EN日本語

Chichibu Railway line3 min read

Chichibu Main Line

秩父本線

The Chichibu Main Line (秩父本線, Chichibu-honsen) is a 71.7-kilometre railway line in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by the private railway company Chichibu Railway. It runs from Hanyū through Gyōda and Kumagaya to Yorii, west of which it enters the mountains and continues via Nagatoro and Chichibu to its terminus at Mitsumineguchi, in the city of Chichibu.

The line is single-track throughout, laid to 1,067 mm gauge and electrified at 1,500 V DC, with 39 stations including freight stations (37 of them serving passengers). It is the only passenger line operated by the Chichibu Railway, and although its formal name is the Chichibu Main Line it is widely known to locals simply as the "Chichibu Line" or "Chichibu Railway." The line is notable both for its limestone freight traffic and for the "SL Paleo Express," a steam-hauled tourist train.

SaitamaFukayaHonjoOganoTokigawaOgawaSakado20 km
Route of the Chichibu Main Line · Saitama · Boundaries: MLIT / GSI / Japan Post

History

The line's oldest section was built not by the Chichibu Railway but by its predecessor, the Jōbu Railway (上武鉄道), which opened the stretch between Kumagaya and Yorii on 7 October 1901 using steam haulage. Construction then pushed westward in stages: the Yorii–Hagure section opened on 2 April 1903, and on 14 September 1911 the line was extended from Hagure via what is now Nagatoro Station to a first-generation Chichibu Station. The company was renamed the Chichibu Railway in 1916, and on 27 October 1914 the line had already been carried through to the present site of Chichibu Station, with the earlier terminus renamed.

Under the Chichibu Railway name the line continued to grow. The section from Chichibu to Kagemori opened on 27 September 1917, and the separate freight-only Bukō Line from Kagemori to Bukō opened in 1918. Meanwhile a second company, the Hokubu Railway (北武鉄道), built the Hanyū–Kumagaya section, opening Hanyū to Gyōda (now Gyōdashi) on 1 April 1921 and reaching Kumagaya the following year. The Chichibu Railway absorbed the Hokubu Railway in 1922, joining the two sections of the route into a single line under one operator.

Electrification came in 1922. The Kumagaya–Hodosan (now Nagatoro) section was energised at 1,200 V DC on 20 January 1922 and the Chichibu–Kagemori section the next day; by the end of the year the whole stretch from Kumagaya to Kagemori was electric. The final extension came on 15 March 1930, when the mountain section from Kagemori to Mitsumineguchi opened; it was electrified from the outset. The supply voltage was later raised from 1,200 V to 1,500 V across the whole line on 1 February 1952, the standard the line still uses today.

Freight, above all the carriage of limestone, became the financial backbone of the railway. High-grade limestone quarried from Mount Bukō in Chichibu and from Mount Kanō in Gunma Prefecture was hauled down the line in large volumes, and through the 1970s freight accounted for roughly 60 to 70 percent of the Chichibu Railway's rail income, keeping the company in profit. Cement was once carried as well, and a connecting track with the national railway inside Kumagaya Station let wagons run through between the two networks. Although cement shipments have since ceased entirely, limestone traffic continues, and the line's freight tonnage remains among the highest of any private railway in Japan.

The line's fortunes shifted in the 1980s. Falling demand for cement, and the closure in October 1986 of the Tōbu Railway freight yards to which Chichibu Railway freight trains had run through, moved much of the traffic to road haulage and tipped the company into deficit. On the passenger side, a limited-stop "Chichibuji" express began on 1 October 1969, through services with the Seibu Chichibu Line started on 1 April 1989, and one-man operation was introduced on 1 December 1999. The railway launched the "SL Paleo Express," a steam-hauled excursion train using Class C58 locomotive No. 363, on 15 March 1988.

Today the Chichibu Main Line carries local passenger trains, the "Chichibuji" express, weekend through trains from the Seibu Chichibu Line, the Paleo Express and limestone freight. Despite its mountain section, the line has no tunnels anywhere along its 71.7-kilometre length. PASMO and nationally interoperable IC cards were introduced across all passenger stations on 12 March 2022, and station numbering using the prefix "CR" followed in September that year.

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 19017 October: the Jōbu Railway opens the first section, Kumagaya–Yorii, using steam haulage.
  • 19032 April: the line is extended from Yorii to Hagure.
  • 191114 September: the line is extended from Hagure via what is now Nagatoro Station to a first-generation Chichibu Station.
  • 191427 October: the line is carried through to the present site of Chichibu Station, and the earlier terminus is renamed.
  • 1916The Jōbu Railway is renamed the Chichibu Railway.
  • 191727 September: the Chichibu–Kagemori section opens.
  • 19211 April: the Hokubu Railway opens Hanyū–Gyōda (now Gyōdashi).
  • 192220 January: electrification at 1,200 V DC begins (Kumagaya–Hodosan) and covers the whole Kumagaya–Kagemori section within the year; the same year the Chichibu Railway absorbs the Hokubu Railway, uniting the route.
  • 193015 March: the mountain section from Kagemori to Mitsumineguchi opens, electrified from the outset, completing the line.
  • 19521 February: the supply voltage is raised from 1,200 V to 1,500 V DC across the whole line.
  • 19691 October: the limited-stop "Chichibuji" express service begins.
  • 1986October: the Tōbu Railway freight yards to which Chichibu Railway freight trains ran through cease handling freight, and much of the traffic moves to road haulage.
  • 198815 March: the "SL Paleo Express" steam excursion train, hauled by Class C58 No. 363, begins running.
  • 19891 April: through services with the Seibu Chichibu Line begin.
  • 19991 December: one-man (driver-only) operation is introduced.
  • 202212 March: PASMO and nationally interoperable IC cards are introduced at all passenger stations; station numbering with the "CR" prefix follows in September.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

← All lines