Contents

Chūō–Sōbu Line

Railway line in Japan

Chūō-Sōbu Line
JB
An E231-500 series EMU on the Chuo-Sobu Line in August 2022
Overview
Native name	中央・総武緩行線
Status	Operational
Owner	JR East
Locale	Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture
Termini	Mitaka Chiba
Stations	39
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Depot(s)	Mitaka
Rolling stock	E231-0 series, E231-500 series, E231-800 series
Daily ridership	2,359,390 (2015)[1]
History
Opened	1932
Technical
Line length	60.2 km (37.4 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Route map

The Chūō-Sōbu Line (Japanese: 中央・総武緩行線, Hepburn: Chūō-Sōbu-kankō-sen) is a railway line that runs through Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network, the line operates on separate tracks along the right-of-way of the Chūō Main Line (Chūō Line (Rapid)) and Sōbu Main Line (Sōbu Line (Rapid)), providing service between Mitaka Station in the citiesofMitaka and Musashino and Chiba StationinChiba.

The term Kankō (緩行, lit. "slow run") distinguishes local trains on the Chūō-Sōbu line from rapid service trains running on the Chūō Main Line between Mitaka and Ochanomizu and on the Sōbu Main Line between Kinshichō and Chiba.

Service patterns[edit]

Chūō-Sōbu Line[edit]

• Regularly, trains terminate at Chiba or Tsudanuma at the east side, and terminate at Nakano or Mitaka at the west side
• All trains stop at every station.
  • For station information on the parallel rapid/express lines, see the Chūō Line (Rapid) and Sōbu Line (Rapid) articles.

Tōzai Line through service[edit]

All through service trains enter the Tōzai Line at either Nakano, or Nishi-Funabashi. These trains operate within the following routes:

• Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – Tsudanuma (weekday mornings/evenings only)
• Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – Tsudanuma (weekday mornings/evenings only)
• Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi
• Mitaka – Nakano – (Tōzai Line) – Nishi-Funabashi – (Tōyō Rapid Railway Line) – Tōyō-Katsutadai

Limited express[edit]

Certain limited express and seasonal trains run through, or stop at stations on this line. For information on the Shinjuku Wakashio and the Shinjuku Sazanami that make stops on the Chūō-Sōbu Line at Akihabara, see their respective articles.

Former Early morning / Late night[edit]

At around 9 -10pm, a few westbound trains headed beyond Mitaka onto the Chūō Line (Rapid), with some terminating at Musashi-Koganei, and the others at Tachikawa. The other trains during the hour operated regularly.

At around 4 - 6am and 11pm - 1am, Chūō-Sōbu Line services were divided at Ochanomizu Station, into two sections.

• At the western section (Mitaka – Ochanomizu), Chūō Line (Rapid) trains ran through the Chūō-Sōbu Line tracks between Nakano and Ochanomizu, with services serving between Tokyo and as far as Takao, or even Ōme, which stops at all stations.
• At the eastern section (Ochanomizu – Chiba), local trains operated and terminated at the two ends of the section.

This service pattern last operated on 13 March 2020. To prepare for the eventual installation of platform doors on Chūō-Sōbu Line platforms and the future addition of Green Cars on the Rapid line, Chūō Line Rapid service trains no longer regularly operate on the Chūō-Sōbu Line tracks.^[2]

Station list[edit]

Legend

• ●: All trains stop
• ■: Some trains pass
• ▲: All trains pass on weekends and holidays
• ｜: All trains pass

