- Hanshin Electric Railway
Nihongo|Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.|阪神電気鉄道株式会社|Hanshin Denki-tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha is a
Japan ese private railway company ofHankyu Hanshin Toho Group that linksOsaka andKobe . It also owns theHanshin Tigers baseball team.The second character for
Osaka (大阪) and the first character forKobe (神戸) combine to form the company name, 阪神, which can be read "Han-shin".IC cards (
PiTaPa andICOCA ) are accepted when taking trains.Rail lines
Current lines
*Main Line (本線) (ja-stalink|Umeda – ja-stalink|Motomachi|Motomachi|Hyōgo, 32.1 km)
*Nishi-Osaka Line (西大阪線) (ja-stalink|Amagasaki|Amagasaki|Hanshin – ja-stalink|Nishikujō, 6.3 km):The Nishi-Osaka Line will be renamed Nihongo|the Hanshin Namba Line|阪神なんば線 when the line is extended from Nishikujō Station toKintetsu Namba Station onMarch 20 ,2009 .
*Mukogawa Line (武庫川線) (ja-stalink|Mukogawa – ja-stalink|Mukogawa-danchimae, 1.7 km)Line sceduled to open
*Hanshin Namba Line (阪神なんば線) (Nishikujo - Kintetsu Namba); opening on March 20, 2009:Kintetsu Namba Station will be renamed "Osaka Namba Station" on the day of the opening of the Hanshin Namba Line.
Abandoned lines
*Kita-Osaka Line (北大阪線) (ja-stalink|Noda|Noda|Hanshin – ja-stalink|Tenjimbashisuji Rokuchome)
*Kokudo Line(国道線) (Noda – Higashi-Kobe)
*Koshien Line (甲子園線) (Kamikoshien - ja-stalink|Koshien - Hamakoshien - Nakatsuhama)
*Amagasaki Kaigan Line (尼崎海岸線) (ja-stalink|Deyashiki - Higashihama)
*Mukogawa Line (武庫川線) (Mukogawa - Muko-ohashi - ja-stalink|Nishinomiya|Nishinomiya (Japanese National Railways)|JR West): the line between Muko-ohashi and Nishinomiya (JNR) was used only for freight trains operated by JNR.Incompleted lines
*Imazu Deyashiki Line (今津出屋敷線): Takasu - Suzaki - Hamakoshien - Imazu
*Amagasaki Takarazuka Line (尼崎宝塚線): Amagasaki - ja-stalink|Takarazuka|Takarazuka|Hankyu: planned by Takarazuka Amagasaki Railway Company
*Daini Hanshin Line : Umeda - ja-stalink|Chidoribashi - Amagasaki - ja-stalink|Sannomiya - ja-stalink|MinatogawaHistory
*
June 12 ,1899 : Nihongo|Settsu Electric Railway Co., Ltd.|摂津電気鉄道株式会社|Settsu Denki-tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha was established.
*July 7 ,1899 : The company was renamed "Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd."
*April 7 ,1968 :Kobe Rapid Railway was opened and joint operation withSanyo Electric Railway was started.
*February 15 ,1998 : Joint operation with Sanyo Electric Railway of limited expresses service between Umeda and Himeji was started.
*June 20 ,2006 : Hankyu Holdings, Inc. completed its purchase of a controlling interest in Hanshin in a transaction valued at about $2.2 billion. [cite web| url=http://today.reuters.com/investing/FinanceArticle.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2006-06-20T045411Z_01_T334035_RTRIDST_0_TRANSPORT-JAPAN-HANKYU-UPDATE-2.XML| title=UPDATE 2-Hankyu takes over fellow railway operator Hanshin| publisher=Reuters| year=2006-06-20 | accessdate=2006-06-20| ]References
External links
* [http://www.hankyu-hanshin.co.jp/ Hankyu Hanshin Holdings portal site (in Japanese)]
** [http://www.hankyu-hanshin.co.jp/english/index.html Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Group index page (in English)]
** [http://rail.hanshin.co.jp/ Hanshin Electric Railway (in Japanese)]
** [http://www.hanshin.co.jp/ Hanshin Group (in Japanese)]
** [http://www.hanshin.co.jp/group/english/ Corporate Profile (in English)]
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