Maizuru Line

The corridor had been planned by the Hankaku Railway and the Kyoto Railway, but with the Russo-Japanese War looming the government decided to build it itself to speed construction. The section from Fukuchiyama through Ayabe to Shin-Maizuru (today's Higashi-Maizuru), together with a branch, opened on 3 November 1904 as a state-built line and was at once leased to the Hankaku Railway to operate; the Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru portion was recorded as 16.4 miles, about 26.4 km. (English-language sources have rendered the operator's name as "Bantsuru Railway"; the Japanese sources give 阪鶴鉄道, Hankaku Railway, which is followed here.) The English Wikipedia notes the line opened in the autumn of 1904 to move troops and materiel to the naval base during the war, which had begun that February.

The Hankaku Railway was nationalised on 1 August 1907. When the government railways' line-naming scheme was introduced on 12 October 1909, the route from Kanzaki (now Amagasaki) through Fukuchiyama to Shin-Maizuru became part of the Hankaku Line. The present name dates from 1 March 1912, when the Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru section, together with the short stretch to the Maizuru waterfront, was separated out and renamed the Maizuru Line. The line's measurements were converted from miles to metric units on 1 April 1930, fixing the Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru distance at 26.4 km.

Several branches once fed the line. A short line from Maizuru (now Nishi-Maizuru) to the Maizuru waterfront, opened with the original railway as a military line, carried passengers between 1913 and 1924 under the name Umi-Maizuru; renamed the Maizuru Port Line, it survived as a freight branch until it closed on 14 March 1985. From Shin-Maizuru, the Naka-Maizuru Line opened on 21 July 1919 and ran to Naka-Maizuru; remembered for moving soldiers off to war and repatriates home, it was abolished on 1 November 1972. A separate freight spur from Higashi-Maizuru to Higashi-Maizuru Port operated from 1930 until 1941.

The line's stations and names shifted over the decades. Shin-Maizuru was renamed Higashi-Maizuru on 1 June 1939, and Maizuru became Nishi-Maizuru on 1 April 1944. With the founding of Japanese National Railways (JNR) the line passed to the new public corporation on 1 June 1949. Two intermediate stations were added in the post-war years: Magura, which began on 1 September 1951 when the former Nakasuji signal station was upgraded, and Fuchigaki, which opened on 29 March 1960. In October 1972 the last steam locomotives to run on a national railway line in Kyoto Prefecture worked over the San'in Main Line via the Maizuru Line and the Miyazu Line, using Class 9600 engines based at Nishi-Maizuru.

At the breakup and privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987, the Maizuru Line was inherited by JR West, while Japan Freight Railway (JR Freight) took on freight operation over the Umezako–Higashi-Maizuru section. The area around Higashi-Maizuru Station was elevated in 1996, and after electrification work begun in 1997 the whole Ayabe–Higashi-Maizuru line was electrified on 2 October 1999. The same day the limited express "Maizuru" began running between Kyoto and Higashi-Maizuru, reversing direction at Ayabe; ridership rose steadily after electrification before easing slightly in recent years.

In its modern form the Maizuru Line carries the "Maizuru" limited expresses to and from Kyoto alongside roughly hourly local trains, most of which run through from Fukuchiyama or Ayabe and now stop at every station. IC cards such as ICOCA became usable at Ayabe, Nishi-Maizuru and Higashi-Maizuru from 13 March 2021, the same timetable revision that eliminated the line's remaining rapid services and returned it to local and limited-express trains only. From 18 March 2023, 125 series electric multiple units entered service across the line. The traffic is concentrated on Higashi-Maizuru and Nishi-Maizuru, the principal stations of the city, while the intermediate stops see lighter use; the average number of passengers passing a point on the line has hovered around three thousand a day in recent years.

• 19043 November: the state-built Fukuchiyama–Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru line (today's Higashi-Maizuru) and a branch open and are leased to the Hankaku Railway; Ayabe, Umezako, Maizuru (now Nishi-Maizuru) and Shin-Maizuru stations open on what is now the Maizuru Line (Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru 16.4 mi ≈ 26.4 km).
• 19071 August: the Hankaku Railway is nationalised under the Railway Nationalization Act.
• 190912 October: with the government railways' line-naming scheme, the Kanzaki (now Amagasaki)–Fukuchiyama–Shin-Maizuru route becomes part of the Hankaku Line.
• 19121 March: the Ayabe–Shin-Maizuru section (with the line to the Maizuru waterfront) is separated from the Hankaku Line and renamed the Maizuru Line.
• 191310 April: the waterfront freight depot is renamed Umi-Maizuru and passenger service begins on the Maizuru–Umi-Maizuru branch.
• 191921 July: the Naka-Maizuru Line branch (Shin-Maizuru–Naka-Maizuru, 2.1 mi ≈ 3.4 km) opens, with Tomon (later Kitasui) and Naka-Maizuru stations.
• 192412 April: passenger service on the Maizuru–Umi-Maizuru branch is discontinued.
• 19391 June: Shin-Maizuru Station is renamed Higashi-Maizuru (and Shin-Maizuru Port becomes Higashi-Maizuru Port).
• 19441 April: Maizuru Station is renamed Nishi-Maizuru.
• 19491 June: on the founding of Japanese National Railways (JNR), the line passes to the new public corporation.
• 19511 September: the Nakasuji signal station is upgraded to Magura Station.
• 196029 March: Fuchigaki Station opens.
• 1972October–November: the last steam locomotives on a national railway line in Kyoto Prefecture run via the Maizuru and Miyazu lines (Class 9600); on 1 November the Naka-Maizuru Line (3.4 km) is abolished, closing Kitasui and Naka-Maizuru.
• 198514 March: the Maizuru Port Line (Nishi-Maizuru–Maizuru Port, 1.8 km) is abolished and Maizuru Port Station closes, ending around 80 years of the waterfront freight branch.
• 19871 April: at the breakup and privatisation of JNR, JR West takes over the line and JR Freight becomes the freight operator over Umezako–Higashi-Maizuru; freight on Ayabe–Umezako is abolished.
• 199613 July: the area around Higashi-Maizuru Station is elevated.
• 19992 October: the Ayabe–Higashi-Maizuru line is electrified and the limited express "Maizuru" begins running between Kyoto and Higashi-Maizuru.
• 202113 March: IC cards (ICOCA) become usable at Ayabe, Nishi-Maizuru and Higashi-Maizuru; the timetable revision eliminates the line's remaining rapid services, leaving local and limited-express trains only.
• 202318 March: 125 series electric multiple units enter service across the Maizuru Line.