Sōbu Line (Rapid)

Sōbu Line (Rapid)
Sōbu Line (Rapid)
	JO
	An E235 series EMU at Ichikawa Station
Overview
Locale	Tokyo, Chiba prefectures
Termini	Tokyo; Chiba;
Stations	10
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Daily ridership	693,998 (daily 2015)
History
Opened	1972
Technical
Line length	60.2 km (37.4 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph)
Route map
Route map

The Sōbu Line (Rapid) (Japanese: 総武快速線, romanized: Sōbu-kaisoku-sen) is a railway service on the Sōbu Main Line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Tokyo Station in Chūō, Tokyo with Chiba Station in Chūō-ku, Chiba via the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, and Narashino.

Services

Rapid services on the Sōbu Line are primarily operated between Tokyo and Chiba, although there are many through services onto the Yokosuka Line as well as some through services operated from the Yokosuka Line via Tokyo terminating at Tsudanuma. During weekday morning peak periods Tokyo-bound trains arrive once every 3.2 minutes; this is reduced to 10 Chiba-bound trains per hour during weekday evening peak periods. At other times there are approximately six trains per hour. There are many through services operated onto other lines.

For information on the Narita Express, Shiosai, and other limited express services, see their respective articles.

Sōbu Line (Rapid) trains travel through onto the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna, Zushi, and Kurihama. Trains also travel through beyond Chiba to as far as:

Kazusa-Ichinomiya on the Sotobō Line
Kimitsu on the Uchibō Line
Narita Airport via Narita on the Narita Line
Kashima-Jingū on the Kashima Line
Narutō on the Sōbu Main Line

Past services

Home Liner Chiba

Before 16 March 2019, there were five Home Liner Chiba commuter liner services that operated every weekday evening, four of which started from Tokyo and another which started at Shinjuku.

Stations served:

(Shinjuku – Akihabara) / Tokyo – Tsudanuma – Inage – Chiba

Limited Express Ayame

Commuter Rapid

Commuter Rapid services were abolished with the timetable revision on 12 March 2022.^[2] Prior to this they ran on weekday peak hours only, stopping at Tōkyō, Shin-Nihombashi, Bakurochō, Kinshichō, Funabashi, and Chiba.

Station list

For information on local services between Kinshichō and Chiba, see the Chūō-Sōbu Line article.
All rapid trains stop at all stations listed below.

Station No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers	Location
Station No.	Station	Japanese	Between stations	Total	Transfers	Location
Through services to JO Yokosuka Line for Yokohama, Ofuna, Kamakura, Zushi and Kurihama
TYOJO19	Tokyo	東京	-	0.0	JO Yokosuka Line (Mostly through service) Tōhoku, Yamagata, Akita and Hokkaido Shinkansen Jōetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen JC Chūō Line (JC01) JY Yamanote Line (JY01) JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (JK26) JT Tōkaidō Line (JT01) JU Ueno–Tokyo Line JE Keiyō Line (JE01) Tōkaidō Shinkansen M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-17) T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (Otemachi: T-09)	Chiyoda	Tokyo
JO20	Shin-Nihombashi	新日本橋	1.2	1.2	G Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Mitsukoshimae: G-12) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Mitsukoshimae: Z-09)	Chūō
JO21	Bakurochō	馬喰町	1.1	2.3	A Toei Asakusa Line (Higashi-nihombashi: A-15) S Toei Shinjuku Line (Bakuroyokoyama: S-09)	Chūō
JO22	Kinshichō	錦糸町	2.5	4.8	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB22) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-13)	Sumida
JO23	Shin-Koiwa	新小岩	5.2	10.0	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB25)	Katsushika
JO24	Ichikawa	市川	5.4	15.4	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB27)	Ichikawa	Chiba
JO25	Funabashi	船橋	7.8	23.2	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB31) TD Tobu Urban Park Line (TD35) KS Keisei Main Line (Keisei Funabashi: KS22)	Funabashi
JO26	Tsudanuma	津田沼	3.5	26.7	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB33) SL Shin-Keisei Line (Shin-Tsudanuma: SL23)	Narashino
JO27	Inage	稲毛	9.2	35.9	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB37)	Inage-ku, Chiba
JO28	Chiba	千葉	3.3	39.2	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB39) ■ Sōbu Main Line (for Chōshi) ■ Narita Line ■ Sotobō Line ■ Uchibō Line Chiba Urban Monorail: Line 1, Line 2 KS Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Chiba: KS59)	Chūō-ku, Chiba
Through services to: ■ Sotobō Line for Kazusa-Ichinomiya ■ Uchibō Line for Kimitsu ■ Narita Line for Narita and Narita Airport Kashima Line for Kashima-Jingū via the Narita Line ■ Sōbu Main Line for Narutō

Note: Special Rapid service was discontinued on 4 March 2017.^[3]

Rolling stock

JNR 113 series train at Kinshichō Station in 1978

Rapid service

E217 series (from December 1994)
E235-1000 series (from 21 December 2020)^[4]

Limited express service

Former rolling stock

113 series (from October 1980 to December 1999)

History

On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced with stations being assigned station numbers between JO19 and JO28.^[5]^[6] Numbers increase towards in the eastbound direction towards Chiba.

References

^ "平成27年大都市交通センサス首都圏報告書" (PDF). P.92. 国土交通省.
^ "JR East March 2022 Timetable Revision" (PDF). JR East (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ 2017年3月ダイヤ改正について [Timetable revision in March 2017] (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
^ Daisuke, Kousaku (4 September 2018). JR東日本E235系、横須賀線・総武快速線へ車両新造 - 2020年度落成 [JR East E235 series for Yokosuka line and Sobu Rapid Line to be completed in 2020]. MyNavi Corporation (in Japanese). Japan: MyNavi Corporation. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
^ "⾸都圏エリアへ「駅ナンバリング」を導⼊します" [Introduce “station numbering” to the Tokyo metropolitan area] (PDF). jreast.co.jp (in Japanese). 6 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
^ Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (7 April 2016). "JA・JK・JT・AKB…JR東日本、首都圏で駅ナンバリングなど導入へ" [JA, JK, JT, AKB … JR East to introduce station numbering in the Tokyo metropolitan area]. Response Automotive Media (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.

External links

Stations of the Sōbu Line (Rapid) (unofficial) (in Japanese)

[ridership-1] "平成27年大都市交通センサス首都圏報告書" (PDF). P.92. 国土交通省.

[2] "JR East March 2022 Timetable Revision" (PDF). JR East (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 January 2024.

[3] 2017年3月ダイヤ改正について [Timetable revision in March 2017] (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 18 January 2017.

[mynavicorporation20180904-4] Daisuke, Kousaku (4 September 2018). JR東日本E235系、横須賀線・総武快速線へ車両新造 - 2020年度落成 [JR East E235 series for Yokosuka line and Sobu Rapid Line to be completed in 2020]. MyNavi Corporation (in Japanese). Japan: MyNavi Corporation. Retrieved 5 September 2018.

[5] "⾸都圏エリアへ「駅ナンバリング」を導⼊します" [Introduce “station numbering” to the Tokyo metropolitan area] (PDF). jreast.co.jp (in Japanese). 6 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.

[6] Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (7 April 2016). "JA・JK・JT・AKB…JR東日本、首都圏で駅ナンバリングなど導入へ" [JA, JK, JT, AKB … JR East to introduce station numbering in the Tokyo metropolitan area]. Response Automotive Media (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.

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