Iga Line

The railway began as the Iga Tramway (伊賀軌道), promoted by Tanaka Zensuke and other Ueno-machi businessmen who applied for a licence in October 1912. The first section, between the Ueno Station connecting point and Ueno-machi Station, opened on 8 August 1916. The following year, on 20 December 1917, the company renamed itself Iga Railway, and in October 1919 the whole line was reclassified from a tramway under the Tramway Act to a railway under the Local Railway Act.

The line was extended south in stages, reaching its full original length on 18 July 1922 when the section from Ueno-machi to Nabari (later Nishi-Nabari) opened, completing a 26-kilometre route. On 25 May 1926 the Iga-Ueno–Nabari section was electrified — at 600 V DC according to English-language sources — and at the end of that year, on 19 December 1926, the company was renamed Iga Electric Railway.

The line then passed through a series of corporate mergers that drew it into the Kintetsu family. On 31 March 1929 the Osaka Electric Railway absorbed Iga Electric Railway and named the route the Iga Line; from 1 April 1929 the Sangu Express Electric Railway leased and operated it, taking full ownership on 30 September 1931. In 1930 the opening of the Sangu Express main line (today's Kintetsu Osaka Line) brought Iga-Kambe Station into being, giving the Iga Line its present southern junction. After further wartime consolidation — Sangu Express merging with Osaka Electric Railway to form Kansai Express Railway in March 1941 — the operator finally became the Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu) on 1 June 1944.

Under Kintetsu the line was progressively rationalised. On 1 October 1964 the 9.7-kilometre Iga-Kambe–Nishi-Nabari section was abandoned, reducing the line roughly to its modern form; freight service ended on 1 October 1973; single-track automatic signalling and ATS were introduced on 14 July 1977; and one-person operation began on 1 October 1994. The ninja theming for which the line is now known dates from this era too: from October 1997 Kintetsu ran "ninja trains" painted with illustrations designed by Leiji Matsumoto, a nod to Iga as ninja country.

By the mid-2000s the loss-making line faced an uncertain future. In December 2005 Kintetsu signalled a review of how the line was run, and a survival plan was agreed under a vertical-separation (jōge-bunri) model: Kintetsu would keep the track and station buildings and handle maintenance, while a new operating company, Iga Railway — 98 percent funded by Kintetsu and 2 percent by Iga City — would run the trains. The new Iga Railway was established on 26 March 2007, and operations were transferred to it on 1 October 2007, with Kintetsu retaining Category 3 ownership of the infrastructure. New rolling stock followed: from 24 December 2009 the line introduced 200 series two-car trains rebuilt from former Tokyu 1000 series cars, with the first set wrapped as the Matsumoto-designed ninja train; five sets had arrived by fiscal 2011, replacing the older fleet.

The ownership structure changed once more in 2017. Following a March 2015 agreement among Kintetsu, Iga City and Iga Railway, the line shifted to a public-ownership, private-operation model on 1 April 2017: Kintetsu transferred the track and other rail facilities, and Iga Railway transferred its rolling stock, to Iga City, which thereby replaced Kintetsu as the line's Category 3 operator while Iga Railway continued to run the trains. In more recent years the long-closed Shijukyu Station was reopened on 17 March 2018, about 300 metres north of its former site; the "Ninja Line" nickname was formally adopted on 22 February 2019; the line celebrated the centenary of its full opening at Ueno-shi Station on 18 July 2022; and from 9 March 2024 the ICOCA card and other nationwide interoperable IC cards became usable across the whole line.

• 1912October: businessman Tanaka Zensuke and others of Ueno-machi apply for a licence to build the Iga Tramway.
• 19168 August: the Iga Tramway opens its first section, between the Ueno Station connecting point and Ueno-machi Station.
• 191720 December: the Iga Tramway is renamed the Iga Railway.
• 19191 October: the whole line is reclassified from a tramway under the Tramway Act to a railway under the Local Railway Act.
• 192218 July: the Ueno-machi–Nabari (later Nishi-Nabari) section opens, completing the original 26 km line.
• 192625 May: the Iga-Ueno–Nabari section is electrified (at 600 V DC per English-language sources); on 19 December the company is renamed Iga Electric Railway.
• 192931 March: the Osaka Electric Railway merges Iga Electric Railway and names the route the Iga Line; from 1 April the Sangu Express Electric Railway leases and operates it.
• 193010 October: Iga-Kambe Station opens with the Sangu Express main line (now the Kintetsu Osaka Line); Nabari Station is renamed Nishi-Nabari.
• 193130 September: the Osaka Electric Railway transfers the Iga Line to the Sangu Express Electric Railway.
• 19441 June: the operator, by then the Kansai Express Railway, is renamed the Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu).
• 19641 October: the 9.7 km Iga-Kambe–Nishi-Nabari section is abandoned, leaving roughly the modern line.
• 1997October: Kintetsu begins running "ninja trains" painted with illustrations designed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, reflecting Iga as ninja country.
• 200726 March: the new Iga Railway is established; on 1 October operation transfers to it under a vertical-separation model, while Kintetsu retains Category 3 ownership of the infrastructure.
• 200924 December: 200 series two-car trains, rebuilt from former Tokyu 1000 series cars, enter service; the first set is wrapped as the Matsumoto-designed ninja train.
• 20171 April: following a March 2015 agreement, the line shifts to a public-ownership / private-operation model — Iga City takes over the track and rolling stock and replaces Kintetsu as the Category 3 operator, while Iga Railway keeps running the trains.
• 20249 March: the ICOCA card and other nationwide interoperable IC cards become usable across the whole line.