Keisei Chiba Line

The entire line opened in one step on 17 July 1921, between Tsudanuma and Chiba, as an electrified double-track railway. It was built to carry passengers to Chiba, the prefectural capital, and visitors to the shore of Tokyo Bay. The track was laid to 1,372 mm gauge, and several of its stations were added over the following years. In 1931 the stations at Makuhari, Inage and Chiba were renamed Keisei-Makuhari, Keisei-Inage and Keisei-Chiba.

In February 1945 the line's legal basis shifted from the Tramways Act to the Local Railway Act, and on 7 July 1945 the Keisei Chiba station building was destroyed in the air raid on Chiba. From 1942 to 1951 one station carried names tied to an imperial-university engineering faculty — the stop known today as Midoridai passed through the names Hama-kaigan, Teidai-kōgakubu-mae, Kōgakubu-mae and Kurosuna before settling on Midoridai in 1971.

On 10 October 1959 the line was regauged from 1,372 mm to 1,435 mm standard gauge, in step with the conversion of the Keisei Main Line. Around the city of Chiba the alignment was also rebuilt: the Shin-Chiba–Keisei-Chiba section was relocated in 1958, raised onto a viaduct that was completed for single-track running in 1966 and double-tracked in 1967, and a new station, Kokutetsu-Chiba-Ekimae (today's Keisei-Chiba), opened in December 1967.

An early through-service with the Shin-Keisei Line ran only briefly in 1955. On 1 April 1992 reciprocal through-operation began with the Chiba Kyūkō Electric Railway extending beyond Chiba-Chūō — the line that is today Keisei's own Chihara Line — and on 10 December 2006 through-running with the Shin-Keisei Line resumed on a lasting basis. (The Shin-Keisei Line was absorbed by Keisei and renamed the Keisei Matsudo Line in April 2025.) Keisei-Chiba Station was renamed Chiba-Chūō in 1987, and Keisei-Makuharihongō Station opened in 1991.

A landslide caused by heavy rain from the remnants of a typhoon suspended the whole line in September 2010, and services were halted again after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, with through-running to the Shin-Keisei Line interrupted by the rolling blackouts that followed before being partly restored that June. Four-car operation was discontinued in a December 2018 timetable revision and six-car trains became standard, though four-car running was reinstated in 2022. The line links Chiba with the wider Keisei network at Keisei-Tsudanuma, with through-services to Matsudo and Keisei-Ueno, and with the Chihara Line at Chiba-Chūō.

10 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.

• Chiba-Chuo千葉中央
• Keisei Chiba京成千葉
• Keisei Inage京成稲毛
• Keisei Makuhari京成幕張
• Keisei Makuhari-Hongo京成幕張本郷
• Keisei Tsudanuma京成津田沼
• Kemigawa検見川
• Midoridaiみどり台
• Nishi-Nobuto西登戸
• Shin-Chiba新千葉

• 192117 July: the entire line opens between Tsudanuma and Chiba as an electrified, double-track railway built to 1,372 mm gauge.
• 1923Hama-kaigan Station (today's Midoridai) opens on 22 February, followed by Shin-Chiba Station on 24 July.
• 193118 November: a round of station renamings (including Makuhari to Keisei-Makuhari).
• 1945The line's legal basis shifts from the Tramways Act to the Local Railway Act (20 February); on 7 July the Keisei Chiba station building is destroyed in the air raid on Chiba.
• 1955A short-lived through-service with the Shin-Keisei Line runs from 21 April and is discontinued on 1 September.
• 1958The Shin-Chiba–Keisei-Chiba section is relocated (10 February) as part of land readjustment under Chiba's post-war reconstruction plan.
• 195910 October: the line is regauged from 1,372 mm to 1,435 mm standard gauge, in step with the Keisei Main Line's conversion.
• 196617 December: the new Shin-Chiba–Keisei-Chiba viaduct is completed for single-track running.
• 1967The Shin-Chiba–Keisei-Chiba viaduct is double-tracked (24 June) and the new Kokutetsu-Chiba-Ekimae Station (today's Keisei-Chiba) opens (1 December).
• 19711 October: Kurosuna Station is renamed Midoridai, the last in a chain of renamings of that stop.
• 19871 April: a round of station renamings, including Keisei-Chiba to Chiba-Chūō.
• 19917 August: Keisei-Makuharihongō Station opens.
• 19921 April: reciprocal through-operation begins with the Chiba Kyūkō Electric Railway (today's Keisei Chihara Line), which connects at Chiba-Chūō.
• 200610 December: through-running with the Shin-Keisei Line resumes on a lasting basis.
• 2011Services are halted after the Great East Japan Earthquake (11 March); Shin-Keisei through-running is suspended by rolling blackouts (14 March) and partly restored on 27 June.
• 20188 December: four-car train operation is discontinued in a timetable revision, with six-car trains becoming standard (four-car running was reinstated in 2022).