Keihan Keishin Line


The Keishin Line is an interurban partially-Street [running train|street running] railway line in Japan operated by the private railway operator Keihan Electric Railway. The line connects Misasagi Station in Kyoto and Biwako-hamaotsu Station in the neighbouring city of Ōtsu.

Train service

Except trains between Shinomiya Station and Biwako-hamaotsu Station in early morning and late night, all trains go directly from Biwako-hamaotsu Station to Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station or Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station on the Kyoto City Subway Tōzai Line. During off peak hours, the line operates every 20 minutes.

Stations and connecting lines

;Abandoned stations
  • Midorigaoka Undōjō-mae: Shinomiya - Oiwake
  • Kamisekidera: Ōtani - Kamisakaemachi
  • Fudanotsuji: Kamisakaemachi - Biwako-Hamaōtsu

Abandoned section

The station list is as of 1997 before the street running section was abandoned due to replacement by the Tōzai Line subway. It also lists the corresponding subway stations that replaced the Keishin Line stations.
StationConnection / noteReplaced byLocation
Keihan Main Line, Keihan Ōtō LineHigashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Higashiyama-SanjōHigashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Heianjingū-maeAbandoned in 1944Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
OkazakimichiAbandoned in 1931Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
KeageHigashiyama-ku, Kyoto
KujōyamaYamashina-ku, Kyoto
HinookaYamashina-ku, Kyoto
MisasagiYamashina-ku, Kyoto

Rolling stock

History

The line was built in 1912 to connect the city centers of Kyoto and Ōtsu by electric streetcars, as the steam-powered Tōkaidō Main Line was an indirect route between the two cities before its realignment in 1921.
The busiest section of the line, between Keishin-Sanjō Station and Misasagi Station, was replaced in 1997 by the Kyoto Subway Tōzai Line, and the voltage increased to 1,500 V DC in conjunction with this project in 1996. One of the aims of the realignment was to move the tracks underground in the Kyoto area, in order to remove the former alignment along public roads. The line retains its public road alignment in Ōtsu.