The is a railway line owned and operated by the Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese private railway company, connecting Nagoya and Ise Nakagawa Station in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture via Kuwana, Yokkaichi, Suzuka, Tsu municipalities along the Ise Bay. The official starting-point of the line is Ise-Nakagawa and the terminus is Nagoya; however, operationally trains run "down" from and "up" towards Nagoya.

The line approximately parallels the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) Kansai Main Line, the Ise Railway Ise Line, and the JR Central Kisei Main Line, and all three offer rapid services from Nagoya to Ise.

History The first section of the line between Takadahonzan and Shiroko was opened by the Ise Electric Railway on 10 September 1915. The line at this period operated with steam locomotives. This section was extended from Shiroko to Chiyozaki on 9 January 1916, and to Kusu on 22 December 1917. The original line also extended south, reaching Tsu on 1 January 1917. The line continued its extension, connecting Kuwana, Tsu, and Daijingumae (located near the Ise Shrine, since closed) by 25 December 1930. 's subsidiary Sankyu Rapid Electric Railway opened a branch of their own line on 18 May 1930, which extended from the current Ise-Nakagawa to Hisai. The Ise Electric Railway entered an economic crisis around this time, and was merged into the Sankyu Rapid Electric Railway on 15 September 1936. The branch line was extended from Hisai to Tsu on 20 June 1938. Kansai Rapid Electric Railway, also a subsidiary of the Ōsaka Electric Tram, opened the section from Kuwana to Kintetsu Nagoya on 26 June 1938. On the same date, Edobashi and Tsu were connected by the Sankyu Rapid Electric Railway, completing the Nagoya Line. The Edobashi Station became the border for the narrow-gauge section north of Edobashi and the standard-gauge section south of Edobashi. This border was later moved to Ise-Nakagawa, when the section between Ise-Nakagawa and Edobashi was narrowed to narrow-gauge in December of the same year. With the merger of the Ōsaka Electric Tram and the Sankyu Rapid Electric Railway into the Kansai Rapid Railway in March 1941, and their incorporation into the Kintetsu Railway on 1 June 1944, the line came under Kintetsu ownership. Kintetsu began running a paid limited express service from Ōsaka Uehommachi to Kintetsu Nagoya in 1947, but required a transfer at Ise-Nakagawa due to gauge differences.

For a brief period, the Nagoya Line was connected with the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line. The Kintetsu Nagoya Station was linked with the adjacent Meitetsu Nagoya Station from August 1950 to September 1952. Using this connection, reserved group trains from Kintetsu were able to reach Toyokawa Station near Toyokawa Inari via the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line and the JNR-operated Iida Line. Meitetsu trains, on the other hand were able to reach Kuwana and Ise-Nakagawa. This link was disconnected due to changes in the layout of the Meitetsu Nagoya Station, and the construction of the Meitetsu Department Store.

The line before 1956 had many sharp curves in the city of Yokkaichi, as the route connected the Yokkaichi Station in the outskirts operated by the Japanese National Railways (JNR), and the Suwa Station located in the middle of the city. However, the curves affected the max speed of the services on the line, such as the limited express service, and Kintetsu found little benefit in connecting the station to JNR's Kansai Main Line, which had far less passengers compared to the Nagoya Line. The rerouting works to straighten the line were completed in September 1956, and the Suwa station, now named Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station, was relocated to the new route. While the former Ise Electric Railway's route south beyond Edobashi were still in service around this period under Kintetsu ownership, this redundant route was closed in 1961. Kintetsu also planned to change the track gauge of the narrow-gauge line to standard gauge from September 1958, in order to allow through service from Nagoya to Osaka. The Nagoya Line was hit by the Ise-wan Typhoon in 1959, which severely damaged the infrastructure of the line. As a result, the reconstruction works also took place along with the gauge changes. The line resumed operation with the new gauge 62 days after the typhoon damaged the line. Through service from Ōsaka Uehommachi and Ujiyamada to Kintetsu Nagoya commenced on 12 December 1959. The line's limited express service held 69.4% of the shares for rail transport between Nagoya and Osaka around this time, but the share fell to 19% in 1966 following the operation of the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964. The line recovered after JNR's constant raising of fares from 1976. Limited express trains on the line began running at the maximum speed of in 1988 following the introduction of the Urban Liner service and the Kintetsu 21000 series. Hinotori services commenced along with the introduction of the Kintetsu 80000 series in 2020.

