Nankai Main Line

Nankai Main Line

Nankai 1000 series EMU on local service
Operation
Operator(s) Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Technical
Line length 64.2 km (39.9 mi)
Track gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Old gauge Namba—Sakai (Azumabashi): 2 ft 9 in (838 mm)
(1885—1897)
Electrification 1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed 110 km/h (68 mph)

The Nankai Main Line (南海本線 Nankai Honsen) is one of the two main railway lines of Japanese private railway company Nankai Electric Railway, together with Kōya Line. The route is from Namba Station in south downtown of Osaka to Wakayamashi Station in Wakayama via Sakai, Izumiōtsu, Kishiwada, Kaizuka, Izumisano, Sennan, Hannan and Misaki municipalities. The proper name is with the company's name, "the Nankai Main Line", not simply "the Main Line" often seen in other Japanese private railways. Lines of the Nankai Main Lane and the connecting lines excluded the Kōya Line and the Airport Line are named generically "the Nankai Line (南海線 Nankai Sen)". The line is shown with a pictogram of waves, or distinguished with blue from conifer or green Kōya Line.

Route data

Express and rapid service

Nankai and Kintetsu are the only two operators that offers charged Limited Express trains in private railways in Kansai.

Limited Express Southern (特急サザン Tokkyū "Sazan") (So)
Limited express trains named "Southern" are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi or Wakayamakō. They are operated with 8-car formations and 4 cars of 8 are charged for seat reservation. Trains to and from Wakayamakō connect to Nankai Ferry services to and from the Shikoku region.
Airport Limited Express Rapi:t (空港特急ラピート Kūkō Tokkyū "Rapīto") (R)
Airport limited express trains named "Rapi:t" are operated between Namba and Kansai Airport and exclusively with 50000 series 6-car formations. All cars are charged for seat reservation. Rapi:t α trains stop at only stations marked with S, and Rapi:t β trains at stations marked with S and S*. They have been operated since Kansai International Airport opened in 1994.
Express (急行Kyūkō) (Ex)
Express trains are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi or Wakayamakō before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on weekdays and in morning on Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, and pass Haruki Station. They are operated with 6 or 8-car formations. The fourth car of 8-car trains for Namba is only for women in the morning until arriving at Tengachaya by 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.
Before November 26, 2005, operated all day, two per hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Airport Express (空港急行 Kūkō Kyūkō) (AE)
Airport express trains are operated between Namba and Kansai Airport all day and stop at Haruki. 4 trains are operated per direction per hour from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. They are operated with 6 or 8-car formations. The fourth car of 8-car trains for Namba is only for women in the morning until arriving at Tengachaya by 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.
Sub Express (区間急行 Kukan Kyūkō) (SbE)
Sub express trains are operated between Namba and Hagurazaki, Misakikoen or Wakayamashi in the morning, evening, and night. They stop at airport express stations between Namba and Izumisano, and every station between Izumisano and Wakayamashi. Namba-bound trains are operated every morning and weekday rush hours in the evening.
Semi-Express (準急 Junkū) (SE)
Semi-express trains are operated from Hagurazaki or Haruki to Namba only on weekday mornings.
Local (普通 Futsū) (L)
Local trains are operated between Namba and Wakayamashi all day. They also return to Namba at Hagurazaki, Tarui, Misakikōen or Kansai Airport in the rush hours and midnight. Only 1 northbound train is operated from Wakayamashi to Hagurazaki in the midnight. Trains pass Imamiyaebisu and Haginochaya stations due to absence of platforms on the tracks of the Nankai Line. Those stations are served by local trains of the Kōya Line.
In Japanese railway operation, "Futsū" (literally "ordinary, normal") and "Kakueki Teisha" (literally "train that stops at every station", "Kakutei" for short) are used interchangeably for trains that stop at every station. On the Nankai Railway alone, however, the two words are used for different classes of train. The former is for Locals of Nankai Main Line that do not stop at the above two stations, while the latter is for Kōya Line trains that do stop there, true to the meaning of the Japanese name of the service class.

