A 30000-series train stabled at the pocket track after Shin Osaka Station.
The Osaka Metro Midōsuji Line (御堂筋線, Midōsuji-sen) is a rapid transit line in Osaka, Japan, operated by Osaka Metro. Constructed under Midōsuji, a major north-south street, it is the oldest line in the Osaka subway system and the second oldest in Japan, following the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. Its official name is Rapid Electric Tramway Line No. 1 (高速電気軌道第1号線), while the Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau refers to it as Osaka City Rapid Railway Line No. 1 (大阪市高速鉄道第1号線), and in MLIT publications it is referred to as Line No. 1 (Midōsuji Line) (1号線（御堂筋線）). On line maps, stations on the Midōsuji Line are indicated with the letter "M".
North of Nakatsu it runs above ground in the median of Shin-midōsuji, an elevated freeway.
The section between Minoh-kayano and Esaka is owned and operated by Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (北大阪急行電鉄, Kita Osaka Dentetsu), but is seamless to the passengers except with respect to fare calculations.
In June 2018, the Midosuji line is the most congested railway line in the Kansai region of Japan,[2] at its peak running at 151% capacity between Umeda and Yodoyabashi stations.
Since 1987, all Midōsuji Line rolling stock operated by Osaka Metro are stored and maintained at Nakamozu Depot, the first underground depot in the Osaka Metro system. Additionally, said rolling stock can also access Midorigi Depot on the Yotsubashi Line via a crossover located after Daikokuchō Station and Morinomiya Depot on the Chūō Line via the Daikokuchō crossover and then onto a spur track near Hommachi Station, built in 2014. The first depot for the Midōsuji Line was located near Umeda station, which was replaced by Abeno Depot in 1950, Nagai Depot in 1954 (now used mainly for maintenance-of-way vehicles), and Abiko Depot in 1960 (closed in 1987).
The Midōsuji Line was the first subway line in Osaka and the first government-operated subway line in Japan. Its construction was partly an effort to give work to the many unemployed people in Osaka during the early 1930s. The initial tunnel from UmedatoShinsaibashi, as well as the Umeda depot, were constructed entirely by hand and opened in 1933 after being initially plagued by cave-ins and water leakage caused by the poor composition of the earth below northern Osaka and the equally poor engineering skills of the work crew.[7] The first cars were hauled onto the line by manpower and pack animals from the Government Railway tracks near Umeda.[citation needed]
Although the line only operated with single cars at first, its stations were designed from the outset to handle trains of up to eight cars. The line was gradually extended over the next few decades, completing its current length in 1987, making it the second-longest subway line in Osaka after the Tanimachi Line (excluding the Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway extension of the Midōsuji Line).
20 May 1933 – Umeda (temporary station) – Shinsaibashi (opening).[8] Trains started running in single car formation on a single track.
6 October 1935 – Umeda Station (present station) opened. Trains started running on two tracks.
30 October 1935 – Shinsaibashi – Namba (opening). Trains started running in 2-car formation.[9]
21 April 1938 – Namba – Tennōji (opening). Trains started running in 3-car formation.
Women-only cars were introduced on the line from 11 November 2002. There is one such designated car in each train (Car No. 6), the use of which is restricted all day on weekdays.
^"可動式ホーム柵の設置状況" [Installation status of movable platform fences]. subway.osakametro.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
^"大阪市交御堂筋線用30000系が営業運転を開始" [Osaka Municipal Subway 30000 series begins revenue service on the Midosuji Line]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
^"北大阪急行9000形が営業運転を開始" [Kita-Osaka Kyuko 9000 series enters revenue service]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
^大阪市交通局七十五年史 [Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau 75 Years History] (in Japanese). Osaka, Japan: 大阪市交通局. 1980.
^"公営地下鉄在籍車数ビッグ3大阪市交通局 (One of the big three public subway operators: Osaka Municipal Subway)". Japan Railfan Magazine. Vol. 49, no. 576. April 2009. pp. 88–99.
^"官報. 1935年10月28日" [Official Bulletin. 28 October 1935] (in Japanese). 28 October 1935. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
^加古, 信志 (24 July 2014).『れとろ探訪:地下鉄長居駅』[Retro Exploration: Nagai Subway Station]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese).
^大阪市交通局百年史 [Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau 100 Years History] (in Japanese). 大阪市交通局. 2005. p. 1124. ISBN978-4990172411.
^"鉄道ジャーナル" [Railway Journal]. 鉄道ジャーナル. 21: 122. July 1987.
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