Odakyū Odawara Line


The Odakyu Odawara Line is the main line of Japanese private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway. It extends from Shinjuku in central Tokyo through the southwest suburbs to the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture. From Yoyogi-Uehara Station some trains continue onto the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line and beyond to the East Japan Railway Company Joban Line.

Operation

Destinations are from Shinjuku unless otherwise noted. English abbreviations are unofficial.
; Limited Express
; Rapid Express
; Express
; Commuter Express
; Semi Express
; Commuter Semi Express
; Local

Stations

Notes:
Legend:
  • ● - all trains stop
  • ■ - some trains stop
  • ｜- all trains pass
  • ○ - On Weekdays, Outbound for Isehara Evening Rush Hour only.

History

The Odawara Express Railway Co. opened the entire line on 1 April 1927 in order to allow for the Emperor's family to travel on the line, though as duplication works were not completed until October that year, there was initial timetable and signalling issues. Although primarily intended as a passenger line, gravel began to be hauled in 1930.
In 1942, the company was forcibly merged by the government with Tokyu Corporation and the line was named the Tokyu Odawara Line. Tokyu was broken up in 1948 and the line was transferred to the newly founded Odakyu Electric Railway Co.
Through operation to the Hakone Tozan Railway's Hakone Tozan Line began in 1950 once dual gauge track was commissioned. A connecting track was laid in 1955 to Matsuda Station on the Gotemba Line of the Japanese National Railways, and limited express service through to the line started. To function as a bypass to central Tokyo, through service on the Eidan Subway Chiyoda Line commenced in 1978 via Yoyogi-Uehara.
Increasing traffic volume since the 1970s led to plans being formed in 1985 for a track upgrading project on the Odawara Line, though land acquisition issues stalled major track expansion work until construction began in 2013; the project is being carried out between Yoyogi-Uehara and Mukōgaoka-Yūen, quadrupling the Odawara Line trackage and stacking the tracks underground, allowing for increased express services. Originally a viaduct was planned but this was changed to underground tracks, and work on the tunnel between Setagaya-Daita and Higashi-Kitazawa was completed in 2018.

Former connecting lines