Chūō-Sōbu Line

The is a railway line that runs through Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network, the line operates on separate tracks along the right-of-way of the Chūō Main Line ( Chūō Line (Rapid)) and Sōbu Main Line (Sōbu Line (Rapid)), providing service between Mitaka Station in the cities of Mitaka and Musashino and Chiba Station in Chiba.

The term distinguishes local trains on the Chūō-Sōbu line from rapid service trains running on the Chūō Main Line between Mitaka and and on the Sōbu Main Line between and Chiba.

Service patterns

Chūō-Sōbu Line

*Regularly, trains terminate at Chiba or Tsudanuma at the east side, and terminate at Nakano or Mitaka at the west side
*All trains stop at every station.
**For station information on the parallel rapid/express lines, see the Chūō Line (Rapid) and Sōbu Line (Rapid) articles.

Tōzai Line through service

All through service trains enter the Tōzai Line at either Nakano, or Nishi-Funabashi. These trains operate within the following routes:

* Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – Tsudanuma (weekday mornings/evenings only)
* Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – Tsudanuma (weekday mornings/evenings only)
* Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi
* Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – ( Tōyō Rapid Railway Line) – Tōyō-Katsutadai (mornings/evenings only)

Limited express

Prior to March 2024, seasonal Limited Express '' Shinjuku Wakashio'' and '' Shinjuku Sazanami'' trains stopped at on the Chūō-Sōbu Line "mainly on weekends and holidays when service is heavy". , these trains no longer stop at Akihabara.

Former Early morning / Late night

At around 9 -10pm, a few westbound trains headed beyond Mitaka onto the Chūō Line (Rapid), with some terminating at Musashi-Koganei, and the others at Tachikawa. The other trains during the hour operated regularly.

At around 4 - 6am and 11pm - 1am, Chūō-Sōbu Line services were divided at Ochanomizu Station, into two sections.

* At the western section (Mitaka – Ochanomizu), Chūō Line (Rapid) trains ran through the Chūō-Sōbu Line tracks between and , with services serving between and as far as , or even Ōme, which stops at all stations.
* At the eastern section (Ochanomizu – Chiba), local trains operated and terminated at the two ends of the section.

This service pattern last operated on 13 March 2020. To prepare for the eventual installation of platform doors on Chūō-Sōbu Line platforms and the future addition of Green Cars on the Rapid line, Chūō Line Rapid service trains no longer regularly operate on the Chūō-Sōbu Line tracks.

Station list

; Legend
* ●: All trains stop
* ■: Some trains pass
* ▲: All trains pass on weekends and holidays
* ｜: All trains pass

Rolling stock

Chūō-Sōbu Line

Trains used on the line are based at Mitaka Depot.

* E231-0 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (since February 2000)
* E231-500 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (since 1 December 2014)

Tozai Line - Toyo Rapid Line through service

Trains run between Mitaka and Tsudanuma (Chūō-Sōbu Line) or Toyo-Katsutadai (Toyo Rapid Line), all via the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line between Nakano and Nishi-Funabashi.

* E231-800 series 10-car EMUs (light blue and blue stripe) (Does not run on the Toyo Rapid Line)

* Tokyo Metro 05 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)
* Tokyo Metro 07 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)
* Tokyo Metro 15000 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)

File:SeriesE231-0 Sobu-Line.jpg, JR East E231-0 series
File:Series-E231-A545.jpg, JR East E231-500 series
File:Tokyo-Metro-Series05 115R.jpg, Tokyo Metro 05 series
File:Tokyo-Metro-Series15000 15109.jpg, Tokyo Metro 15000 series
File:Tokyo-Metro Series07R-71.jpg, Tokyo Metro 07 series
File:Series-E231-800-K5.jpg, JR East E231-800 series

Former rolling stock

Chūō-Sōbu Line

* 101 series EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1963 until November 1988)
* 103 series 10-car EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1979 until March 2001)
* 201 series 10-car EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1982 until November 2001)
*205 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (from August 1989 until November 2001)
*209-500 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (from December 1998 until 19 April 2019)
*E231-900 series 10-car EMU (yellow stripe) (from 27 March 1999 as 209-950 series, until 25 February 2020)

Tozai Line - Toyo Rapid Line through service

* 301 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe) (on Tozai Line inter-running services from 1966 until 2003)

Chūō Line (Early morning / Late night)

* See Chūō Line (Rapid)#Rolling stock for the train types which operated this service until 13 March 2020.

File:錦糸町駅-78-04.jpg, A Chūō-Sōbu Line 101 series EMU in August 1978
File:Chuo-Sobu 201 set 6 Akihabara 20010504.jpg, A Chūō-Sōbu Line 201 series EMU in May 2001
File:301 K5 Mitaka 20030222.JPG, A Chūō-Sōbu Line 301 series EMU in February 2003
File:JR205-Chuo-Sobu-Line.jpg, A Chūō-Sōbu Line 205 series EMU
File:JREast-209-500-Mitsu511.jpg, A Chūō-Sōbu Line 209-500 series EMU in April 2009
File:JR East E231-900 series.jpg, The sole E231-900 series EMU in June 2019

Timeline

History

Women-only cars, designed to prevent gropers, were introduced on this line during morning peak periods starting on 20 November 2006.

On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced to the Chuo-Sobu line with stations being assigned station numbers between JB01 and JB39. Numbers increase towards in the eastbound direction towards Chiba.

References

External links

Chūō-Sōbu Line
(Japan Visitor)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuo-Sobu Line
Railway lines in Tokyo
Lines of East Japan Railway Company
Railway lines in Chiba Prefecture
1067 mm gauge railways in Japan
Railway lines opened in 1932
1932 establishments in Japan