Takashinohama Line

The line owes its existence to a piece of early-twentieth-century history. During the Russo-Japanese War a camp for Russian prisoners of war, covering about 43 hectares, was built on the coast at what is now the Takashinohama and Chiyoda districts of Takaishi. For a time after the peace the Imperial Japanese Army used the site as barracks, and in the mid-Taishō period the former barracks land was redeveloped as a residential district. The railway was laid to serve that new housing. Nankai Railway opened the first section, between Hagoromo and Kyarabashi, on 2 October 1918, and completed the line on 25 October 1919 when the Kyarabashi–Takashinohama section opened.

The line's corporate ownership changed twice in the 1940s amid the wartime and post-war reorganisation of Japan's private railways. On 1 June 1944 Nankai Railway merged with Kansai Kyūkō Railway to form Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu). Then, on 1 June 1947, the former Nankai Railway lines were separated off to a newly constituted Nankai Electric Railway, and the branch took its present name, the Nankai Takashinohama Line.

Several improvements followed over the second half of the twentieth century. The Kyarabashi–Takashinohama section was put on an elevated structure on 1 March 1970. On 12 November 1989 the line switched from single-car to two-car trains, and on 24 March 2001 it adopted one-person (driver-only) operation. Today only local shuttle trains run back and forth between Hagoromo and Takashinohama, with roughly three departures an hour during the daytime, worked by 2000 series electric cars; earlier the 2200 series and related stock were used.

In its later years the small branch acquired a distinctive promotion: from 8 October 2016 a 2230-series train wrapped in a "Running! Factory Night View" (Hashiru! Kōjō Yakei) livery, themed on the area's industrial night scenery, ran on the line until the wrap was withdrawn on 15 September 2020. Meanwhile a continuous grade-separation project was advancing along the roughly one-kilometre Hagoromo–Kyarabashi stretch. Rather than build temporary tracks, the operator chose to close the line entirely while the elevated structure was built, a decision that shortened the works from about five years to three because the surrounding area is residential and the narrow lineside streets left no room for temporary tracks or heavy plant.

As a result, the entire line — quoted at the time as 1.5 km — was suspended from 22 May 2021 and replaced by buses; the rail journey of about three minutes became roughly fifteen by road. With Hagoromo Station relocated as part of the works, the line was shortened by 0.1 km, to its present 1.4 km. The elevation works were completed and train services resumed on 6 April 2024, the replacement buses having run for the last time the previous day.

• 19182 October: Nankai Railway opens the first section, Hagoromo–Kyarabashi.
• 191925 October: the Kyarabashi–Takashinohama section opens, completing the line.
• 19441 June: Nankai Railway merges with Kansai Kyūkō Railway to form Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu).
• 19471 June: the former Nankai Railway lines are separated off to the newly formed Nankai Electric Railway; the branch becomes the Nankai Takashinohama Line.
• 19701 March: the Kyarabashi–Takashinohama section is elevated.
• 198912 November: operation changes from single-car to two-car trains.
• 200124 March: one-person (driver-only) operation begins.
• 20168 October: a 2230-series train in "Running! Factory Night View" wrapping enters service on the line.
• 202015 September: the "Running! Factory Night View" wrapped train is withdrawn.
• 202122 May: the whole line (then 1.5 km) is suspended for the elevation of Hagoromo Station and replaced by buses; the relocation of Hagoromo shortens the line by 0.1 km.
• 20246 April: the elevation works are completed and train services resume; the replacement buses ran for the last time the previous day. The line is now 1.4 km.