Railwa Railway Operators Railway Operators in Japan 6 Western Part of Greater Tokyo Makoto Aoki This article describes the six JR East lines One of the most important cities in the dwellers. The only developed area had (Chuo Line between Tokyo Station and district is Hachioji, which prospered from been close to the low-lying Yamanote Takao, and the Ome, Itsukaichi, Nambu, the late 1800s as a centre selling raw silk Plateau near the centre of Tokyo. But after Yokohama and Hachiko lines); the lines and producing woven silk. Even today, the war, Kita and Minami Tama became of Keio Electric Railway, Odakyu Electric Hachioji and two of its neighbouring two of the first areas around Tokyo to be Railway and Seibu Railway; and the Tojo cities, Hino and Akishima, form an inland developed because the land had good and Ogose lines of Tobu Railway; and industrial zone. Hachioji and its drainage due to its topography, was Tokyo Tama Intercity Monorail in the surroundings are an important connected with and close to the densely y Tama district and neighbouring areas of commercial centre in western Tokyo. populated Yamanote Plateau, and had western Greater Tokyo. Today, the Kita and Minami Tama districts convenient transport links to the city are densely populated bedroom centre via a number of railway lines communities for Tokyo commuters as a radiating from stations on the Yamanote Operators Topography and Characteristic of Region result of massive housing developments Line. The most important line was the after WWII. Before the war, the scattered east–west Chuo Line; the other lines now Western Greater Tokyo is now a massive farming communities in a pleasant rural belong to the private Seibu, Keio and collection of bedroom communities that setting made the Musashino Plateau a Odakyu railway companies. sprang up as part of the development of favourite place for outings by Tokyo Land in Kunitachi, Seijo-gakuen and some Tokyo, Japan’s capital. Western Greater Tokyo is divided into four districts: the three Tama districts within Metropolitan Railway Lines in Western Part of Greater Tokyo Tokyo—Kita (North) Tama, Minami (South) Tama and Nishi (West) Tama, and Kuragano south-west Saitama Prefecture. Kita Tama and south-west Saitama Prefecture are located on the Musashino Plateau, a fairly flat swathe of land of to Utsunomiya comparatively low elevation (20–180 m). Yorii The plateau is bounded on the south by the Tama River and on the north by the Iruma and Arakawa rivers. It is covered Hachiko Line by thick layers of Kanto loam that were Seibu Chichibu Tobu originally deposited as volcanic ash. For Seibu Ogose Ogose Sakado Chichibu Line Line centuries, the plateau was regarded with Agano Kawagoe disfavour because it had insufficient Tobu water, but it was developed from the mid- Seibu Tojo Line Hanno Shinjuku Line Okutama Edo period (ca. 1750) when large areas Seibu Ikebukuro Ome Line were opened up as arable lands. Prior Ome Line TokorozawaTokorozawa to this, the only settlements were small Wako-shi Musashiitsukaichi Seibu HHigashiigashi MMurayamaurayama Haijima Line villages located at the base of natural IkebukuroIkebukuro Itsukaichi Line Haijima Tachikawa Kichijoji NakanoNakano terraces. Kokubunji Takadanobaba Keio Takao Line Fuchu Chuo Shinjuku Line Tokyo Minami Tama has two predominating Hachioji Chofu Takao ShibuyaShibuya topographical features: the Tama Hills Tama Center KeioKeio LineLine Takaosan-guchi Noborito stretching from Hachioji in the south-west To Otsuki Hashimoto Shin Yurigaoka part of MetropolitanTokyo to Kawasaki Nambu Line Machida and northern Yokohama in Kanagawa KawasakiKawasaki Prefecture; and the Hachioji Basin. The Odakyu Odawara Line Yokohama Line JR lines Higashi northern Tama Hills are south of the Tama Odakyu Kanagawa Enoshima Other private River and close to the Musashino Plateau, Line lines which is on the northern side of the river. 52 Japan Railway & Transport Review 32 • September 2002 Copyright © 2002 EJRCF. All rights reserved. other areas had been sold and developed same year. The next extension opened in transport between Hachioji and Higashi as university towns before the war. These April 1895 between Shinjuku and Kanagawa on Tokyo Bay. The track areas earned a reputation as good places Iidamachi (near today’s Iidabashi Station) became known as the Yokohama Line to live and after the war, they became closer to the city centre. The line was later after Yokohama Railway was nationalized some of Tokyo’s best residential districts. nationalized and then extended further to on 1 October 1917. After the mid-1950s, many areas were Tokyo Station with the last section opening being developed by private companies in March 1919. Construction of Railways to building and selling homes in When trains began