Tōsō Line

Like the rest of the system, the corridor belongs to a tram network whose roots lie with the Kagoshima Electric Tramway, the private company that introduced electric street trams to the city in 1912, before the undertaking passed into municipal hands later in the 1920s. The Tōsō Line itself, however, is a much later addition: unlike the pre-war city-centre routes, it was built by the public operator after the Second World War, as Kagoshima extended its tram network outward from the rebuilt station area.

The line opened in stages over the 1950s. The Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau first opened the section from Nishi-Kagoshima-Ekimae to Nakasu-dōri on 1 October 1950, establishing the line's connection to the city's main station. It was extended from Nakasu-dōri to Tōsō on 1 June 1952, the stop from which the line takes its name.

Construction then pushed on toward the university. On 29 March 1957 the line was extended from Tōsō to Daigaku-dōri — the present-day Kōgakubu-mae ("Faculty of Engineering") stop — and at the same time the Tōsō stop was renamed Kanda. Finally, on 20 December 1959, the last section from Kōgakubu-mae to Kōrimoto opened, completing the line through to its junction with the Taniyama Line and giving the route its present 2.7-kilometre length.

Several of the line's stops were renamed in later decades, often reflecting changes to the institutions they served. The Senbai-Kōsha-mae ("Monopoly Corporation") stop became Tabako-Sangyō-mae ("Japan Tobacco") on 15 April 1985, following the privatisation of Japan's tobacco monopoly. When the Kyūshū Shinkansen brought a new name to the city's principal station in the 2000s, the Nishi-Kagoshima-Ekimae stop was renamed Kagoshima-Chūō-Ekimae on 13 March 2004. A further round of renaming on 1 May 2015 turned Tabako-Sangyō-mae into Shiritsu-Byōin-mae ("Municipal Hospital") and Kanda into Kanda (Kōtsūkyoku-mae), marking the transport bureau's own headquarters.

Today the Tōsō Line carries Route 2 of the Kagoshima City Tram (Kagoshima-Ekimae – Kagoshima-Chūō-Ekimae – Kōrimoto), which runs at roughly seven-and-a-half-minute intervals. Linking the forecourt of Kagoshima-Chūō Station — the city's Shinkansen gateway — with the university and hospital districts before joining the Taniyama Line at Kōrimoto, the line remains a busy part of a tram network that has served Kagoshima for over a century.

• 19501 October: the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau opens the first section of the line, Nishi-Kagoshima-Ekimae–Nakasu-dōri.
• 19521 June: the line is extended from Nakasu-dōri to Tōsō, the stop from which it takes its name.
• 195729 March: the line is extended from Tōsō to Daigaku-dōri (the present-day Kōgakubu-mae stop); the Tōsō stop is renamed Kanda.
• 195920 December: the final section from Kōgakubu-mae to Kōrimoto opens, completing the line and connecting it to the Taniyama Line.
• 198515 April: the Senbai-Kōsha-mae stop is renamed Tabako-Sangyō-mae (Japan Tobacco), following the privatisation of the tobacco monopoly.
• 200413 March: the Nishi-Kagoshima-Ekimae stop is renamed Kagoshima-Chūō-Ekimae.
• 20151 May: the Tabako-Sangyō-mae stop is renamed Shiritsu-Byōin-mae (Municipal Hospital) and the Kanda stop becomes Kanda (Kōtsūkyoku-mae).