Second Phase Line

The route takes its name from the order in which Kagoshima's street tramway was built. After the Kagoshima Electric Tramway (鹿児島電気軌道) had opened its first urban section — the present First Phase Line — in 1914, this branch toward the railway station was constructed as the next stage, the "second phase" of the company's network in the city core. From Takamibaba, where it diverges from the First Phase Line, the line runs west, crosses the Kōtsuki River and reaches the forecourt of what is today Kagoshima-Chūō Station.

The line opened on 17 December 1915, when the Kagoshima Electric Tramway brought into service the section from Takamibaba to Take-eki-mae — the stop in front of the railway station, then named Take Station. With this opening the company's tracks reached the main-line railway terminus on the western side of the city, complementing the in-town First Phase route that had opened the year before.

Kagoshima City took the tramway into public ownership in the late 1920s. The line was transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局) on 1 July 1928, ending its existence as a private undertaking. A little over a month later, on 7 August 1928, the terminal stop Take-eki-mae was renamed Nishi-Kagoshima-eki-mae, following the railway station with which it shared a forecourt.

The municipal operator was then reorganised several times. It became the city Transport Section (交通課) on 26 January 1933, the city Transport Department (交通部) on 24 October 1944, and finally the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (鹿児島市交通局) on 1 October 1952, the name it still bears today. Through all of these changes the short line continued to carry the city's tram service toward the railway station.

The most recent change came in 2004, when the railway station was rebuilt for the new Kyūshū Shinkansen and renamed. On 13 March 2004 the tram's western terminus, Nishi-Kagoshima-eki-mae, was renamed Kagoshima-Chūō-eki-mae to match. Today the Second Phase Line is worked by Route 2 of the tram network at roughly seven-and-a-half-minute intervals; running through from the First Phase Line and on to the Tōsō Line, it links central Kagoshima with the city's principal railway gateway and remains, for its length, one of the busiest stretches of the century-old tram system.

• 191517 December: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway opens the line, from Takamibaba to Take-eki-mae (the stop in front of the then-named Take Station).
• 19281 July: the line is transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局), ending private operation.
• 19287 August: the Take-eki-mae stop is renamed Nishi-Kagoshima-eki-mae.
• 193326 January: the municipal operator is reorganised into the city Transport Section (交通課).
• 194424 October: the municipal operator is reorganised into the city Transport Department (交通部).
• 19521 October: the municipal operator is reorganised into the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (鹿児島市交通局), its present name.
• 200413 March: the Nishi-Kagoshima-eki-mae stop is renamed Kagoshima-Chūō-eki-mae, matching the railway station rebuilt for the Kyūshū Shinkansen.