Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Kodomonokuni Line
The Kodomonokuni Line is a railway line in Kanagawa Prefecture owned by the Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Company and operated by Tokyu Corporation.
History
The line opened in April 1967, at the same time as its 'parent' station, Nagatsuta. It is a single track local line designed principally to cater for visitors to Kodomonokuni Theme Park park. Consequently, the two-car trains are particularly busy during summer weekends and holidays.The line originally was built and opened as a transportation link to the park from the Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line. The Children's Land Association owned the right-of-way and the Kodomonokuni Station, but the actual operation was contracted out to Tokyu Corporation.
In 1997, the line was sold to Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Company, a joint venture of Tokyu Corporation, the Kanagawa prefectural government and the Yokohama city government. In 2000, an intermediate station, Onda, opened in Aoba-ku, Yokohama to reflect the changing role of this line as a commuter line. MMR today owns the right-of-way, Kodomonokuni and Onda stations and the rolling stock, but the actual operation continues to be contracted to Tōkyū.
Local residents along the train line have expressed an interest in getting the Kodomonokuni Line extended northward to meet the Odakyū Odawara Line at Tsurukawa; however the planning has not yet taken off because the proposed rail alignment, despite its short distance, involves two prefectures and three cities.
The travel time from Nagatsuta to Kodomonokuni is 7 minutes. At both Kodomonokuni and Nagatsuta stations there are ticket machines for this line, but the Kodomonokuni Line shares Tōkyū platforms at Nagatsuta.
Trains depart every 20 minutes throughout the day and at weekends; however, services are more regular during morning and evening peak times, and during Golden Week.
Station list
All stations are located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.Rolling stock
All trains are based at Nagasuta Depot, accessed via a spur located before Onda Station.Former rolling stock
- Tokyu 3000 series (original)
- Tokyu 3600 series
- Tokyu 7200 series
- Tokyu 7000 series (original)
Future rolling stock
- Tokyu 8500 series. This train is set to be an excursion train, preserved from set 8637 shortened to 4 cars. As well as the Kodomonokuni Line, it is set to run on the Tokyu Oimachi and Den-en-toshi lines.