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Kintetsu line3 min read

Kintetsu Nagano Line

長野線

The Nagano Line (長野線, Nagano-sen) is a 12.5-kilometre commuter railway operated by the Kintetsu Railway in the southern suburbs of Osaka.

It branches off the Minami-Osaka Line at Furuichi Station in the city of Habikino and runs south through Tondabayashi to terminate at Kawachi-Nagano Station, where it meets the Nankai Kōya Line. The line is laid to 1,067 mm narrow gauge, electrified at 1,500 V DC, and has eight stations; it is double-tracked between Furuichi and Tondabayashi and single-tracked beyond. Together with the Minami-Osaka Line it forms one of the principal commuter and student corridors of the Minamikawachi district of Osaka Prefecture.

OsakaChihayaakasakaKananTaishiMiharaHigashiOsakasayama2 km
Route of the Kintetsu Nagano Line · Osaka · Boundaries: MLIT / GSI / Japan Post

History

The line had its origin in the Kayō Railway (河陽鉄道), a company whose aim was to link Osaka with the Minamikawachi region and to tap the pilgrim traffic bound for Mount Kōya. After first building the Kashiwara–Furuichi section that today forms the Domyoji Line and part of the Minami-Osaka Line, the Kayō Railway opened the stretch from Furuichi to Tondabayashi, along the old Higashi-Kōya-kaidō highway, on 14 April 1898. Its earliest trains were hauled by steam locomotives.

The Kayō Railway soon fell into financial difficulty, and on 11 May 1899, the year after opening, its line passed to a separate company, the Kanan Railway (河南鉄道). The line was extended south in two stages in 1902: the section from Tondabayashi to Takidanifudō opened on 25 March, and the final stretch from Takidanifudō to Nagano Station — today's Kawachi-Nagano — opened on 12 December that year, completing the through line to the inland town.

In its first decades the line saw frequent changes to its smaller stations. Gakkōmae Station, the present Tondabayashi-nishiguchi, opened in 1904, and four new halts — Nishiura, Miyanomae, Kawanishi and Shionomiya — followed in 1911, several of them later closed and replaced. The operating company renamed itself the Osaka Railway (大阪鉄道) on 8 March 1919, the second company to bear that name.

The Osaka Railway then decided to build its own line running directly into Osaka, branching away at Dōmyōji, and went on to open a route diverging at Furuichi toward Nara Prefecture — together the core of the present Minami-Osaka Line. As that new trunk took shape, the original line to Kawachi-Nagano was left as a branch, the present Nagano Line. The whole Furuichi–Nagano route was electrified at 1,500 V DC on 16 October 1923.

The line entered the Kintetsu fold through wartime consolidation. On 1 February 1943 the Kansai Express Railway (関西急行鉄道) absorbed the Osaka Railway, and the merger of the Kansai Express Railway with the Nankai Railway on 1 June 1944 created the Kinki Nippon Railway — Kintetsu — of which the Nagano Line has been a part ever since. Nagano Station was renamed Kawachi-Nagano on 1 April 1954, the Furuichi–Kishi section was doubled in 1957, automatic train stop (ATS) came into use in 1968, and the double track was later extended from Kishi to Tondabayashi.

In more recent years the line has been the subject of grade-separation work. A roughly 0.8-kilometre stretch around Kawanishi was elevated in 1982, and a later project, raising the line onto a viaduct between Kishi and Tondabayashi, was carried out in stages, the up line being elevated on 4 June 2022 and the down line on 10 June 2023. Through the same period the line adopted successive fare-card systems, ending with the nationally interoperable IC cards PiTaPa, ICOCA and Suica.

Almost all Nagano Line trains run through onto the Minami-Osaka Line to and from Ōsaka Abenobashi, most of them as semi-expresses, and some turn back at Tondabayashi. Takidanifudō is the only station on the single-track section where trains can pass one another, and nearly every train crosses another there throughout the day.

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 189814 April: the Kayō Railway opens the Furuichi–Tondabayashi section, the origin of the line, worked by steam.
  • 189911 May: the Kanan Railway takes over the financially troubled Kayō Railway's line.
  • 190225 March: Tondabayashi–Takidanifudō opens. 12 December: Takidanifudō–Nagano (present Kawachi-Nagano) opens, completing the line.
  • 190412 October: Gakkōmae Station, the present Tondabayashi-nishiguchi, opens.
  • 191115 August: Nishiura, Miyanomae, Kawanishi and Shionomiya stations open.
  • 19198 March: the line's operating company is renamed the Osaka Railway (the second company of that name).
  • 192316 October: the Furuichi–Nagano route is electrified at 1,500 V DC. 28 December: Asahigaoka Station opens.
  • 19331 April: Taishiguchi-Kishi Station is renamed Kishi and Gakkōmae becomes Tondabayashi-nishiguchi; the present Kawanishi Station also takes its current name.
  • 19431 February: the Kansai Express Railway absorbs the Osaka Railway.
  • 19441 June: the merger of the Kansai Express Railway with the Nankai Railway forms the Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu); the line becomes a Kintetsu line.
  • 19541 April: Nagano Station is renamed Kawachi-Nagano Station.
  • 195718 October: the Furuichi–Kishi section is double-tracked.
  • 196826 September: automatic train stop (ATS) comes into use on the line.
  • 197420 July: Asahigaoka Station, between Kishi and Tondabayashi, is closed.
  • 1974/1987The Kishi–Tondabayashi section is double-tracked. The year is given as 1974 or 1987.
  • 198212 September: a roughly 0.8 km stretch around Kawanishi Station is elevated.
  • 20224 June: the up line of the Kishi–Tondabayashi grade-separation project is elevated; the down line follows on 10 June 2023.
  • 2024September: the line's services are reduced because of a shortage of drivers.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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