Nissei Line

The line was built to serve Hankyu Nissei New Town, a large residential development spanning the city of Kawanishi and the town of Inagawa that was laid out by the life insurer Nippon Life (Nihon Seimei) and the developer Shinsei Wafudosan; the line's name derives from that of the insurer. To thread the hilly terrain between Yamashita and the new town, the railway was engineered to a high standard for a suburban branch: about 34 percent of its length runs in tunnel, most of the remainder is carried on elevated structure, and the line has no level crossings at all.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on 20 May 1976, and the Yamashita–Nissei-chūō section opened on 12 December 1978. From the outset the Nissei Line was operated as an extension of the Myōken Line rather than as a self-contained shuttle, with most trains running through at Yamashita to reach Kawanishi-Nōseguchi, the interchange with the Hankyu Takarazuka Line.

Like the rest of the Nose network, the Nissei Line was first electrified at the company's original 600 V DC. On 26 March 1995 the catenary voltage was raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC, bringing the line into line with the higher-capacity standard used by the Hankyu trains that work through onto Noseden tracks.

A timetable revision on 16 November 1997 raised the line's maximum speed from 60 km/h to 80 km/h and introduced the "Nissei Express" (日生エクスプレス), a peak-hour limited express that runs through via the Myōken Line and the Hankyu Takarazuka Line between Nissei-chūō and Osaka-Umeda; regular service began the following day. One-person (driver-only) operation was phased in over several years from the same revision, extending to weekday daytime and weekend services in 1997, to weekday evenings on 4 June 2000, and to all-day operation of every train except the Nissei Express on 6 May 2003.

Station numbering was introduced across the line on 21 December 2013. A timetable revision on 18 March 2017 withdrew the Saturday "Nissei Rapid" service that had run on days without the Nissei Express, and a further revision on 17 December 2022 made through-running to the Myōken Line the basic pattern, confining in-line shuttle trains to the early morning and late night and abolishing the separate Saturday timetable. Outside the weekday peaks served by the Nissei Express, the line today is worked largely by one-person trains that connect the Nissei New Town to the Hankyu network at Kawanishi-Nōseguchi.

• 197620 May: a groundbreaking ceremony is held for the Nissei Line.
• 197812 December: the Yamashita–Nissei-chūō section opens, completing the 2.6 km line.
• 199526 March: the catenary voltage is raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC.
• 199716 November: a timetable revision raises the maximum speed from 60 to 80 km/h and establishes the 'Nissei Express' limited express (service from the next day); one-person operation begins on weekday daytime and weekend/holiday services.
• 20004 June: one-person operation is extended to weekday-evening services.
• 20036 May: all-day one-person operation begins for every train except the Nissei Express.
• 201321 December: station numbering is introduced at all stations on the line.
• 201718 March: a timetable revision abolishes the Saturday 'Nissei Rapid' service that had run on days without the Nissei Express.
• 202217 December: a timetable revision makes through-running to the Myōken Line the basic pattern, limits in-line shuttle trains to early morning and late night, and abolishes the separate Saturday timetable.