Seibu Shinjuku Line
Seibu 10000 series EMU running on the Seibu Shinjuku Line in July 2022
Overview
Native name西武新宿線
Owner Seibu Railway
LocaleKanto region
Termini
Stations29
Service
TypeCommuter rail
Depot(s)Minami-Iriso
Daily ridership945,302 (FY2010)[1]
History
Opened1894
Technical
Line length47.5 km (29.5 mi)
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification1,500 V DC, overhead catenary
Route map

0.0
Seibu-Shinjuku
Chūō Line to Takao, Shiojiri
2.0
Takadanobaba
3.2
Shimo-Ochiai
3.9
Nakai
5.2
Araiyakushimae
6.1
Numabukuro
7.1
Nogata
8.0
Toritsukasei
8.5
Saginomiya
9.8
Shimo-Igusa
10.7
Iogi
11.7
Kami-Igusa
Kami-Shakujii Depot
12.8
Kami-Shakujii
14.1
Musashiseki
15.3
Higashi-Fushimi
16.3
Seibu-Yagisawa
17.6
Tanashi
19.9
Hanakoganei
22.6
Kodaira
Seibu Haijima Line
Haijima
from Seibu-Shinjuku
24.6
Kumegawa
Kokubunji
from Shin-Tokorozawa
26.0
Higashi-Murayama
Seibu Seibuen Line
Seibuen
28.9
Tokorozawa
Ikebukuro Line to Ikebukuro
30.5
Kōkū-kōen
31.7
Shin-Tokorozawa
33.7
Minami-Iriso Junction
Minami-Iriso Depot
35.6
Iriso
38.6
Sayamashi
41.3
Shin-Sayama
43.9
Minami-Ōtsuka
Seibu Ahina Line Ahina Freight Terminal
46.6
Wakita Junction
Tobu Tojo Line left to Ikebukuro
47.5
Hon-Kawagoe

The Seibu Shinjuku Line (西武新宿線, Seibu-Shinjuku-sen) is a Japanese railway line owned by the private railway operator Seibu Railway, connecting Seibu Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo with 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

A Seibu Railway train driver at Kami-Shakujii Station in May 2015

The line is mostly double-track, except for 1.1 km (1200 yards) of single track between Wakita Junction and Hon-Kawagoe Station. While the section from Seibu-Shinjuku to Takadanobaba is elevated, the line runs at ground level through a suburban area until Saginomiya.

Trains

Seven types of train service are operated on the line: Local, Semi Express, Express, Commuter Express, Rapid Express, Haijima Liner, and Koedo limited express, as shown below. Limited Express trains use Seibu 10000 series EMUs, and a supplementary limited express ticket is required. In addition, operation of the all-seat reserved train "Haijima Liner" using the Seibu 40000 series EMU started from March of 2018. The "Haijima Liner" only operates in one direction, from Seibu-Shinjuku to Haijima.

There are regular through operations to the Haijima Line. There are also occasional through services to Seibukyūjō-mae Station in order to bring fans to the Seibu Dome for Saitama Seibu Lions baseball games. The Seibu Shinjuku Line is one of the few major commuter rail lines in Tokyo that does not have through service to the Tokyo Metro or Toei Subway network.

Through service onto the Seibu Kokubunji Line has been suspended since 19 March 2019 because of the reconstruction of Higashi-Murayama Station into an elevated station.[2]

Stations

O: stop
|: pass
△: Boarding passengers only
  L: Local (各停, Kakutei) stop at all stations, not shown
  SE: Semi Express (準急, Junkyū)
  E: Express (急行, Kyūkō)
  CE: Commuter Express (通勤急行, Tsūkin Kyūkō)
  RE: Rapid Express (快速急行, Kaisoku Kyūkō)
  HL: Haijima Liner (拝島ライナー, Haijima Rainā)[3]
  LE: Limited Express Koedo-go (特急「小江戸号」, Tokkyū Koedo-gō)
No. Station Japanese Distance
(km)
SE E CE RE HL LE Transfers Location
SS01 Seibu-Shinjuku 西武新宿 0.0 O O O O O O JY Yamanote Line

JC Chuo Rapid Line

JB Chuo-Sobu Line

JS Shonan-Shinjuku Line

JA Saikyo Line

Keio Line, Keio New Line

Odakyu Odawara Line

M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-08)

