Tanimachi Line

Tanimachi Line
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Tanimachi Line 30000 series train at Yao Depot, September 2009
Overview
Type Rapid transit
System Osaka Municipal Subway
Locale Osaka
Stations 26
Line number 2
Operation
Opened March 24, 1967
Owner Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau
Depot(s) Dainichi, Yao
Rolling stock 22 series, 30000 series
Technical
Line length 28.1 km (17.5 mi)
Track length 28.3 km (17.6 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification 750 V DC, third rail
Operating speed 70 km/h (43 mph)
Route map

The Tanimachi Line (谷町線 Tanimachi-sen) is a rapid transit line of the Osaka Municipal Subway, running from Dainichi Station in Moriguchi to Yaominami Station in Yao through Osaka City. Its official name is Rapid Electric Tramway Line No. 2 (高速電気軌道第2号線), while the Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau refers to it as Osaka City Rapid Railway Line No. 2 (大阪市高速鉄道第2号線), and in MLIT publications, it is written as Line No. 2 (Tanimachi Line) (2号線（谷町線）). On line maps, stations on the Tanimachi Line are indicated with the letter T.

The central part of the line runs underneath Tanimachi-suji, a broad north-south thoroughfare lined with prefectural government buildings and Buddhist temples. Its only above-ground segment is the vicinity of Yaominami Station. The line color on maps, station signs and train livery is royal purple (京紫 kyō-murasaki), derived from the kasaya robes worn by Buddhist monks ().

Overview

As noted above, the Tanimachi Line is officially "Line No. 2", but it was actually the fourth to open, after Line No. 3 (the Yotsubashi Line) during World War II and Line No. 4 (the Chūō Line) in the early 1960s. The line was opened gradually from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

Ridership, though less than half the numbers of the Midōsuji Line, is still the second-highest of all lines in the Osaka subway network, thanks to the large number of government buildings in eastern Chūō-ku and schools around Tennōji (total ridership for fiscal year 2009 was approximately 480,000 per day).[1] It is also the second-most profitable subway line in Osaka (total profit for FY 2009 was ¥7.3 billion — a 9.4% increase over the previous year).[1]

The Tanimachi Line has the longest operating distance (for the purpose of fare calculation) in the Osaka subway network, after the Midōsuji Line (although the latter would be the longest in the Osaka subway network if the Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway section of the Midōsuji Line was taken into account). It runs completely underground from Dainichi to just before Yaominami, and was known as the longest continuously underground subway line in Japan for a long time after the opening of Yaominami Station (it was also among the longest subway tunnels in the world at the time of its opening).[2] Now, it is fourth in Japan after the Toei Ōedo Line (entire line, 40.7 km), Saitama Rapid Railway Line/Tokyo Metro Namboku Line/Tōkyū Meguro Line (Urawa-Misono –Fudōmae via Akabane-Iwabuchi and Meguro, 36.9 km), and Nagoya Municipal Subway Meijō Line/Meikō Line (entire line, 32.4 km).

If one considers Higashi-Umeda, Umeda, and Nishi-Umeda Stations as the same station (as they are for the purpose of transfers within 30 minutes), the Tanimachi Line has connections to all other subway lines in Osaka. (By comparison, the Chūō Line is the only subway line in Osaka that connects to all other subway lines, as well as the Nankō Port Town Line.)

Line data

For the purposes of fare calculation, the Higashi-Umeda – Tennōji segment is adjusted to the same length as Umeda – Tennōji on the Midōsuji Line.

Stations

No. Station[3] Japanese Distance (km) Transfers Location
T11 Dainichi 大日 0.0 Osaka Monorail Main Line Moriguchi
T12 Moriguchi 守口 1.8
T13 Taishibashi-Imaichi 太子橋今市 3.0 Imazatosuji Line(I14) Asahi-ku, Osaka
T14 Sembayashi-Omiya 千林大宮 4.0
T15 Sekime-Takadono 関目高殿 5.1
T16 Noe-Uchindai 野江内代 5.9 Miyakojima-ku, Osaka
T17 Miyakojima 都島 7.2
T18 Tenjimbashisuji Rokuchōme 天神橋筋六丁目 8.5 Kita-ku, Osaka
T19 Nakazakichō 中崎町 9.3
T20 Higashi-Umeda 東梅田 10.3
T21 Minami-morimachi 南森町 11.5
T22 Temmabashi 天満橋 13.1 Keihan: Main Line, Nakanoshima Line Chūō-ku, Osaka
T23 Tanimachi Yonchōme 谷町四丁目 13.8 Chūō Line (C18)
T24 Tanimachi Rokuchome 谷町六丁目 14.6 Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line (N18)
T25 Tanimachi Kyūchōme 谷町九丁目 15.5 Tennōji-ku, Osaka
T26 Shitennōji-mae Yūhigaoka 四天王寺前夕陽ヶ丘 16.5
T27 Tennōji 天王寺 17.6
T28 Abeno 阿倍野 18.2 Hankai Uemachi Line Abeno-ku, Osaka
T29 Fuminosato 文の里 19.3
T30 Tanabe 田辺 20.3 Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka
T31 Komagawa-Nakano 駒川中野 21.3
T32 Hirano 平野 23.0 Hirano-ku, Osaka
T33 Kire-Uriwari 喜連瓜破 24.4
T34 Deto 出戸 25.7
T35 Nagahara 長原 26.9
T36 Yaominami 八尾南 28.1 Yao

Stopping patterns

All trains stop at every station along their route. During the day, trains alternate between Dainichi – Yaominami and Miyakojima – Fuminosato, with additional trains starting or terminating at Kire-Uriwari during rush hour. As the line is quite long and goes through the center of Osaka, express service was planned, but never implemented.

