Sagami Line


The Sagami Line is a railway line in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company. It approximately parallels the east bank of the Sagami River. The line connects Hashimoto Station in Sagamihara and Chigasaki Station in Chigasaki. The entire line is single-track, with passing available at almost every second station.
WWW Official Site

Services

All services on the Line are Local trains, stopping at every station.
, services operate approximately every 15 minutes during morning and evening peak periods, and every 20 minutes at other times.
Running time is between 49 and 73 minutes towards Hashimoto, and between 46 and 67 minutes towards Chigasaki. The large variance in running times is due to the entire line being single-track, requiring trains to wait at passing stations for a train in the opposite direction to arrive before they can depart.
Between March 1991 and 11 March 2022, some trains operated through services onto the Yokohama Line beyond Hashimoto and made four additional stops, terminating at Hachiōji Station.

Rolling stock

Former Rolling Stock:
The Sagami Line formerly operated a series of Diesel Multiple Unit passenger trains before electrification. The 205-500 series four-car EMUs were introduced in 1991 after the line was electrified. New E131-500 series EMUs replaced the older 205 series EMUs starting from Fall 2021.

Stations

  • All stations located in Kanagawa Prefecture.
  • All trains stop at every station.
  • Stations marked "o", "v", or "^" allow passing; stations marked"｜" do not.

History

The Chigasaki to Samukawa section was opened by the Sagami Railway in 1921, primarily to haul gravel. The line was extended to Atsugi in 1926, and to Hashimoto in 1931.
The line was nationalized in 1944 during World War II; the private Sagami Railway began operating the then Jinchū Line, now the Sagami Railway Main Line.
A short branch to Nishi-Samukawa Station from Samukawa Station was closed in 1984, and freight services ceased in 1998.
After privatization of Japanese National Railways in 1987, the line was electrified in 1991. Before the JNR privatization, there were discussions to transfer the line to the Sagami Railway in order meet the expected demands of passenger traffic in the Tokyo and Yokohama suburbs. Because it had long been left as a non-electrified rural line, the cost to upgrade the line was beyond the ability of then financially constrained JNR; Sagami Railway, on the other hand, was running a profitable operation on its own line. However, the two companies did not agree on a deal, and plans to transfer the line were cancelled.
Upon electrification, through services to the Yokohama Line began, using the new 205-500 series EMUs. The through service operation ended on 11 March 2022.
The line was converted to one-man operation on 12 March 2022 following the completion of delivery of the E131-500 series trains.