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Joban Line

常磐線

The Jōban Line is a heavy-rail line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), with freight operated by Japan Freight Railway (JR Freight).

The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo, and ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, Miyagi; following the inauguration of the Ueno-Tokyo Line, services are operationally extended to originate from Shinagawa or Ueno, and through-running operations continue beyond Iwanuma onto the Tōhoku Main Line tracks to Sendai. The route generally parallels the Pacific coastline through Tokyo, Chiba, Ibaraki, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. The name "Jōban" is derived from the former provinces of Jōshū (the 常 of Hitachi) and Banshū (the 磐 of Iwaki), which the line connects to Tokyo. The Jōban Line is built to 1,067 mm narrow gauge and is electrified throughout, using 1,500 V DC on the southern section and 20 kV AC at 50 Hz on the northern section via overhead catenary.

Route of the Joban Line · Miyagi · Fukushima · Ibaraki · Chiba · Tokyo · Borders: MLIT
E531 series formation K416 passing through Mabashi Station on the JR Jōban Line.
E531 series formation K416 passing through Mabashi Station on the JR Jōban Line. · MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

The line was opened in sections between 1889 and 1905. The first section, between Mito and present-day Tomobe, opened on 16 January 1889 as part of the Mito Railway's line from Mito to Oyama. On 1 March 1892 the Mito Railway became part of the Nippon Railway, and construction continued northward and southward over the following years: the Iwaki Line from Mito to Taira (present-day Iwaki) opened on 25 February 1897, and on 23 August 1898 the final link from Kunohama to Odaka was completed, connecting Tabata and Iwanuma. The present-day route was finished on 1 April 1905, when the Mikawashima-Nippori connection opened and Nippori and Mikawashima stations came into service. After the Nippon Railway was nationalised on 1 November 1906, the route passed into state hands; on 12 October 1909 the government railway line-naming reorganisation formally designated the Nippori-Iwanuma section, together with its freight branches, as the Jōban Line.

From 1910 a programme of double-tracking commenced, and a long double-track section running north from Nippori was completed in 1925; the Hirono-Kido and Ono-Futaba sections were double-tracked as late as 1976. Electrification followed in stages. The first section electrified was Nippori-Matsudo, at 1,500 V DC, on 11 December 1936; electrification reached Toride in 1949. The Toride-Kusano section was electrified at 20 kV AC between 1961 and 1963, and with the electrification of the Kusano-Iwanuma tracks on 20 August 1967 the entire Jōban Line became electrified. The use of alternating current on the northern section was adopted to avoid interference between direct-current operation and a nearby installation, and a dead section was provided between Toride and Fujishiro to separate the two electrification systems. The Jōban Line carried a range of named services over its history, including the semi-express Tokiwa, which began operation on 1 June 1958, and the limited express Hatsukari (Ueno-Aomori), which began on 10 October 1958 and called at Mito and Taira on the Jōban Line.

The line was the site of two notable incidents. On 6 July 1949, in what became known as the Shimoyama incident, the then-president of Japanese National Railways, Shimoyama Sadanori, was found dead between Kita-Senju and Ayase stations. On 3 May 1962 the Mikawashima rail crash, a collision involving two passenger trains and a freight train between Mikawashima and Minami-Senju, killed 160 people and injured 296.

E531 series formation K418 running between Tomobe and Uchihara on the Jōban Line. View full size (opens in a new tab)
E531 series formation K418 running between Tomobe and Uchihara on the Jōban Line.MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

On 1 April 1987, with the privatisation of Japanese National Railways, the Jōban Line was succeeded by JR East. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused severe disruption to the line, and the section between Tomioka and Namie, which passes through the exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, was closed in the wake of the disaster. Service was restored in stages: trains returned to Iwaki (209.4 km from Nippori) in April 2011, and the Hamayoshida-Soma section was rebuilt at a higher, tsunami-resistant level and reopened on 10 December 2016. The line fully reopened on 14 March 2020, after nine years without through service.

JR Freight runs freight services over most of the route, and the maximum line speed is 130 km/h. The Jōban Line is the longest JR line whose name includes neither "Main Line" (本線) nor "Shinkansen".

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 188916 January: the Mito Railway opens its line from Mito to Oyama, whose stretch from Mito to present-day Tomobe is the first section of today's Jōban Line; the line is opened in sections between 1889 and 1905.
  • 18921 March: the Mito Railway becomes part of the Nippon Railway.
  • 189725 February: the Iwaki Line from Mito to Taira (present-day Iwaki) begins operation.
  • 189823 August: the Kunohama-Odaka section opens, completing the through route from Tabata to Iwanuma.
  • 19051 April: with the completion of the Mikawashima-Nippori connection the present-day route is finished; Nippori and Mikawashima stations open.
  • 19061 November: the Nippon Railway is nationalised.
  • 190912 October: the government railway line-naming reorganisation designates the Nippori-Iwanuma section and its freight branches as the Jōban Line.
  • 1925Double-tracking (begun in 1910) is completed on a long section running north from Nippori.
  • 193611 December: the Nippori-Matsudo section is electrified at 1,500 V DC — the first section of the line to be electrified.
  • 19496 July: the Shimoyama incident — JNR president Shimoyama Sadanori is found dead between Kita-Senju and Ayase stations. The same year, electrification is extended from Matsudo to Toride.
  • 19581 June: the semi-express Tokiwa begins operation. 10 October: the limited express Hatsukari (Ueno-Aomori) begins operation, calling at Mito and Taira on the Jōban Line.
  • 19623 May: the Mikawashima rail crash occurs between Mikawashima and Minami-Senju; 160 people die and 296 are injured.
  • 196720 August: with the electrification of the Kusano-Iwanuma tracks (20 kV AC), the entire Jōban Line becomes electrified.
  • 19871 April: with the privatisation of Japanese National Railways, the Jōban Line is succeeded by JR East.
  • 2011The Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami severely disrupt the line; the Tomioka-Namie section, through the Fukushima exclusion zone, closes. Services to Iwaki (209.4 km from Nippori) are re-established in April.
  • 201610 December: the Hamayoshida-Soma section, rebuilt at a higher tsunami-resistant level, reopens.
  • 202014 March: the line fully reopens after nine years without through service.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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