The Shinjuku Line (新宿線 Shinjuku sen?) is a Japanese railway line owned by the private company Seibu Railway running from Seibu Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo to Hon-Kawagoe Station in Kawagoe, Saitama. The Shinjuku Line is one of two main lines of the Seibu Railway system along with the Ikebukuro Line. The two main lines cross at Tokorozawa Station in Tokorozawa, Saitama. The line serves the western suburbs of Tokyo, connecting them to Shinjuku and other areas of downtown Tokyo.
Description
TrainsThe line operates six types of train service: Local, Semi Express, Express, Commuter Express, Rapid Express Kawagoe and Limited Express Koedo as shown below. Limited Express trains use special cars and charge an extra fee. Through operations to the branches such as the Haijima Line and the Kokubunji Line are frequent. Unlike other major railway lines in the Greater Tokyo Area, the line has no through access route to a subway station, Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei), lines, but is informally being proposed to the Tōzai Line at Takadonobaba station. HistoryThe oldest section of the Shinjuku Line is between Higashi-Murayama Station and Hon-Kawagoe Station. This section was built by Kawagoe Railway (川越鉄道 Kawagoe Tetsudō?) as a part of its route between Kokubunji and Kawagoe in 1894. At that time the Kawagoe Railway worked as a branch of Kōbu Railway (present-day Chūō Main Line). Following some mergers and name changes, Seibu Railway became the operator of the line then called the Kawagoe Line in 1922. In 1927, Seibu Railway built its new Murayama Line between Takadanobaba Station on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo and Higashi-Murayama Station to compete with Musashino Railway (武蔵野鉄道 Musashino Tetsudō?) (present-day Seibu Ikebukuro Line) and the state-owned Chūō Main Line with the route being in the middle of the two. In 1952, an extension from Takadanobaba to Seibu-Shinjuku Station was completed. At this time the line was renamed the Shinjuku Line, integrating the Murayama Line and the northern section of the Kawagoe Line. The new Seibu-Shinjuku terminal was built as a temporary station because Seibu had a plan to extend the line to Shinjuku Station. However this plan was later scrapped, and now the station has a permanent building with a high-rise hotel. Stations
ReferencesExternal links
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