Osaka Higashi Line

Local train

The Osaka Higashi Line (おおさか東線, Ōsaka-Higashi-sen^?) is a railway line operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Before being named on August 23, 2007, the line was constructed with the tentative name "Osaka Outer Loop Line (大阪外環状線, Ōsaka-soto-kanjōsen^?)". The line will connect Shin-Osaka Station in northern Osaka with Kyūhōji Station in Yao, forming an arc around the eastern suburbs of the city, but currently only the southern half of the line, between Hanaten and Kyūhōji, is in operation.

The southern part opened on March 15, 2008.^[1] But because of problems with the illegal occupation of a site, the northern part has not started construction yet. The optimistic opening date of this until Fiscal 2018.^[2]

The line is constructed and owned by the Osaka Soto-Kanjo Railway Co., Ltd. (大阪外環状鉄道株式会社, Ōsaka Sotokanjō Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha^?) as a Category-3 railway business under the Railway Business Act of Japan. JR West and JR Freight operate trains as Category-2 railway business.

Stations

• S: Direct Rapid service stop.
• |: Direct Rapid service pass.

Status	Station	km	Direct Rapid Service 直通快速	Connections	Ward/City
Planned	Kita-Umeda* 北梅田		through to Amagasaki via the Gakkentoshi Line and the JR Tozai Line	JR Kyoto Line, JR Kobe Line, JR Takarazuka Line, Osaka Loop Line (Osaka Station), Osaka Municipal Subway Yotsubashi Line	Kita-ku, Osaka
Planned (existing on other line)	Shin-Osaka 新大阪			JR Kyoto Line, Sanyō Shinkansen, Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Osaka Municipal Subway Midosuji Line	Yodogawa-ku, Osaka
Planned	Nishi-Suita* 西吹田				Suita
	Awaji* 淡路			Hankyu Kyoto Line, Hankyu Senri Line	Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka
	Miyakojima* 都島				Miyakojima-ku, Osaka
	Noe* 野江			Keihan Main Line, Osaka Municipal Subway Tanimachi Line (Noe-Uchindai Station)	Joto-ku, Osaka
Planned (existing on other line)	Shigino 鴫野		|	Gakkentoshi Line, Osaka Municipal Subway Imazatosuji Line
In operation	Hanaten 放出	0.0	S	Gakkentoshi Line	Tsurumi-ku, Osaka
	Takaida-Chūō 高井田中央	1.7	|	Osaka Municipal Subway Chuo Line (Takaida Station)	Higashiosaka
	JR Kawachi-Eiwa JR河内永和	3.3	|	Kintetsu Nara Line (Kawachi-Eiwa Station)
	JR Shuntokumichi JR俊徳道	3.9	|	Kintetsu Osaka Line (Shuntokumichi Station)
	JR Nagase JR長瀬	4.9	|
	New station (planned for FY 2018)
	Shogakuji Signal Box 正覚寺信号場	6.9	|		Hirano-ku, Osaka
	Shin-Kami 新加美	7.6	|
	Kyūhōji 久宝寺	9.2	S	Kansai Main Line (Yamatoji Line)		Yao
Rapid Service go through to Nara via the Yamatoji Line.

• Stations with tentative names are marked with *.

Rolling stock

Passenger

• 103 series
• 201 series
• 207 series
• 223-6000 series (used for rapid service from 2008-03-15 until 2011-03-11)

The 103 and 201 series trains are based at Nara Depot, the 207 series trains are based at Akashi Depot, while the 223-6000 series trains were based at Miyahara Depot.

Freight

Locomotives seen hauling freight trains include the DD51, DE10, EF66, EF81 and EF210.

References

1. ^ JR West Press Release (December 20, 2007) (Japanese)
2. ^ "JRおおさか東線、北ヤード乗り入れ、18年度までに開業、150億円追加投資。". Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 2009-01-31. http://www.nikkei.co.jp/kansai/news/news004797.html. Retrieved 2009-01-31. (Japanese)

External links

• Osaka Soto-Kanjo Railway Co., Ltd. (Japanese)