Official Line name	Station No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)			Local		Rapid		Transfers	Location
				Between stations	Total		Chūō-Sōbu Line	Tozai Line through	Chūō Line	Sōbu Line
Sōbu Main Line	JB39	Chiba	千葉	-	From Chiba 0.0	From Tokyo 39.2	●		↑ To Tokyo	●	■ Uchibō Line ■ Sotobō Line ■ Narita Line ■ Sōbu Main Line KS Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Chiba: KS59) Chiba Urban Monorail Lines 1 and 2	Chūō-ku, Chiba	Chiba
	JB38	Nishi-Chiba	西千葉	1.4	1.4	37.8	●			｜
	JB37	Inage	稲毛	1.9	3.3	35.9	●			■		Inage-ku, Chiba
	JB36	Shin-Kemigawa	新検見川	2.7	6.0	33.2	●			｜		Hanamigawa-ku, Chiba
	JB35	Makuhari	幕張	1.6	7.6	31.6	●			｜	KS Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Makuhari: KS53)
	JB34	Makuharihongō	幕張本郷	2.0	9.6	29.6	●			｜	KS Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Makuharihongō: KS52)
	JB33	Tsudanuma	津田沼	2.9	12.5	26.7	●	●		■	SL Shin-Keisei Line (Shin-Tsudanuma: SL23)	Narashino
	JB32	Higashi-Funabashi	東船橋	1.7	14.2	25.0	●	●		｜		Funabashi
	JB31	Funabashi	船橋	1.8	16.0	23.2	●	●		●	TD Tobu Urban Park Line (TD35) KS Keisei Main Line (Keisei Funabashi: KS22)
	JB30	Nishi-Funabashi	西船橋	2.6	18.6	20.6	●	●		｜	JM Musashino Line (JM10) TR Tōyō Rapid Railway Line (TR01) T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-23) (some trains through to Tsudanuma)
	JB29	Shimōsa-Nakayama	下総中山	1.6	20.2	19.0	●	Through to T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line		｜
	JB28	Moto-Yawata	本八幡	1.6	21.8	17.4	●			｜	S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-21)	Ichikawa
	JB27	Ichikawa	市川	2.0	23.8	15.4	●			■
	JB26	Koiwa	小岩	2.6	26.4	12.8	●			｜		Edogawa	Tokyo
	JB25	Shin-Koiwa	新小岩	2.8	29.2	10.0	●			■		Katsushika
	JB24	Hirai	平井	1.8	31.0	8.2	●			｜		Edogawa
	JB23	Kameido	亀戸	1.9	32.9	6.3	●			｜	TS Tōbu Kameido Line (TS44)	Kōtō
	JB22	Kinshichō	錦糸町	1.5	34.4	4.8	●			●	JO Sōbu Line (Rapid) (JO22) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-13)	Sumida
Sōbu Main Line Branch						From Kinshichō 0.0
	JB21	Ryōgoku	両国	1.5	35.9	1.5	●			To Tokyo and JO Yokosuka Line ↓	E Toei Ōedo Line (E-12)
	JB20	Asakusabashi	浅草橋	0.8	36.7	2.3	●				A Toei Asakusa Line (A-16)	Taitō
	AKBJB19	Akihabara	秋葉原	1.1	37.8	3.4	●				JY Yamanote Line (JY03) JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (JK28) H Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-16) Tsukuba Express (01) S Toei Shinjuku Line (Iwamotocho Station, S-08)	Chiyoda
	JB18	Ochanomizu	御茶ノ水	0.9	38.7	4.3	●		●		JC Chūō Line (Rapid) (JC03) M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-20) C Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line (Shin-ochanomizu: C-12)
Chūō Main Line						From Tokyo 2.6
	JB17	Suidōbashi	水道橋	0.8	39.5	3.4	●		｜		I Toei Mita Line (I-11)
	JB16	Iidabashi	飯田橋	1.1	40.6	4.5	●		｜		T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-06) Y Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (Y-13) N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-10) E Toei Ōedo Line (E-06)
	JB15	Ichigaya	市ケ谷	1.3	41.9	5.8	●		｜		Y Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (Y-14) N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-09) S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-04)
	JB14	Yotsuya	四ツ谷	0.8	42.7	6.6	●		●		M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-12) N Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-08)	Shinjuku
	JB13	Shinanomachi	信濃町	1.3	44.0	7.9	●		｜
	JB12	Sendagaya	千駄ケ谷	0.7	44.7	8.6	●		｜		E Toei Ōedo Line (Kokuritsu-kyogijo: E-25)	Shibuya
	JB11	Yoyogi	代々木	1.0	45.7	9.6	●		｜		JY Yamanote Line (JY18) E Toei Ōedo Line (E-26)
Yamanote Line
	SJKJB10	Shinjuku	新宿	0.7	46.4	10.3	●		●		JY Yamanote Line (JY17) JA Saikyō Line (JA11) JS Shōnan-Shinjuku Line (JS20) Odakyū Odawara Line (OH01) Keiō Line, Keiō New Line (KO01) M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-08) S Toei Shinjuku Line (S-01) E Toei Ōedo Line (E-27, Shinjuku-nishiguchi: E-01) Seibu Shinjuku Line (Seibu-Shinjuku: SS01)	Shinjuku
Chūō Main Line
	JB09	Ōkubo	大久保	1.4	47.8	11.7	●		｜		JY Yamanote Line (Shin-Ōkubo: JY16)
	JB08	Higashi-Nakano	東中野	1.1	48.9	12.8	●		｜		E Toei Ōedo Line (E-31)	Nakano
	JB07	Nakano	中野	1.9	50.8	14.7	●	●	■		T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (T-01) (some trains through to Mitaka)
	JB06	Kōenji	高円寺	1.4	52.2	16.1	●	●	▲			Suginami
	JB05	Asagaya	阿佐ケ谷	1.2	53.4	17.3	●	●	▲
	JB04	Ogikubo	荻窪	1.4	54.8	18.7	●	●	■		M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-01)
	JB03	Nishi-Ogikubo	西荻窪	1.9	56.7	20.6	●	●	▲
	JB02	Kichijōji	吉祥寺	1.9	58.6	22.5	●	●	■		Keiō Inokashira Line (IN17)	Musashino
	JB01	Mitaka	三鷹	1.6	60.2	24.1	●	●	■		JC Chūō Line (JC12)	Mitaka

