Tenri Line

The line began not as part of Kintetsu but as a humble light railway. On 7 February 1915 the Tenri Light Railway opened a 762 mm narrow-gauge, steam-worked line between Shin-Hōryūji Station (later Kintetsu-Hōryūji) on the Kōriyama plain and Tenri, linking the temple town of Hōryūji with the religious centre at Tenri. A further station, Andō, was added on 10 March 1916. In these earliest years the railway was a self-contained narrow-gauge feeder with no physical connection to the larger electric networks then spreading across the Nara basin.

The line's character changed when it was absorbed by a much larger company. On 1 January 1921 the Osaka Electric Railway acquired the railway and designated the whole route the Tenri Line. That same period saw Osaka Electric Railway open its Kashihara Line (then called the Unebi Line), and on 1 April 1922 the operator opened a new junction station, Hirahata, splitting the original route in two: the Shin-Hōryūji–Hirahata portion became the Hōryūji Line, while Hirahata–Tenri remained the Tenri Line and was connected to the Unebi Line at Hirahata. The Hirahata–Tenri section was at the same time regauged from 762 mm to standard gauge and electrified at 600 V DC, transforming it from a steam light railway into a modern electric line.

Through a wave of wartime railway consolidation the line passed into the hands of Kintetsu. The successive renamings of the Hōryūji-line terminus track the corporate changes: the station opened as Shin-Hōryūji, became Daiki Hōryūji in 1928, Kankyū Hōryūji in 1941, and finally Kintetsu-Hōryūji on 1 June 1944, by which date the railway had become part of the newly formed Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu). The little 762 mm Hōryūji Line did not survive the war: the Kintetsu-Hōryūji–Hirahata section was suspended on 11 February 1945 and formally abolished on 1 April 1952, leaving only the standard-gauge Hirahata–Tenri line in service.

Post-war investment steadily modernised the surviving line. Tenri Station was relocated on 30 October 1964, shortening the line by 0.2 km, and automatic train stop (ATS) entered service on 10 October 1968. On 21 September 1969 the overhead voltage was raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC, bringing the line into line with the rest of the Kintetsu standard-gauge network. A clearance-enlargement project was completed in 1973, after which the Tenri Line and Kashihara Line platforms at Hirahata were separated, and on 27 June 1988 the entire line was double-tracked.

In its modern form the Tenri Line is fully integrated into Kintetsu's Nara-area operations. Both local and express trains stop at every station, and through services run to Kyoto via the Kashihara and Kyoto lines, so that the short branch functions as an extension of a much larger network rather than an isolated spur. Operational systems were modernised over the following decades — the KOSMOS train-control system began operating on 20 December 1992 — and the line was brought into the region's IC-card era, accepting Surutto KANSAI cards from 2001 and PiTaPa and ICOCA from 1 April 2007.

Although only a few kilometres long, the Tenri Line retains a distinctive role tied to its pilgrim traffic. Its trains and platforms are sized to absorb the surges of worshippers travelling to Tenrikyo's headquarters during major religious events, a function that has shaped the line since its 1915 origins. That special character was underlined on 16 March 2026, when Kintetsu introduced a single weekday-morning limited express departing Tenri for Ōsaka-Namba, giving the line a direct premium link to central Osaka for the first time.

• 19157 February: the Tenri Light Railway opens a 762 mm narrow-gauge, steam-worked line from Shin-Hōryūji (later Kintetsu-Hōryūji) to Tenri.
• 191610 March: Andō Station opens on the line.
• 19211 January: the Osaka Electric Railway acquires the railway and designates the whole route the Tenri Line.
• 19221 April: Hirahata Station opens; the route is split into the Hōryūji Line (Shin-Hōryūji–Hirahata) and the Tenri Line (Hirahata–Tenri), the latter connected to the Unebi (now Kashihara) Line; Hirahata–Tenri is regauged to 1,435 mm and electrified at 600 V DC.
• 19441 June: the Hōryūji-line terminus is renamed Kintetsu-Hōryūji, by which time the railway has become part of the newly formed Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu).
• 194511 February: the Hōryūji Line (Kintetsu-Hōryūji–Hirahata) is suspended.
• 19521 April: the suspended Hōryūji Line is formally abolished, leaving only the standard-gauge Hirahata–Tenri line.
• 196430 October: Tenri Station is relocated, shortening the line by 0.2 km.
• 196810 October: automatic train stop (ATS) enters service.
• 196921 September: the overhead voltage is raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC.
• 1973A clearance-enlargement project is completed; the Tenri Line and Kashihara Line platforms at Hirahata are subsequently separated.
• 198827 June: the entire line is double-tracked.
• 199220 December: the KOSMOS train-operation management system begins operating.
• 20071 April: PiTaPa and ICOCA IC cards begin to be accepted at all stations (Surutto KANSAI cards had been accepted since 2001).
• 202616 March: Kintetsu introduces a single weekday-morning limited express from Tenri to Ōsaka-Namba, the line's first direct premium link to central Osaka.