Hanshin Kobe Kosoku Line

The line grew out of post-war planning. In central Kobe the major private railways each terminated at their own separate stations without connecting to one another, and the city wished to speed up and increase the capacity of the urban transport that its tram network had carried. The Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway was conceived as a connecting railway joining the four electric railways serving the city — Keihanshin Express Electric Railway (now Hankyu), Hanshin, Sanyo and Kobe Electric Railway (now Kobe Dentetsu) — and was established on 2 October 1958 as a third-sector company in which Kobe City, the four railways and local businesses held the shares. From the outset it adopted a distinctive operating model: rather than owning rolling stock and crews itself, it built and managed only the track, electrical equipment and station facilities, and had the connecting railways run their own trains and staff over its lines.

Authority for the east–west connecting line had been applied for in 1949 and granted in 1952, and the licence for the north–south line was transferred from Kobe Electric Railway in 1965. Construction of the East–West Line began in 1962 and of the North–South Line in 1966. Both lines opened together on 7 April 1968, when the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway began operations; on the East–West Line, Keihanshin Express, Hanshin and Sanyo started through services, while Kobe Dentetsu began running onto the North–South Line. With the start of through-running, Sanyo's surviving street-running section east of Nishidai was abolished, and because Hanshin and Keihanshin Express were still electrified at 600 V, both railways raised their voltage to 1,500 V in the autumn of 1967 in preparation for the opening.

When the Railway Business Act took effect on 1 April 1987, replacing the older Local Railway Act, railway undertakings were divided into Category-1 operators that both own infrastructure and run trains, Category-2 operators that run trains over track they do not own, and Category-3 operators that own infrastructure only. The Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway had hoped to be licensed as a Category-1 operator, but the Ministry of Transport refused on the grounds that it borrowed both its vehicles and its crews. To preserve the existing arrangement, the company instead became a Category-3 operator while the four railways took Category-2 licences and entrusted the management of the track and stations back to it. The four railways applied for "Kōbe Kōsoku Line" as the common name of their Category-2 lines. Between Nishidai and Motomachi the line became the "Kōbe Kōsoku Line" of both Hanshin and Sanyo, and the new structure formally began on 1 April 1988.

The Great Hanshin earthquake of 17 January 1995 put the whole route out of service. Service was restored section by section over the following months: the stretch from Kōsoku-Kōbe to Motomachi reopened on 1 February, Shinkaichi to Kōsoku-Kōbe on 6 February, and Nishidai to Kōsoku-Nagata on 18 June, when the underground line on that section was completed. The whole line was open again on 13 August 1995 with the reopening of the Kōsoku-Nagata to Shinkaichi section, although trains at first passed Daikai without stopping; Daikai itself reopened on 17 January 1996, restoring service at every station.

In February 1998 a new through Limited Express service, the Chokutsū Tokkyū, began running between Hanshin's Umeda terminus and Sanyo-Himeji over the line, knitting the Hanshin and Sanyo networks into a single fast service across Kobe. A larger change came on 1 October 2010, when, as part of a reorganisation following the Hankyu–Hanshin merger, Sanyo gave up its Category-2 licence over the line and Hankyu abandoned its licence on the Shinkaichi–Nishidai section, ending the overlap between Category-2 operators except on the Hankyu–Hanshin shared stretch between Kōsoku-Kōbe and Shinkaichi. From that day the running of trains and the management of the stations on the Hanshin section passed to Hanshin, the public line name changed from "Tōzai Line" to each company's "Kōbe Kōsoku Line," and the station-name signs and other signage at five stations (Nishi-Motomachi, Kōsoku-Kōbe, Shinkaichi, Daikai and Kōsoku-Nagata) were changed to Hanshin's design.

Today the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway, like the Nishi-Osaka Rapid Railway on the Hanshin Namba Line, acts purely as an infrastructure-holding company: it collects fixed track-usage charges from the Category-2 operators, Hanshin, Hankyu and Kobe Dentetsu, which run the trains. Station numbering was introduced on the Nishidai–Motomachi section in April 2014, with Hanshin stations numbered HS 33 to HS 39 in continuation of the Hanshin Main Line. From a 2016 timetable revision the service-type displays were standardised on each operator's own format, and the automatic announcements at the stations from Kōsoku-Nagata to Nishi-Motomachi switched to Hanshin's format. Although it is operated like any other Category-2/Category-3 line, the Kōbe Kōsoku Line keeps a fare system independent of the operators' other lines, a survival of the arrangements first set up in 1968.

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

• Daikai大開
• Kosoku Kobe高速神戸
• Kosoku Nagata高速長田
• Motomachi (Hyogo)元町
• Nishi Motomachi西元町
• Nishidai (Hyogo)西代
• Shinkaichi新開地

• 194912 December: an application is filed for the licence to lay the east–west connecting line that would become the line.
• 195222 January: the licence to lay the east–west connecting line is granted.
• 19582 October: the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway Co., Ltd. is established as a third-sector company funded by Kobe City, the four connecting railways and local businesses.
• 19625 March: construction of the East–West Line (the Hanshin Kōbe Kōsoku Line) begins.
• 196526 November: approval is given for the company to take over the North–South Line licence from Kobe Electric Railway (now Kobe Dentetsu).
• 19687 April: the line opens as the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway East–West Line, Nishidai–Motomachi; through services with Hanshin, Keihanshin Express (now Hankyu) and Sanyo begin.
• 19871 April: the Railway Business Act takes effect; the company continues under transitional provisions while the new operating structure is worked out.
• 19881 April: the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway starts Category-3 operation; Hanshin and Sanyo start Category-2 services on Nishidai–Motomachi, which becomes the "Kōbe Kōsoku Line" of both companies, and Hankyu does the same on Nishidai–Sannomiya.
• 199517 January: the Great Hanshin earthquake puts the whole line out of service; it is reopened in stages (Kōsoku-Kōbe–Motomachi on 1 February, Shinkaichi–Kōsoku-Kōbe on 6 February, Nishidai–Kōsoku-Nagata on 18 June) and is open throughout again on 13 August.
• 199617 January: Daikai Station reopens, restoring service at every station on the line.
• 199815 February: a through Limited Express (Chokutsū Tokkyū) begins between Hanshin Umeda and Sanyo-Himeji over the line.
• 20101 October: Sanyo gives up its Category-2 licence and Hankyu abandons the Shinkaichi–Nishidai section; running and station management on the Hanshin section pass to Hanshin and the line name becomes the "Kōbe Kōsoku Line."
• 2014April: station numbering (HS 33–HS 39, continuing from the Hanshin Main Line) is introduced on the Nishidai–Motomachi section.
• 201619 March: with a timetable revision, the service-type displays are standardised on each operator's own format, and the automatic announcements at the stations from Kōsoku-Nagata to Nishi-Motomachi switch to Hanshin's format.