Keihan Ōtō Line

The line's name derives from its course along the east shore of the Kamo River, and the whole route was constructed beneath Kawabata Street as a subterranean continuation of the Keihan Main Line. Its opening in 1989 re-established a rail link between the Keihan Main Line and the Eizan Electric Railway at Demachiyanagi — a connection that had been broken when the Kyoto City streetcars ceased running in 1978, leaving the two networks unjoined for more than a decade.

The idea of a railway along this stretch was an old one. On 29 August 1924 Kyoto Electric Light, the predecessor of the Keifuku Electric Railway, acquired a licence to lay a local railway between Demachiyanagi and Sanjō, and the Keihan Electric Railway in turn set up an Ōtō Line Construction Preparation Committee on 10 April 1950. Realisation, however, was slow: decades passed before the project moved from paper toward construction.

The modern push came through a dedicated company. On 1 July 1972 Kamogawa Electric Railway was established to carry the scheme forward. The older Keifuku licence covering the Demachiyanagi–Sanjō section lapsed on 20 February 1974, and on 25 February 1974 Kamogawa Electric Railway acquired its own licence for a local railway over the same Demachiyanagi–Sanjō route, clearing the way for the line that would eventually be built.

After further preparation, a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ōtō Line construction works was held on 30 November 1984. As completion approached, the corporate arrangements were consolidated: on 1 April 1989 the Keihan Electric Railway merged with Kamogawa Electric Railway, bringing the project fully under Keihan's own control ahead of opening.

The Ōtō Line opened on 5 October 1989. The timetable revision that accompanied the opening had actually been put into effect ahead of time, on 27 September, and until noon on 5 October trains ran through the new line only as out-of-service (forwarding) workings before regular passenger service began. To help recover the line's construction cost and interest payments, reported at 69 billion yen, a surcharge of 60 yen is added to ordinary fares for journeys that use the line; by the end of fiscal 2016 the recovery rate stood at 31.8%, most of it met through that surcharge.

Two later changes refined the line. On 19 October 2008 the line's Marutamachi Station was renamed Jingū-Marutamachi, because the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line had a station of the same name. On 5 December 2015 the K-ATS automatic train stop system entered service on the Ōtō Line. Today the line's three stations — Sanjō, Jingū-Marutamachi and Demachiyanagi — anchor a short but heavily used route, with Sanjō offering transfers to the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tōzai Line and Demachiyanagi connecting to the Eizan Electric Railway's Eizan Main Line.

• 192429 August: Kyoto Electric Light (predecessor of the Keifuku Electric Railway) acquires a licence to lay a local railway between Demachiyanagi and Sanjō.
• 195010 April: the Keihan Electric Railway establishes the Ōtō Line Construction Preparation Committee.
• 19721 July: Kamogawa Electric Railway is established to carry the project forward.
• 197420 February: the Keifuku Electric Railway's Demachiyanagi–Sanjō local-railway licence lapses; 25 February: Kamogawa Electric Railway acquires its own licence for the Demachiyanagi–Sanjō line.
• 198430 November: a groundbreaking ceremony is held for the Ōtō Line construction works.
• 19891 April: the Keihan Electric Railway merges with Kamogawa Electric Railway.
• 19895 October: the Ōtō Line opens; the accompanying timetable revision had taken effect ahead of time on 27 September, and trains ran through the line only as forwarding (out-of-service) workings until noon on 5 October.
• 200819 October: the line's Marutamachi Station is renamed Jingū-Marutamachi, as the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line has a station of the same name.
• 20155 December: the K-ATS automatic train stop system enters service on the Ōtō Line.