History
The line had its origins in a railway licence granted on 18 June 1923 to the Arima Electric Railway, for a route from Kobe to the town of Arima. On 1 June 1924 the venture was renamed the Kobe Arima Electric Railway, and the operating company itself, the Kobe Arima Electric Railway Company, was formally established on 27 March 1926. Its purpose was to drive a line from the city up to Arima Onsen, a long-established hot-spring resort tucked into the mountains behind Kobe.
Building such a railway meant confronting the steep flank of the Rokkō range that walls off Arima from the coastal city, and the route was engineered to cope with severe mountain gradients. All of the company's rolling stock is designed to handle steep gradients. The whole line opened on 28 November 1928, running from Minatogawa to a terminus then called Dentetsu-Arima, the present-day Arima Onsen Station. Twenty days later, on 18 December 1928, the company opened the Sanda Line from Karato (today's Arimaguchi) to Sanda.
In the decades after its opening the line acquired and lost intermediate stations; several new stations were opened from 1964 onward to serve the new towns built along the route. A station called Shin-yu Yaba, between Hiyodorigoe and Suzurandai, was abolished on 15 February 1939, and Shin-Arima station, between Arimaguchi and Arima Onsen, was later suspended and finally abolished on 28 February 2013.
On 9 January 1947 the Kobe Arima Electric Railway absorbed the Miki Electric Railway and was renamed the Shin'yū-Miki Electric Railway, and on 30 April 1949 it took the name Kobe Electric Railway. On 1 April 1988 its Japanese name was shortened from Kobe Denki Tetsudō (神戸電気鉄道) to the present Kobe Dentetsu (神戸電鉄).
The line was progressively upgraded to handle growing commuter traffic between Kobe and its expanding northern suburbs. The Suzurandai–Arimaguchi section was double-tracked in two stages in the mid-1960s: Suzurandai–Tanigami on 26 January 1965 and Tanigami–Arimaguchi on 1 March 1966.
On 17 January 1995 the Great Hanshin earthquake put the entire line out of service. Restoration proceeded in stages over the following months: the Suzurandai–Arimaguchi section reopened on 19 January, Suzurandai–Shintetsu-Nagata on 7 February, and the Arimaguchi–Arima Onsen section on 31 March; the Shintetsu-Nagata–Minatogawa section reopened on 22 June 1995, bringing the whole line back into operation.
At the city end all trains run through from Minatogawa onto the Shintetsu Kobe Kosoku Line to and from Shinkaichi, while at Arimaguchi nearly all services continue to or from Sanda on the Sanda Line. Direct trains to Arima Onsen run mainly in the morning and evening peaks; at other times a shuttle connects Arimaguchi and Arima Onsen.
Stations on this line
15 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.
Timeline
- 192318 June: a railway licence is granted to the Arima Electric Railway for a line from Kobe to the town of Arima.
- 19241 June: the venture is renamed the Kobe Arima Electric Railway.
- 192627 March: the Kobe Arima Electric Railway Company is formally established.
- 192828 November: the entire Arima Line opens from Minatogawa to Dentetsu-Arima (present-day Arima Onsen), 1,067 mm gauge, electrified at 1,500 V DC.
- 192818 December: the Sanda Line opens from Karato (present-day Arimaguchi) to Sanda.
- 193915 February: Shin-yu Yaba station, between Hiyodorigoe and Suzurandai, is abolished.
- 19479 January: the Kobe Arima Electric Railway absorbs the Miki Electric Railway and is renamed the Shin'yū-Miki Electric Railway.
- 194930 April: the company is renamed the Kobe Electric Railway.
- 196526 January: the Suzurandai–Tanigami section is double-tracked.
- 19661 March: the Tanigami–Arimaguchi section is double-tracked.
- 199517 January: the Great Hanshin earthquake puts the entire line out of service.
- 199519 January – 22 June: the line reopens in stages (Suzurandai–Arimaguchi on 19 January, Suzurandai–Shintetsu-Nagata on 7 February, Arimaguchi–Arima Onsen on 31 March), and the whole line is back in service when Shintetsu-Nagata–Minatogawa reopens on 22 June.
- 201328 February: the suspended Shin-Arima station, between Arimaguchi and Arima Onsen, is abolished.