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Tokyu line3 min read

Ikegami Line

池上線

The Ikegami Line is a commuter railway line in Tokyo operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Railways. It runs from Gotanda Station in Shinagawa to Kamata Station in Ota and has 15 stations; every train stops at all of them. The line is double-tracked throughout, built to the 1,067 mm narrow gauge, and electrified at 1,500 V DC overhead catenary.

TokyoOtaMeguroNakahara2 km
Route of the Ikegami Line · Tokyo · Boundaries: MLIT / GSI / Japan Post
A Tōkyū 7000 series EMU set 7103 between Ikegami and Hasunuma stations on the Tōkyū Ikegami Line.
A Tōkyū 7000 series EMU set 7103 between Ikegami and Hasunuma stations on the Tōkyū Ikegami Line. · Jet-0 at Japanese Wikipedia This photo was taken with Canon EOS 450D · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

The line was opened by the Ikegami Electric Railway (Ikegami Denki Tetsudo) for the purpose of carrying worshippers to Ikegami Honmon-ji, the major Buddhist temple near present-day Ikegami Station. The first section opened on 6 October 1922 between Kamata and Ikegami, a distance of 1.8 km. This original Kamata-Ikegami section is the earliest-opened stretch still in service among the present railway lines of Tokyu Railways. If closed lines are counted as well (excluding the other companies' lines that were merged in during the so-called "Dai-Tokyu" period and later split off again), the earliest is the Sangenjaya-Dogenzaka-ue section of the old Tamagawa Line, opened in 1907. The line was extended from Ikegami to Yukigaya in 1923 and completed on 17 June 1928, when the short 0.3 km section between Osakihirokoji and Gotanda opened.

The Ikegami Electric Railway later came under the Tokyo-Kawasaki zaibatsu. Aiming to extend toward Kokubunji on the Chuo Main Line, it opened the Shin-Okusawa Line, branching from Yukigaya Station (now Yukigaya-otsuka), in 1928. In 1934, however, the company was bought out by Keita Goto of the rival Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway -- the predecessor of Tokyu -- which absorbed the Ikegami Electric Railway on 1 October 1934; the unprofitable Shin-Okusawa Line was abandoned in 1935. A legacy of the two companies once having been competitors was that, for many years, no interchange station was provided where the Ikegami Line crossed the Oimachi Line; this was finally remedied in 1951, when the line's Hatagaoka Station was consolidated into Hatanodai Station on the Oimachi Line.

The line was progressively upgraded over the following decades. Three-car operation, introduced on some services from December 1953, became standard for all trains on 1 April 1956. The line voltage was raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC on 10 August 1957. A forerunner of automatic train stop, an in-cab warning device, was introduced on 1 December 1963 to improve safety, and Tokyu's own ATS followed from 1 April 1970. Ebara-nakanobu Station was moved underground on 19 March 1989; Nagahara Station had been placed underground before then. The ageing first-generation 3000 series trains -- many of them prewar-built cars -- were withdrawn from regular service in March 1989, after which the line was operated solely by stainless-steel 7200 and 7600 series stock. From 16 March 1998 the line adopted wanman driver-only operation.

A Tōkyū 7700 series three-car EMU set 7910 on the Ikegami Line. View full size (opens in a new tab)
A Tōkyū 7700 series three-car EMU set 7910 on the Ikegami Line.Yaguchi This photo was taken with Pentax K10D · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In popular culture the line gained nationwide fame through the 1976 hit song "Ikegami-sen," composed and sung by Mieko Nishijima; lyrics evoking the age and condition of the line's rolling stock prompted Tokyu to issue a public rebuttal. To mark the line's 80th anniversary, a special train named "Meikyoku Ikegami-sen-go" was run on 16 December 2007, with Nishijima herself aboard, and on 25 December 2007 the second-generation 7000 series, the first new train type delivered for the line in fourteen years, entered revenue service.

The Ikegami Line links Gotanda, a commercial centre in Shinagawa, with Kamata, the administrative and commercial centre of Ota, by way of the inland districts on the outskirts of each ward. All services are local, calling at every station, operated by three-car 18-metre trains shared with the Tokyu Tamagawa Line; the current rolling stock comprises the 1000 series and the 7000 series (since December 2007). The fastest Gotanda-Kamata journey takes 22 minutes, around 30 minutes including boarding and waiting time. A small shopping street has formed in front of each station.

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 19226 October: the Ikegami Electric Railway opens the first section, Kamata-Ikegami (1.8 km), to carry worshippers to Ikegami Honmon-ji temple.
  • 19234 May: the line is extended from Ikegami to Yukigaya (now Yukigaya-otsuka).
  • 192817 June: the 0.3 km Osakihirokoji-Gotanda section opens, completing the line. The operator also opens the Shin-Okusawa Line branch the same year.
  • 19341 October: the Ikegami Electric Railway is absorbed by the Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway (predecessor of Tokyu) under Keita Goto.
  • 1935The unprofitable Shin-Okusawa Line is abandoned.
  • 19511 May: Hatagaoka Station is consolidated into Hatanodai Station on the Oimachi Line, creating an interchange.
  • 19561 April: all trains become three-car formations (three-car operation had begun on some services in December 1953).
  • 195710 August: line voltage is raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC.
  • 1968/1972Nagahara Station is placed underground. The year is given as 1968 or 1972.
  • 1976The hit song "Ikegami-sen" by Mieko Nishijima spreads the line's name nationwide.
  • 1989March: the first-generation 3000 series (largely prewar cars) is withdrawn from regular service. 19 March: Ebara-nakanobu Station is moved underground.
  • 199816 March: wanman driver-only operation commences on the line.
  • 200716 December: an 80th-anniversary special, "Meikyoku Ikegami-sen-go," is run. 25 December: the second-generation 7000 series enters revenue service, the first new type in 14 years.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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