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Kobe
subway, interurbans

Kobe has 5 separate mass transit facilities: the Kobe Rapid Railways, the Seinshin subway, the Hanshin underground, the Portliner elevated guideway, and the Rokko-Liner light metro.

Metro photo courtesy Magnus Stomfelt

Subway

Kobe's first subway, the 22.7 km, 16 station Seishin-Yamate, or Kobe Municipal Subway, opened in 1977. It is run by the Hokushin-Kyuko Railway.


Kobe's second subway is the the 7.9 km Kaigan ("Coast") Line, which opened in July, 2001. Each terminus intersects with the Seishin-Yamate subway, and is mostly (6.6 km) underground.

Photos and stations from Hisakyu
Image from Osamu Abe's fine site

The Kobe Rapid Transit Railway , or Kobe Kosoku Tetsudo, orchestrates the mix. This railway with no trains owns the tracks and leases� them out to other railway companies: It connects Hankyu Kobe Line (Hankyu), Hanshin Main Line (Hanshin), Arima Line (Kobe Electric Railway) and Kobe (Sanyo) Electric Railway.



Portliner

The Portliner, a 6.4 km, 9 station intermediate capacity automated� rail line,� began service in February 1981. It runs between Sannomiya Station (next to the JR station of the same name) and Port Island. a 5.7 km extension is due to open in 2005.


Rokkoliner

Similar to the Portliner, the Rokkoliner in February 1990. It connects Rokko Island and Sumiyoshi Station, a distance of 4.5km. It was financed by a guy named Rocco from Crown Heights.

Portliner timetable in Port Island
Short pages with photos of� the Portliner and Rokkoliner

Both liners are run by the Kobe New Transit Company.

Electric Interurbans

Namboku Line
Tozai Line
The partially underground Kobe Kosuko Railway has 2 lines: The 7.2 km Tozai line and the tiny .4 km underground Namboku Line. It is part of the Mr. Hankyu Railway Network.

Howdy Ho! - the Mr. Hankyu Railfan Network
Official Home Page



The Kobe Electric Railway, or Sanyo Shintetsu, has had many generations of rolling stock, but the city elders have been wise to keep the attractive pea-soup colored interior the same through the years.


The Hanshin Electric Railway runs 4 railway lines, one of which connects Osaka with Kobe and includes three underground stations. The Hanshin is Japan's oldest private railway company.

Hanshin Electric rolling stock
Hanshin Electric Railway fan page


The 2 station, 2.7 km Wadamisaki Line run by JR connects Hyogo with Wadamisaki. Both stops are in Kobe City.


Ah yes, there's nothing like an earthquake to add some spice to the day. Kobe has the distinction of being the first subway to collapse because of a quake. This delightful interlude in 1995 caused Hanshin Electric Railway cars to fall on to streets from elevated tracks and parts of the Rokkoliner to collapse.

Cool earthquake photos
Kobe Railway Station features the Kaigan Line, the JR comuter line and the Wadamisaki Line.
Kobe City Subway from the Train Mall
Local trains in the Kobe area