Hankyu Corporation

Unlike the established Osaka–Kobe corridor already worked by Hanshin Electric Railway, the new tramway ran through outlying farmland with few passengers, so Kobayashi, its effective founder, set out to create his own traffic. Beginning at Ikeda, it bought cheap land along the route and sold detached houses in instalments using Japan's first housing loans, while at the Takarazuka terminus it opened the Takarazuka New Hot Springs leisure grounds in 1911 and in 1913 organised the Takarazuka Chorus Group — forerunner of the all-female Takarazuka Revue, which gave its first stage performance in 1914 and was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary company on 1 July 2025. In 1929 the company opened the Hankyu Department Store at Umeda, the world's first terminal department store built directly into a railway terminal, and in 1936 it formed a professional baseball club, forerunner of the Hankyu Braves, today's Orix Buffaloes. This diversified rail–housing–retail–entertainment formula, the "Kobayashi Ichizō model", strongly influenced the management of Japan's private railways and even of the privatised JR companies.

On 4 February 1918 the company was renamed Hanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (阪神急行電鉄, "Hanshin Express Electric Railway"), and the enduring abbreviation "Hankyū" came into use from this name. On 16 July 1920 it opened the Kobe Main Line from Jūsō to Kobe (later Kamitsutsui) and the Itami Line, entering the Osaka–Kobe market in competition with Hanshin; on 1 April 1936 the Kobe Main Line was carried into a new terminal at what is now Kobe-Sannomiya. On 1 October 1943, under the wartime Land Transportation Business Coordination Act, the company merged with Keihan Electric Railway to form Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (京阪神急行電鉄). When Keihan was separated again on 1 December 1949, taking the Keihan Main, Katano, Uji, Keishin and Ishiyama-Sakamoto lines, the former Shinkeihan Line and its branches stayed and became the Kyoto Main Line, fixing the present three-trunk-line structure.

Postwar growth filled out that skeleton. In 1959 the Umeda–Jūsō approach was expanded to three parallel double-track lines and the Kyoto Main Line's terminal moved from Tenjimbashi to Umeda; in 1963 the line was extended from Ōmiya to Kawaramachi. In 1967 the Senriyama Line was extended to Kita-Senri and renamed the Senri Line, with Japan's first full-scale automatic ticket gates installed at Kita-Senri Station, and through-running began with the Kobe Rapid Transit Railway and Sanyo Electric Railway in 1968 and with the Osaka Municipal Subway Sakaisuji Line on 6 December 1969. On 1 April 1973 it adopted its present name, Hankyu Corporation. The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 17 January 1995 severely damaged the Kobe Main, Itami and Imazu (north) lines; the Kobe Main Line was restored over its full length on 12 June 1995, and Itami Station was rebuilt in 1998.

On 1 April 2005 the former Hankyu Corporation became the pure holding company Hankyu Holdings, and its railway, real-estate, leisure and retail businesses passed to a new Hankyu Corporation — a legal entity incorporated on 7 December 1989 as Act Systems and converted into the demerger-preparation company in 2004. On 1 October 2006, upon the management integration with Hanshin Electric Railway, Hankyu Holdings was renamed Hankyu Hanshin Holdings. It marked 100 years since founding on 19 October 2007 and 100 years of operation on 10 March 2010.

Today Hankyu operates 143.6 operating kilometres, including its Category-2 Kobe Kosoku Line section, and carries an average of about 1.77 million riders per day. Three trunk systems radiate from Osaka-umeda — the Kobe, Takarazuka and Kyoto main lines, with the Itami, Imazu, Kōyō, Minoo, Senri and Arashiyama branch lines — making Hankyu the only major private railway in Kansai with its own lines in all three Keihanshin cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Trains run through onto the Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line from the Kyoto Main and Senri lines, onto the Nose Electric Railway from the Takarazuka Main Line, and over the Kobe Kosoku Line to Shinkaichi. Every car is finished in the signature "Hankyu maroon" livery, and on 21 July 2024 the company introduced "PRiVACE", its first reserved-seat service, on Kyoto Line limited express services together with the new 2300 series.

• 190719 October: the founding general meeting of the Minoo Arima Electric Tramway, forerunner of Hankyu, was held and the company was established; its promoters centred on Kitahama Bank president Kiyochika Iwashita and Ichizō Kobayashi.
• 191010 March: the lines from Umeda to Takarazuka and from Ishibashi to Minoo — today's Takarazuka Main Line and Minoo Line — opened.
• 19131 July: the Takarazuka Chorus Group, today's all-female Takarazuka Revue, was organised; it began staging revue performances at the Takarazuka New Hot Springs hall on 1 April 1914.
• 19184 February: the company was renamed Hanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (Hanshin Express Electric Railway); the abbreviation "Hankyū" came into use from this name.
• 192016 July: the Kobe Main Line from Jūsō to Kobe (later Kamitsutsui) and the Itami Line opened, taking the company into the Osaka–Kobe intercity market.
• 192915 April: the Hankyu Department Store — the world's first terminal department store, built directly into the Umeda terminal — opened in the new Umeda Hankyu Building.
• 193623 January: the Hankyu professional baseball club, forerunner of the Hankyu Braves (today's Orix Buffaloes), was formed; 1 April: the Kobe Main Line was completed through to its new Kobe terminal, present-day Kobe-Sannomiya.
• 19431 October: under the Land Transportation Business Coordination Act, the company merged with Keihan Electric Railway and was renamed Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (Keihanshin Express Electric Railway).
• 19491 December: the Keihan Main, Katano, Uji, Keishin and Ishiyama-Sakamoto lines were separated to re-establish Keihan Electric Railway; the Shinkeihan Line remained with the company and was renamed the Kyoto Main Line, fixing the present three-trunk-line network.
• 19696 December: the Kyoto Main Line and the Senri Line began reciprocal through services with the Osaka Municipal Subway Sakaisuji Line.
• 19731 April: Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu adopted its present name, Hankyu Corporation (Hankyū Dentetsu).
• 199517 January: the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake inflicted heavy damage, above all on the Kobe Main, Itami and Imazu (north) lines; the Kobe Main Line was restored over its full length on 12 June.
• 20051 April: the former Hankyu Corporation became the holding company Hankyu Holdings; the railway and other businesses were succeeded by the new Hankyu Corporation, a legal entity incorporated on 7 December 1989 as Act Systems.
• 20061 October: upon the management integration with Hanshin Electric Railway, parent company Hankyu Holdings was renamed Hankyu Hanshin Holdings.