Stations

Number Station L SE SbE AE Ex So R Location
Nankai Main Line
NK01 Namba S ↑ S S S S S Chūō-ku, Osaka Osaka Prefecture
NK02 Imamiyaebisu Naniwa-ku, Osaka
NK03 Shin-Imamiya S ↑ S S S S S Nishinari-ku, Osaka
NK04 Haginochaya
NK05 Tengachaya S ↑ S S S S S
NK06 Kishinosato-Tamade S
NK07 Kohama S Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka
NK08 Sumiyoshitaisha S s s
NK09 Suminoe S Suminoe-ku, Osaka
NK10 Shichidō S Sakai-ku, Sakai
NK11 Sakai S ↑ S S S S π
NK12 Minato S ↑
NK13 Ishizugawa S ↑ Nishi-ku, Sakai
NK14 Suwanomori S ↑
NK15 Hamaderakōen S ↑
NK16 Hagoromo S ↑ S S S Takaishi
NK17 Takaishi S ↑
NK18 Kita-Sukematsu S ↑ Izumiōtsu
NK19 Matsunohama S ↑
NK20 Izumiōtsu S ↑ S S S
NK21 Tadaoka S ↑ Tadaoka
NK22 Haruki S ↑ S S Kishiwada
NK23 Izumi-Ōmiya S ↑
NK24 Kishiwada S ↑ S S S S π
NK25 Takojizō S S^
NK26 Kaizuka S ↑ S S S Kaizuka
NK27 Nishikinohama S ↑
NK28 Tsuruhara S ↑ Izumisano
NK29 Iharanosato S ↑  
NK30 Izumisano S ↑ S S S S S
Airport Line
NK31 Rinkū Town S S S Izumisano Osaka Prefecture
NK32 Kansai Airport S S S Tajiri
Nankai Main Line
NK33 Hagurazaki S ↑ S Izumisano Osaka Prefecture
NK34 Yoshiminosato S S Tajiri
NK35 Okadaura S S Sennan
NK36 Tarui S S
NK37 Ozaki S S S S Hannan
NK38 Tottorinoshō S S
NK39 Hakotsukuri S S
NK40 Tannowa S S Misaki
NK41 Misaki-kōen S S S S
NK42 Kyōshi S S
NK43 Wakayamadaigakumae
(Fujitodai)		 S S S S Wakayama Wakayama Prefecture
NK44 Kinokawa S S
NK45 Wakayamashi S S S S
Wakayamakō Line
NK45-1 Wakayamakō S S Wakayama Wakayama

Rolling stock

50000 series EMU on a rapi:t limited express service
12000 series EMU on a Southern limited express service bound for Wakayamakō

History

One of the oldest private railway lines still existing, the 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) gauge Namba - Yamatogawa (since closed) section was opened in 1885 by Hankai Railway (阪堺鉄道 Hankai Tetsudō) (separate from the present-day Hankai Tramway).[2] The line was extended to Sakai in 1888, and the Namba - Sumiyoshitaisha section was duplicated in 1892.

In 1897 the then separate Nankai Railway opened the Sakai - Sano (present-day Izumisano) section as 1067mm gauge, with the Namba - Sano section regauged to match, and the Sumiyoshitaisha - Sano section duplicated the same year. The following year the Hankai Co. merged with Nankai Railway, and the line was extended to Wakayama. The present line to Wakayamashi was completed in 1903, and in 1906 the first dining car on a private railway in Japan was introduced on the Wakayama express.

The duplication of the line extended to Hamaderakoen in 1907, Kaizuka in 1911, Takako in 1915 and to Wakayama in 1922.

Electrification at 600 VDC began in 1907 on the section from Namba to Hamaderakōen, and was completed in 1911. The voltage was increased to 1500 VDC in 1973.

Former connecting lines

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

  1. ↑ 平成26年10月18日、南海本線・空港線のダイヤを変更します。 [Diagram revision of the Nankai Main Line and the Airport Line on October 18, 2014] (PDF) (in Japanese). Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. September 2, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Industrial Railway Record - February 1970 - A Japanese Private Railway
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