The Nambu Line (Japanese: 南武線, romanized:Nanbu-sen) is a Japanese railway line which connects Tachikawa Station in Tachikawa, Tokyo and Kawasaki Station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. For most of its length, it parallels the Tama River, the natural border between Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. It lies along the Tama Hills. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network. The line forms part of what JR East refers to as the "Tokyo Mega Loop" (Japanese: 東京メガループ) around Tokyo, consisting of the Keiyo Line, Musashino Line, Nambu Line, and the Yokohama Line. The name refers to the southern (Japanese: 南) part of the ancient province of Musashi (Japanese: 武蔵) (now Tokyo and northern Kanagawa prefecture), through which the Nambu Line runs.
Two trains per hour operate as "Rapid" services between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. All other trains, except some seasonal services, operate as "Local" services and stop at every station.
The "Shitte crossover" (尻手短絡線, Shitte-tanraku-sen) connects Shitte Station and Shin-Tsurumi Yard on the Tōkaidō Main Line (Hinkaku Line) and the Musashino Line. Freight trains operating between Tokyo Freight Terminal and northern Japan operate on both branch lines.
Rolling stock
Nambu Line rolling stock at Nakahara Depot
As of 1October2016[update] the following fleet of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains is used on Nambu Line services, with all trainsets based at Nakahara Depot.
205-1000 series 3 x 2-car EMUs (Nambu Branch Line services, since August 2002)
E127-0 series 2 x 2-car EMUs (Nambu Branch Line services, since September 2023)
From 15 March 2017, the last remaining 209 series trainset, set 53, was replaced by a six-car Ome Line and Itsukaichi Line E233-0 series set 670 modified and renumbered to become E233-8500 series set N36.
The private Nambu Railway opened the line in five stages between 1927 and 1930 (freight branches are omitted):
27 March 1927: Kawasaki – Noborito
1 November 1927: Noborito – Ōmaru (near Minami-Tama)
11 December 1928: Ōmaru – Bubaigawara (then called Yashikibun)
11 December 1929: Bubaigawara – Tachikawa
25 March 1930: Shitte – Hama-Kawasaki
Passenger trains utilised electric multiple units (EMUs) from the beginning. Freight initially consisted primarily of gravel hauled from the Tama River. When the railway reached Tachikawa and made connection with the Ōme Electric Railway, limestone became one of the main freight commodities. The railway was controlled by Asano zaibatsu, which enabled the transport of limestone from its own quarry in Western Tokyo to its cement plant in Kawasaki without using the government railways.
On 1 April 1944, the railway was nationalised by the imperial government and became the Nambu Line of Japanese Government Railways. After the end of World War II, there were several calls for the privatisation of the line, but the line remained a part of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) until its privatization in 1987.
The postwar growth of the Tokyo urban area resulted in the conversion of most of the farmlands along the Nambu Line into residential areas and increased the passenger traffic on the line. Freight traffic reduced after the opening of the Musashino Line (parallel to the Nambu Line) in 1976 and the discontinuance of the limestone freight in 1998, except for the Nambu Branchline, which remains a major freight route.
Limited-stop "Rapid" services between Kawasaki and Noborito with stops at Musashi-Kosugi and Musashi-Mizonokuchi started on 15 December 1969, but were discontinued by the timetable revision on 2 October 1978. After 33 years, Rapid services between Kawasaki and Tachikawa with more stops started on 9 April 2011, postponed from the originally scheduled 12 March due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced with Nambu line stations being assigned station numbers between JN01 and JN26. Numbers increase towards in the westbound direction towards Tachikawa. In addition, station numbers JN51 to JN54 were assigned to the branch line stations with numbers increasing in the direction of Hama-Kawasaki.
From 15 March 2025, Nambu line started operation as "wanman" (One-man) driver-only operation.
↑Saka, Masayuki (August 2014). 東京メガループ 車両・路線の沿革と現況 [Tokyo Megaloop: History and current situation of trains and line]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol.43, no.364. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. pp.28–39.
↑ JR電車編成表 2017冬 [JR EMU Formations - Winter 2017] (in Japanese). Japan: Kotsu Shimbunsha. 16 November 2016. pp.91–93. ISBN978-4-330-73716-4.
↑E127系が南武支線で営業運転を開始[E127 series enters revenue service on the Nambu Branch Line]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 2023-09-14. Archived from the original on 14 September 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
↑南武線（川崎～立川間）E233系車輌導入完了へ[Introduction of E233 series on Nambu Line to be completed]. Tetsudo Hobidas (in Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
↑205系ナハ39編成が国府津車両センターへ[205 series set 39 moved to Kozu Depot]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
↑"⾸都圏エリアへ 「駅ナンバリング」を導⼊します"[Introduce “station numbering” to the Tokyo metropolitan area](PDF). jreast.co.jp (in Japanese). 6 April 2016. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
↑Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (7 April 2016). "JA・JK・JT・AKB…JR東日本、首都圏で駅ナンバリングなど導入へ"[JA, JK, JT, AKB … JR East to introduce station numbering in the Tokyo metropolitan area]. Response Automotive Media (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
↑"首都圏主要線区でワンマン運転を実施します"[One-man operation will be implemented on major lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area](PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2024-11-06.
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