Network and operations Route

Stations No. Station Distance (km) Transfers Location 近鉄名古屋 0.0 Nakamura-ku, Nagoya Aichi Prefecture Komeno 米野 1.1 Kogane 黄金 2.1 Kasumori 烏森 2.8 Kintetsu-Hatta 近鉄八田 3.8 Fushiya 伏屋 6.4 Nakagawa-ku, Nagoya Toda 戸田 8.4 Kintetsu-Kanie 近鉄蟹江 9.7 Kanie Tomiyoshi 富吉 12.1 Sakogi 佐古木 13.7 Yatomi Kintetsu-Yatomi 近鉄弥富 16.1 Kansai Main LineMeitetsu Bisai Line 近鉄長島 19.5 Kuwana Mie Prefecture 桑名 23.7 Kansai Main LineYōrō Railway Yōrō LineSangi Railway Hokusei Line 益生 24.8 伊勢朝日 27.4 Asahi 川越富洲原 30.0 Kawagoe 近鉄富田 31.6 Sangi Railway Sangi Line Yokkaichi 霞ヶ浦 33.5 阿倉川 34.6 川原町 35.7 近鉄四日市 36.9 Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Utsube LineYokkaichi Asunarou Railway Hachiōji Line 新正 38.1 海山道 39.6 塩浜 40.8 北楠 42.6 楠 44.2 長太ノ浦 45.6 Suzuka 箕田 47.0 伊勢若松 48.3 千代崎 50.1 白子 52.9 鼓ヶ浦 54.1 磯山 56.0 千里 57.9 Tsu 豊津上野 59.8 白塚 61.7 高田本山 64.1 江戸橋 65.3 津 66.5Ise Railway Ise Line 津新町 68.8 南が丘 71.5 久居 74.0 Momozono 桃園 75.5 伊勢中川 78.8 Matsusaka

Services Kintetsu has a separate timetable for weekdays and weekends/holidays. As of September 2023, four types of services operate in the line. From the service with the most stops to the least stops made, those are local, semi-express, express, and limited express. Local trains stop at all stations, and the semi-express service skips six stations after departing Kintetsu Nagoya, stopping at all other stations and terminating at Kintetsu Yokkaichi. A reverse trip with the same stops are also provided. Some express services provide through service via the Kintetsu Yamada Line, Kintetsu Toba Line, and the Kintetsu Suzuka Line. Several different limited express services run through the line, such as Hinotori, Shimakaze, and Urban Liner. Legend ● Trains stop here ○ Trains stop here sometimes | Trains do not stop here No. Station Local Semi-Exp. Exp. Limited Exp. (Toba) Limited Exp. (Osaka) Shimakaze ● ● ● ● ● ● Komeno ● | | | | | Kogane ● | | | | | Kasumori ● | | | | | Kintetsu-Hatta ● | | | | | Fushiya ● | | | | | Toda ● | | | | | Kintetsu-Kanie ● ● ● | | | Tomiyoshi ● ● | | | | Sakogi ● ● | | | | Kintetsu-Yatomi ● ● ● | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● ● ● | | ● ● | | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● ● | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● | | | | ● ● ● ● | ● ●   | | | | ● | | | | ● ● | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● ● | | | ● | | | | ● ● ● | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● | | | | ● ● | | | ● ● ● ● | ● ● | | | ● ● | | | ● ● ○ | | ● ● | | | ● ● ● | |↓Kintetsu Yamada line↓

References

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