Rolling stock[edit]

Chūō-Sōbu Line[edit]

Trains used on the line are based at Mitaka Depot.

• E231-0 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (since February 2000)^[3]
• E231-500 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (since 1 December 2014)^[4]

Tozai Line - Toyo Rapid Line through service[edit]

Trains run between Mitaka and Tsudanuma (Chūō-Sōbu Line) or Toyo-Katsutadai (Toyo Rapid Line), all via the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line between Nakano and Nishi-Funabashi.

• E231-800 series 10-car EMUs (light blue and blue stripe) (Does not run on the Toyo Rapid Line)

• Tokyo Metro 05 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)
• Tokyo Metro 07 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)
• Tokyo Metro 15000 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe)

• 
  JR East E231-0 series
• 
  JR East E231-500 series
• 
  Tokyo Metro 05 series
• 
  Tokyo Metro 15000 series
• 
  Tokyo Metro 07 series
• 
  JR East E231-800 series

Former rolling stock[edit]

Chūō-Sōbu Line[edit]

• 101 series EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1963 until November 1988)^[3]
• 103 series 10-car EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1979 until March 2001)^[3]
• 201 series 10-car EMUs (yellow livery) (from 1982 until November 2001)^[3]
• 205 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (from August 1989 until November 2001)^[3]
• 209-500 series 10-car EMUs (yellow stripe) (from December 1998 until 19 April 2019)^{[citation needed]}
• E231-900 series 10-car EMU (yellow stripe) (from 27 March 1999 as 209-950 series, until 25 February 2020)^[5]

Tozai Line - Toyo Rapid Line through service[edit]

• 301 series 10-car EMUs (light blue stripe) (on Tozai Line inter-running services from 1966 until 2003)

Chūō Line (Early morning / Late night)[edit]

• See Chūō Line (Rapid)#Rolling stock for the train types which operated this service until 13 March 2020.

• 
  A Chūō-Sōbu Line 101 series EMU in August 1978
• 
  A Chūō-Sōbu Line 201 series EMU in May 2001
• 
  A Chūō-Sōbu Line 301 series EMU in February 2003
• 
  A Chūō-Sōbu Line 205 series EMU
• 
  A Chūō-Sōbu Line 209-500 series EMU in April 2009
• 
  The sole E231-900 series EMU in June 2019

Timeline[edit]

Rolling stock transitions since 1965

History[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Women-only cars, designed to prevent gropers, were introduced on this line during morning peak periods starting on 20 November 2006.

On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced to the Chuo-Sobu line with stations being assigned station numbers between JB01 and JB39.^[6][7] Numbers increase towards in the eastbound direction towards Chiba.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chūō-Sōbu Line.

• Chūō-Sōbu Line (Japan Visitor) (in English)