running between Transport Limestone and subdivisions, and by the Japan Housing Shinjuku and Hachioji in 1889, they Construction Stone Corporation (now called the Urban traversed mainly sparsely populated Development Corporation), a public agricultural land, so there were just four Various railways were constructed in the entity promoting construction of large stations (Nakano, Sakai (now Musashi- Tokyo area from 1910 to 1930 to transport apartment complexes. sakai) Kokubunji and Tachikawa) between limestone and construction stone. The The tendency was for housing to be the termini. There were only four steam- limestone was extracted from the Nishi developed first along the railway lines hauled services each way each day. Tama district while the construction stone radiating from the city centre—now JR However, passenger levels rose in line came from the Tama River. East’s Chuo Line, Keio’s Keio and with the expanding population as Tokyo After Kobu Railway launched Shinjuku– Inogashira lines, Odakyu’s Odawara Line, became increasingly important in the Tachikawa services in 1889, pressure and Seibu’s Shinjuku and Ikebukuro lines. nation’s political and financial life. The grew for a track to carry limestone from The second wave of development 1895 extension across the Yamanote Line Nishi Tama. Ome-Line trains began occurred gradually in other areas, such into the city centre boosted ridership, and running between Tachikawa and Ome in as along branch lines and between the the track between Iidamachi and Nakano November 1894 and the line was main lines. One good example is Tama was electrified by August 1904. This was extended in 1895 to Hinata-wada (now New Town, which was started in 1966 in the first time in Japan that steam Miyanohira) where limestone was being the Tama Hills, and was planned to house locomotives gave way to electric trains, mined. The Ome deposits began running about 300,000 people. and the first line in the country to be out around 1925 and plans were drawn Nishi Tama in the westernmost part of equipped with automatic signalling and a up to extend the line to Hikawa (now Oku Metropolitan Tokyo is part of the Kanto multiple-unit control system. Tama). Oku Tama Electric Railway was Mountains and is noted for its steep slopes Kobu Railway was nationalized soon after in charge of the construction. Meanwhile, and valleys that attract tourists today. The in October 1906 but electrification further south-east, Itsukaichi Railway population lives mainly in rural villages, continued and electric trains were began constructing a line primarily to and the economy used to centre on operating as far as Asakawa (now Takao) carry limestone from Mt Katsubo. The industries such as raising silkworms, by December 1930. The sections were line opened in April 1925, linking Haijima weaving, forestry, and limestone mining. double-tracked around the same time that and Musashi-itsukaichi. Limestone mining and production of lime they were electrified. Today, JR East operates passenger services became important industries in the late Hachioji developed as a post town for on the Nambu Line but the track was 1800s after railways were constructed to travellers on the old Koshu Kaido highway originally laid by Nambu Railway between facilitate bulk freight to the Keihin (Tokyo– and as a market centre for the silkworm Kawasaki and Tachikawa to carry Yokohama) industrial district. industry in surrounding areas. On the construction stone from quarries on the coast, Yokohama developed into a trading Tama River and limestone from Nishi Tama Railway Development— port. A plan to link the two cities was to the Keihin industrial district. The first Chuo and Yokohama Lines drawn up during the early years of Japan’s section between Kawasaki and Noborito modernization, and the economic boom was opened in March 1927 and then Kobu Railway began operating the first after the Sino–Japanese War (1894–95) extended in stages. Tachikawa–Kawasaki railway in western Tokyo between encouraged a number of companies to services began in December 1929. Shinjuku and Tachikawa in April 1889. apply for a licence to build and operate The three lines were important not only The track, which now forms part of JR the line. Yokohama Railway was granted because they were used to carry East’s Chuo Line, was extended to a licence in May 1905 and opened the limestone but also because they served Hachioji and opened in August of the line in September 1908, permitting rail munitions factories and military facilities Copyright © 2002 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review 32 • September 2002 53 Railway Operators Size and Financial Status of Railways in Western Part of Greater Tokyo (FY 1999) Number of Number of Number of Capital Operating Revenues