The is an interurban railway line in Japan operated by the

private railway A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector. Japan In Japan, , commonly simply ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...

operator

Keihan Electric Railway , known colloquially as the , , or simply , is a major Japanese private railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. The transit network includes seven lines; four main lines with heavy rolling stock, two interurban lines, and a funic ...

. The 7.5 km line connects

Misasagi Station is a train station in Yamashina-ku ward, city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Lines * ** (Station Number: T08) * Keihan Electric Railway ** Keishin Line - Misasagi is the terminus of the line. Layout The station is a cross-platfor ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and Biwako-Hamaōtsu Station in the neighbouring city of Ōtsu.

Train service

Except trains between Shinomiya Station and Hamaōtsu Station in early morning and late night, all trains go directly from Hamaōtsu Station to Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station or Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station on the Kyoto Subway Tōzai Line. During off peak hours, the line operates every 15 minutes.

Stations and connecting lines

Railway map around Kyoto City (Keishin Line)

;Abandoned stations: *Midorigaoka Undōjō-mae: Shinomiya - Oiwake (extra station, abandoned in 1942) *Kamisekidera: Ōtani - Kamisakaemachi (abandoned on August 15, 1971) *Fudanotsuji: Kamisakaemachi - Biwako-Hamaōtsu (abandoned on October 1, 1946) Keihan 80

Abandoned section

The station list is as of 1997 before the street running section was abandoned due to replacement by the Tōzai Line subway. It also lists the corresponding subway stations that replaced the Keishin Line stations.

Rolling stock

* Keihan 800 series, four-car EMUs

History

The line was built in 1912 (dual track electrified at 600 V DC) to connect the city centers of Kyoto and Ōtsu by electric streetcars, as the

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

was an indirect route between the two cities before its realignment in 1921. The busiest section of the line, between Keishin-Sanjō Station and Misasagi Station, was replaced in 1997 by the Kyoto Subway Tōzai Line, and the voltage increased to 1,500 V DC in conjunction with this project.{{cn, date=March 2017 One of the aims of the realignment was to move the tracks underground in the Kyoto area, in order to remove the former alignment along public roads. The line retains its public road alignment in Ōtsu.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia. Keishin Line Ōtsu Rail transport in Shiga Prefecture Rail transport in Kyoto Prefecture Standard gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1912 1912 establishments in Japan 1500 V DC railway electrification