Jōmō Line

The line grew out of railway-building plans of the 1920s. A construction licence for the first-phase section between Maebashi and Kiryū — together with a projected line from Ōgo via Isesaki to Honjō — was granted on 7 June 1924. The name "Jōmō" was carried over to the company established in 1926, the Jōmō Electric Railway, which built and has operated the line ever since.

The whole line opened at once on 10 November 1928, electrified from the start at 1,500 V DC. Eighteen stations opened on that first day, and the route was complete between Chūō-Maebashi and Nishi-Kiryū from the outset rather than being extended segment by segment. The projected Ōgo–Isesaki–Honjō branch was never built, and its licence was formally allowed to lapse in 1934.

For its first decades the Jōmō Line was a busy local artery, and it gained through connections with the larger Tōbu Railway network. When Tōbu's Kiryū Line opened in 1932, through trains began running between Ōta and Chūō-Maebashi; that through service was discontinued in 1935. After the Second World War the link was briefly revived in another form, with Tōbu running a weekend "Akagi Yakō" overnight train from Asakusa to Chūō-Maebashi from 1953 and a through express from 1956, services that were withdrawn by the early 1960s. The line itself was severely damaged by Typhoon Kathleen in September 1947, which closed it entirely before it was reopened in stages, with full service restored on 2 November 1947.

From the 1960s the rapid spread of car ownership in the rural districts along the route eroded ridership outside the student commute. Freight operations were wound down and ceased on 1 November 1986, leaving the line a passenger-only operation. Like many small regional railways it turned to second-hand rolling stock from larger operators: its 700-series cars are former Keio 3000-series trains, and its 800-series cars are former Tokyo Metro 03-series trains. Remarkably, the railway also keeps one of its original 1928 cars, Deha 100-type No. 101, on its active roster; well maintained, it still earns its keep on charter and special services and on occasional ballast-distribution freight runs.

The line continued to add and rename stations to serve its communities — among them Higashi-Shinkawa in 1993 and the hospital-access station opened in 1994 — and modernised its operations, introducing one-man (driver-only) operation on 1 June 1999. In recent years it has worked toward contactless ticketing, and on 15 January 2026 it introduced the regional-cooperation IC card "nolbé." Today the Jōmō Line survives as one of Japan's little-changed rural electric interurbans, a 25.4-kilometre single-track line still threading the small towns south of Mount Akagi much as it did when it opened in 1928.

• 19247 June: a construction licence is granted for the first-phase Maebashi–Kiryū section (and a projected Ōgo–Isesaki–Honjō line).
• 1926The Jōmō Electric Railway company is established, inheriting the 'Jōmō' name.
• 192810 November: the entire Chūō-Maebashi–Nishi-Kiryū line opens at once, electrified at 1,500 V DC; eighteen stations open on the first day.
• 193218 March: Tōbu Railway's Kiryū Line opens and through trains begin running between Ōta and Chūō-Maebashi.
• 193318 December: Akasaka Station opens (one of the stations added after the original eighteen).
• 193424 November: the construction licence for the unbuilt Ōgo–Honjō branch is allowed to lapse.
• 19351 December: Tōbu discontinues the through service between Ōta and Chūō-Maebashi.
• 193911 July: Kitahara Station opens (a station added after the original eighteen).
• 1947September: Typhoon Kathleen closes the whole line; service is restored in stages, with full operation resuming on 2 November.
• 195622 December: Tōbu begins running a through express from Asakusa to Chūō-Maebashi (after the weekend 'Akagi Yakō' overnight train started in 1953); these postwar through services end by the early 1960s.
• 19861 November: freight operations cease, leaving the line passenger-only.
• 199319 October: Higashi-Shinkawa Station opens (a station added in 1993).
• 19991 June: one-man (driver-only) operation begins.
• 202615 January: the line introduces the regional-cooperation IC card 'nolbé'.