Since 1976, all trains have had 6 cars. Platforms are long enough to accommodate 8-car trainsets; the unused portions are fenced.

Women-only cars

Women-only cars were introduced on the line from 15 December 2003. There is one such designated car in each train (Car No. 3), the use of which is restricted on weekdays from the first train until 9 a.m. The women-only restriction is lifted after 9 a.m.

Women-only car
←YaominamiDainichi→
1 2 3 4 5 6

Rolling stock

Current

The 30-series train sets, in service since the 1960s, are steadily being replaced by the newer 30000 series, to be completely phased out within the next few years.

Train maintenance and inspection is carried out by the same group in charge of Chūō Line trains, at the Morinomiya depot and workshop, accessible through a spur located before Tanimachi Rokuchōme station on the Tanimachi Line and after Tanimachi Yonchōme station on the Chūō Line (the Dainichi and Yao depots are used mainly to store off-service trains). In 2006, in preparation for the opening of the Kintetsu Keihanna Line extension of the Chūō Line (then known as the Higashi-Osaka Line), nine 20-series trainsets of the Tanimachi Line were exchanged for nine 22-series trainsets (converted from 24-series trains) from the Chūō Line.

Former

History

Construction

According to the original plan laid out for the Tanimachi Line in 1927, it was to follow Matsuyamachi-suji (to the west of Tanimachi-suji). It was also intended to interface directly with the Midōsuji Line directly at Umeda, similar to the cross-platform interchange between the Yotsubashi Line and the Midōsuji Line at Daikokuchō. A second tunnel was dug at Umeda for this purpose, but the connection southwards was plagued by collapses and other accidents; as a result, the planned route was changed to the current one, stopping at Higashi-Umeda and then veering eastward. The tunnel at Umeda reserved for the Tanimachi Line ("Matsuyamachi Line") went unused for decades before finally being adapted for the southbound track of the Midōsuji Line in 1989, allowing for expanded platforms to cope with overcrowding.

Over the course of tunnel construction for the line, the underground waterways in Osaka were greatly altered, causing a number of incidents in which famous wells dried up.

In 1970, during the construction of the underground Tenjimbashi Rokuchōme Station, there was a large gas explosion which caused a number of workers' deaths. This became known as the "Ten-Roku Gas Explosion Accident" in Japan.

Successor to the Nankai Hirano Line

Compared to the majority of areas served by the subway, where it runs underneath major roadways with high levels of traffic, part of the Tanimachi Line runs underneath relatively narrow streets with fewer cars, near residential areas. This is because the Abeno – Hirano section of the line was constructed as the successor in passenger transport to the same section of the Nankai Hirano Line, a tramway which ran aboveground between Imaike and Hirano, following the route of the Tanimachi Line from Abeno eastward. While it belongs to a different operator, this section of the Tanimachi Line is essentially the old streetcar line converted to an underground rapid-transit service.

The names of stations within this section reflect the station names of the Hirano Line:

Station Replaced by Note
Imaike Station still exists on the Hankai Tramway Hankai Line; Hirano Line branched off just south of the station
Tobita Located at the southwest edge of Tobita Shinchi, next to the wall of the former pleasure district
Abeno (Saijō-mae) Abeno Located perpendicular to Uemachi Line Abeno Station; a spur east of the station allowed through service between Tennōji-ekimae and Hirano
Nawashiroda
Fuminosato Fuminosato Subway station shifted northwest towards Nawashiroda; Hirano Line station was located at the entrance to Fuminosato shopping arcade
Momogaike Located next to Momogaike park, where the JR Hanwa Line crosses over the Tanimachi Line
Tanabe Tanabe Subway station shifted 200m northwest towards Momogaike
Komagawa-chō Komagawa-Nakano Located near Komagawa-ekimae Shopping Street
Nakano Located roughly where Imazato-suji crosses the Tanimachi Line
Nishi-Hirano Hirano Located north of Hirano Ward office; former station site landscaped and maintained as "Setoguchi Park"
Hirano Located east of Osaka Inner Loop Road, near the southwest edge of historical Hirano Village; small park and monument in former location

Timeline

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tanimachi Line.
  1. 1 2 "Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau: Current Account Balance by Line" (PDF).
  2. ↑ The 1979 to 1981 Japanese editions of the Guinness Book of World Records (published by Kodansha) listed as the "World's Longest Subway Tunnel" Morden – East Finchley via Bank (27.8km) on the Northern line of the London Underground, while the 1982 edition honored Belyayevo – Medvedkovo (30.km, opened 1978) on the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line of the Moscow Metro.
  3. ↑ "谷町線". Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "公営地下鉄在籍車数ビッグ３　大阪市交通局 (One of the big three public subway operators: Osaka Municipal Subway)". Japan Railfan Magazine. Vol. 49 no. 576. April 2009. pp. 88–99.

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