S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-01)

E Toei Oedo Line Shinjuku (E-27), Shinjuku-nishiguchi (E-01)

Shinjuku Tokyo
SS02 Takadanobaba 高田馬場 2.0 O O O O O JY Yamanote Line
T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-03)
SS03 Shimo-Ochiai 下落合 3.2 | | |
SS04 Nakai 中井 3.9 | | | E Toei Oedo Line
SS05 Araiyakushi-mae 新井薬師前 5.2 | | | Nakano
SS06 Numabukuro 沼袋 6.1 | | |
SS07 Nogata 野方 7.1 | | |
SS08 Toritsu-Kasei 都立家政 8.0 | | |
SS09 Saginomiya 鷺ノ宮 8.5 O O O |
SS10 Shimo-Igusa 下井草 9.8 | | | Suginami
SS11 Iogi 井荻 10.7 | | |
SS12 Kami-Igusa 上井草 11.7 | | |
SS13 Kami-Shakujii 上石神井 12.8 O O O | Nerima
SS14 Musashi-Seki 武蔵関 14.1 O | |
SS15 Higashi-Fushimi 東伏見 15.3 O | | Nishitōkyō
SS16 Seibu-Yagisawa 西武柳沢 16.3 O | |
SS17 Tanashi 田無 17.6 O O O O |
SS18 Hana-Koganei 花小金井 19.9 O O | Kodaira
SS19 Kodaira 小平 22.6 O O O | Seibu Haijima Line
SS20 Kumegawa 久米川 24.6 O O | Higashimurayama
SS21 Higashi-Murayama 東村山 26.0 O O O O O
SS22 Tokorozawa 所沢 28.9 O O O O O Seibu Ikebukuro Line Tokorozawa Saitama
SS23 Kōkū-kōen 航空公園 30.5 O O |
SS24 Shin-Tokorozawa 新所沢 31.7 O O O O |
SS25 Iriso 入曽 35.6 O O O | Sayama
SS26 Sayamashi 狭山市 38.6 O O O O O
SS27 Shin-Sayama 新狭山 41.3 O O O |
SS28 Minami-Ōtsuka 南大塚 43.9 O O O | Seibu Ahina Line (Freight, closed) Kawagoe
SS29 Hon-Kawagoe 本川越 47.5 O O O O O TJ Tobu Tojo Line (Kawagoeshi Station)

Rolling stock

In service

Commuter trains

Limited express trains

History

The oldest section of the Shinjuku Line is between Higashi-Murayama Station and Hon-Kawagoe Station. This section was built by the Kawagoe Railway (川越鉄道, Kawagoe Tetsudō) to serve as a freight feeder for the Kōbu Railway (甲武鉄道, Kōbu Tetsudō) between Shinjuku and Tachikawa (now known as the Chūō Main Line). The initial Kawagoe Railway route opened between Kokubunji and Kumegawa in 1894; this portion is now known as the Seibu Kokubunji Line. Its northward extension to Kawagoe, the first part of what is now the Seibu Shinjuku Line, opened in 1895. Following several mergers and name changes between 1920 and 1922, the Kawagoe Railway became part of the Seibu Railway.

In 1927, Seibu Railway built its new dual track, electrified at 1,500 V DC, 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 Japanese National Railways Chūō Main Line, the route being in the middle of the two. The rest of the line was electrified at the same time.

The Higashi-Murayama to Tokorozawa section was double-tracked between 1950 and 1958, with the Tokorozawa to Irimagawa section double-tracked between 1967 and 1975. The rest of the line (except for the section between the Wakita Junction and Hon-Kawagoe Station) was double-tracked between 1980 and 1991.

