric Light Company (Kyoto Dentō).
• 192713 October: the railway construction right is transferred (with approval) to the Shin-Keihan Railway.
• 19289 November: the Shin-Keihan Railway opens the Katsura–Arashiyama line, built as a double-tracked route.
• 193015 September: with the Shin-Keihan Railway's merger into the Keihan Electric Railway the line passes to Keihan; around this time, as ridership slumps, it switches to single-track operation using one side of the double track.
• 19431 October: with the Keihan Electric Railway's merger into the Hanshin Kyūkō Electric Railway, the line becomes part of Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (later Hankyu).
• 19449 January: under the wartime metal-requisition programme one set of rails is removed, leaving the line single-tracked to this day.
• 19481 January: Matsuo-jinja-mae Station is renamed Matsuo.
• 195013 March: passing loops are installed at Kami-Katsura and Matsuo, the two intermediate stations.
• 1965Around this year the last through local trains from the Kyoto Main Line (Kawaramachi–Arashiyama) cease running.
• 1992Autumn: the Umeda–Arashiyama seasonal excursion express is nicknamed 'Sagano Express' (restyled the following spring).
• 200026 November: the 'Sagano Express' seasonal express makes its final run.
• 20092 April: refurbished four-car 6300 series sets (former Kyoto Line limited-express stock) enter service.
• 201321 December: Matsuo Station is renamed Matsuo-taisha and station numbering is introduced across the line.
• 202614 April: refurbished four-car 8300 series sets enter service.
• 2027Spring (planned): one-man (driver-only) operation is to begin on the line.