EN日本語

JR line3 min read

Narita Line

成田線

The Narita Line (成田線, Narita-sen) is the collective name for a group of conventional railway lines in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The main line, an alternative route to the Sōbu Main Line, runs from Sakura Station eastward through Narita to Matsugishi Station (a distance of 75.4 km), where it rejoins the Sōbu Main Line; the eastern stations approaching Matsugishi lie within the city of Chōshi.

Route of the Narita Line · Chiba · Borders: MLIT
A JR East 209-2100 series set C607 on a local service on the Narita Line, between Oto and Shimosa-Kozaki.
A JR East 209-2100 series set C607 on a local service on the Narita Line, between Oto and Shimosa-Kozaki. · MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

The origins of the line lie in the pilgrim and freight traffic of the region: Narita had drawn worshippers bound for Narita-san Shinshō-ji since the Edo period, and Sawara, on the Tone River, had been a busy river-transport town whose water trade declined as the Meiji government modernised the old highways. A predecessor company chartered in the 1890s — Narita Railway (成田鉄道), which had begun as Shimōsa Railway before a name change in 1895 — opened the line between Sakura and Narita on 19 January 1897. The line reached Namegawa the same year and Sawara on 3 February 1898. A branch from Narita toward Abiko followed, reaching Ajiki on 2 February 1901 and Abiko on 1 April 1901; this branch is often called the Abiko Line (我孫子線). Through services from Ueno over the Nippon Railway onto the Narita Railway began on 1 March 1902.

Narita Railway was nationalised on 1 September 1920, at which point the Sakura–Abiko and Narita–Sawara sections became the state-operated Narita Line. The main line reached its full present extent in the early Shōwa years, when the state extended it east of Sawara: Sawara to Sasagawa opened on 10 November 1931 and Sasagawa to Matsugishi on 11 March 1933, completing the 75.4 km Sakura–Matsugishi route.

Modernisation came in the postwar decades. The Sakura–Narita section was electrified at 1,500 V DC overhead on 28 March 1968, the year automatic signalling was also extended over that stretch. The Abiko branch was electrified in 1973 and the Narita–Matsugishi section on 26 October 1974. Double-tracking of the Sakura–Narita segment, driven by the approach of the new Tokyo international airport at Narita, was carried out in stages and completed in 1986. Freight operations were withdrawn in this period, ending on the Narita–Abiko branch on 1 February 1984 and on the Katori–Matsugishi section on 1 November 1986.

An E259 series Narita Express on the Narita Line between Sakura and Monoi. View full size (opens in a new tab)
An E259 series Narita Express on the Narita Line between Sakura and Monoi.MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Upon the privatisation of Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987, the Narita Line passed to JR East. The Airport Line (空港線, Kūkō-sen), the branch from Narita to Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station, opened on 19 March 1991 as an electrified line equipped from the outset with CTC and ATS-P signalling. It runs 10.8 km from Narita to the airport station. JR East owns the first 2.1 km, from Narita to the junction with the main line; the track beyond, about 8.7 km from the junction to the airport station, belongs to Narita Airport Rapid Railway, a separate company, and JR East runs its trains over it. Keisei Railway also runs passenger trains to the airport. The Abiko branch measures 32.9 km from Narita to Abiko, and the main line and both branches together have 27 stations.

The Narita Line carries a mix of local and rapid services, with through-running onto adjoining JR East lines: the Sakura–Narita Airport corridor bears the line symbol "JO", some Abiko-branch trains run through to central Tokyo, and the airport branch forms one of the rail approaches to Narita International Airport. The line is laid to 1,067 mm narrow gauge and electrified throughout at 1,500 V DC, with a maximum speed of 120 km/h for premium services on the main line; it is double-tracked between Sakura, Narita and the airport-line junction and single-track elsewhere. In the early hours of 10 March 2011, the day before the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a freight train carrying ethylene oxide derailed and overturned near Namegawa Station.

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 189719 January: the Sakura–Narita section opens, built by Narita Railway; the line reaches Namegawa the same year.
  • 18983 February: the line is extended from Namegawa to Sawara.
  • 1901The Narita–Abiko branch (Abiko Line) opens: Narita–Ajiki on 2 February, Ajiki–Abiko on 1 April.
  • 19201 September: Narita Railway is nationalised; the Sakura–Abiko and Narita–Sawara sections become the state-operated Narita Line.
  • 193110 November: the Sawara–Sasagawa section opens (main line extended east of Sawara).
  • 193311 March: the Sasagawa–Matsugishi section opens, completing the 75.4 km Sakura–Matsugishi main line.
  • 196828 March: the Sakura–Narita section is electrified at 1,500 V DC overhead.
  • 1973The Abiko branch (Narita–Abiko) is electrified.
  • 197426 October: the Narita–Matsugishi section is electrified.
  • 19841 February: freight operations end on the Narita–Abiko branch.
  • 1986Double-tracking of the Sakura–Narita section is completed (24 February). Freight ends on the Katori–Matsugishi section on 1 November.
  • 19871 April: Japanese National Railways is privatised; the Narita Line transfers to JR East.
  • 199119 March: the Airport Line branch (Narita–Narita Airport Terminal 1, 10.8 km) opens as an electrified line with CTC and ATS-P signalling; Narita Airport Rapid Railway, a separate company, owns track on the branch.
  • 201110 March: a freight train carrying ethylene oxide derails and overturns near Namegawa Station, the day before the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

← All lines