Lumine Est building, originally designed to house the Tokyo terminal for the Seibu Shinjuku Line

In 1952, a dual-track 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, as Seibu planned to extend the line to the second floor of what is now known as Lumine Est on the east side of Shinjuku Station. This plan was later scrapped due to insufficient space to handle trains longer than six cars. Seibu-Shinjuku Station was expanded to include a high-rise hotel in 1977.[4]

From the start of the revised timetable on 30 June 2012, the Haijima rapid (拝島快速, Haijima kaisoku)andRapid Express (快速急行, Kaisoku Kyūkō) services were abolished.[5]

Station numbering was introduced on all Seibu Railway lines during fiscal 2012, with Seibu Shinjuku Line stations numbered prefixed with the letters "SS"(SeibuShinjuku line).[6]

From the timetable revision on 14 March 2020, the limited-stop Rapid Express (快速急行, Kaisoku Kyūkō) was reinstated for weekend and holiday services.[7]

Express tunnel

In the 1980s, Seibu drew up a plan to build an underground line for express trains between Seibu-Shinjuku and Kami-Shakujii, including a new underground station between Seibu-Shinjuku and the Metro Promenade. This plan was indefinitely postponed in 1995 due to costs and a decline in passenger ridership versus previous projections.[4] Seibu was also a bidder to acquire the former JR freight terminal site in 1989, where they planned to build a new underground terminal; Takashimaya won the bid and constructed the Takashimaya Times Square complex on the site. In 2019, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government officially cancelled the plan.[8]

Future expansion

Through operations with the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line

During the 1960s, Seibu unsuccessfully negotiated with the Teito Rapid Transit Authority to offer through service between the Seibu Shinjuku Line and Tozai Line. Seibu's approach was rejected in favor of through operation with the Chuo Main Line.[4] At Takadanobaba station, the interchange between the Seibu Shinjuku Line and Tozai Line involves passing through a few levels from the elevated Seibu Shinjuku line platform to the underground Tozai line platform. The transfer is considerably crowded during the rush hour, as Takadanobaba is the busiest station on the entire Seibu Shinjuku Line. On March 9, 2015, the Nakano Ward Council released a proposal for through operations between the Seibu Shinjuku Line and Tokyo Metro Tozai Line by constructing an underground connection between the two lines to remove the transfer between the two lines.[9] In September 2020, Seibu Railway President Kimio Kitamura said during an interview with the Toyo Keizai that there have been many complaints from passengers heading to the city center on the Seibu Shinjuku Line and Seibu is considering various options to address this issue, such as getting through service into the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line.[10]

Grade separation projects

Initial work has started on grade separating the line from Nogata to Iogi Stations[11] and from Iogi to Seibu-Yagisawa Stations.[12] Proposals are being done to for grade separating the line from Tanashi to Hanakoganei Stations[13] and from Takadanobaba to Nakai Stations.[14]

See also

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

  1. Seibu ridership in 2010 Train Media (sourced from Seibu) Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  2. "西武鉄道新宿線、国分寺線及び西武園線(東村山駅付近)の連続立体交差事業と鉄道付属街路事業に関する「事業及び工事説明会」を開催しました。" (PDF). Higashi Murayama City Online. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. "西武新宿線停車駅あんない". Seibu Railway. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "西武新宿駅はなぜ遠いのか 幻の東口乗り入れ計画". The Nikkei. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  5. 西武鉄道6月30日ダイヤ改正 新宿線系快速急行・拝島快速は廃止 [Seibu 30 June Timetable Revision: Shinjuku Line Rapid Express and Haijima Rapid to be Abolished]. Tetsudo Hobidas (in Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  6. 西武線全駅で駅ナンバリングを導入します [Station numbering to be introduced at all Seibu stations] (PDF). News Release (in Japanese). Japan: Seibu Railway. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  7. "2020 年 3 月14 日(土) ダイヤ改正を実施します" [14 March 2020 Timetable Revision] (PDF). 29 January 2020.
  8. "西武新宿線「幻の複々線化」正式に中止へ 「無期限延期」から四半世紀". 乗りものニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  9. "中野区議会". 中野区議会 (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  10. "「新宿線―東西線直通」へ、西武社長の意気込み | 経営". 東洋経済オンライン (in Japanese). 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  11. "西武新宿線(野方駅~井荻駅間)連続立体交差化に係る構造形式 の調査検討の結果について" (PDF). 14 May 2014.
  12. "西武新宿線(井荻駅~西武柳沢駅間)". www.kensetsu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  13. "鉄道立体化に関するアンケート調査の結果について|東京都小平市公式ホームページ". www.city.kodaira.tokyo.jp. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  14. "令和4年度予算(案)の概要" (PDF).
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