Rokkō Cable Line

The line was built by the Rokkō-Goe Arima Railway (六甲越有馬鉄道) and opened on 10 March 1932, running from Dobashi Station — today's Rokkō-Cable-Shita — by way of an intermediate station at Shimizu to Rokkōsan Station, now Rokkō-Sanjō. As first built the route was divided into two cable sections, and passengers had to change cars at Shimizu in the middle. The company had originally been licensed for a far more ambitious mountain railway from Mikage toward Arima Onsen using several short cable sections, but after Hanshin acquired the firm in 1928 the heavy cost and technical difficulty of that scheme led to its replacement by a bus-and-funicular plan, and the through-railway licence finally lapsed in 1937.

The line was caught up in the Great Hanshin Flood of July 1938: torrential rain on 5 July put the whole route out of action, and debris flows destroyed the Dobashi and Shimizu stations. A provisional service resumed on 4 August. The disaster reshaped the railway — the lower station was rebuilt in the mountain-hut style it still wears today, and from February 1939 the intermediate station was abolished so that each cable could be worked as a single two-car section rather than the original four-car arrangement.

During the Second World War the line was designated a non-essential line (不要不急線) and suspended on 11 February 1944, though unlike many such lines its track was left in place. A rival aerial ropeway run by Hankyū interests had opened alongside the cable car in 1931, and the two camps had fought hard for the mountain's traffic; both were designated non-essential and shut in 1944, but while the ropeway was dismantled, the cable car's track proved difficult to remove and survived to the end of the war. Services resumed on 25 August 1945.

In the postwar decades the line was steadily modernised and its ownership reshaped. Second-generation cars entered service in 1959. The lower terminus, Dobashi, was renamed Rokkō-Cable-Shita on 1 February 1973. On 29 October 1975 the Rokkō-Goe Arima Railway absorbed the Maya Funicular operator Maya Kōsaku Tetsudō and was renamed the Rokkō-Maya Railway (六甲摩耶鉄道). The line also drew imperial visitors: Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko rode it in 1968, and in 1981 Emperor Shōwa visited Rokkō-Sanjō, after which the station's rooftop viewing deck was renamed Tenrandai.

Natural disasters and corporate change marked the line's later history. The Great Hanshin earthquake of 17 January 1995 put it out of service until 21 July that year, and third-generation cars — including a distinctive open-sided observation vehicle — entered service on 27 March 1999. A landslide caused by Typhoon No. 18 closed the line on 16 September 2013; weeks later, on 1 October 2013, the Rokkō-Maya Railway merged with the Mount Rokkō leisure operator Hanshin Sōgō Leisure and the line passed to Rokkōsan Tourism (六甲山観光). It reopened on 25 January 2014 once the debris had been fully cleared.

On 1 April 2024 Rokkōsan Tourism was renamed Kobe Rokkō Railway, and the operation shifted to a vertical-separation arrangement: the cable-car assets were transferred to Hanshin Electric Railway, which became the line's Category-3 infrastructure holder, while Kobe Rokkō Railway took on running and equipment management as a Category-2 operator. Today the funicular climbs Mount Rokkō in about ten minutes at roughly twenty-minute intervals, connecting at the upper station with the Rokkōsan Bus and, beyond it, the Rokkō-Arima Ropeway toward Arima Onsen; its Art-Deco upper station, dating from the line's opening, is carefully preserved.

• 193210 March: the Rokkō-Goe Arima Railway opens the funicular from Dobashi (now Rokkō-Cable-Shita) via Shimizu to Rokkōsan (now Rokkō-Sanjō); the line is in two cable sections with a transfer at Shimizu.
• 19385 July: the Great Hanshin Flood puts the whole line out of action; Dobashi and Shimizu stations are destroyed by debris flows. A provisional service resumes on 4 August.
• 1939February: the intermediate Shimizu station is abolished and each cable is worked as a single two-car section instead of the original four-car arrangement.
• 194411 February: the line is suspended as a non-essential line (不要不急線); unlike many such lines, its track is left in place.
• 194525 August: services resume after the war.
• 1959Second-generation cars enter service.
• 196810 August: Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko ride the line.
• 19731 February: Dobashi Station is renamed Rokkō-Cable-Shita.
• 197529 October: the Rokkō-Goe Arima Railway absorbs the Maya Funicular operator Maya Kōsaku Tetsudō and is renamed the Rokkō-Maya Railway.
• 198125 May: Emperor Shōwa visits Rokkō-Sanjō Station; its rooftop observation deck is renamed Tenrandai.
• 199517 January: the Great Hanshin earthquake suspends the line; it reopens on 21 July.
• 199927 March: third-generation cars, including an open-sided observation car, enter service.
• 201316 September: a landslide from Typhoon No. 18 suspends the line. On 1 October the Rokkō-Maya Railway merges with Hanshin Sōgō Leisure and the line passes to Rokkōsan Tourism.
• 201425 January: the line reopens after the landslide debris is fully cleared.
• 20241 April: Rokkōsan Tourism is renamed Kobe Rokkō Railway; the cable-car assets pass to Hanshin Electric Railway (Category-3 holder) and Kobe Rokkō Railway becomes the Category-2 operator under a vertical-separation arrangement.