Sōbu Line (Rapid)

Sōbu Line (Rapid)
300px E217 series EMU at Chiba Station
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
Locale	Tokyo, Chiba prefectures
Termini	Tokyo Chiba
Stations	10
Operation
Opened	1972
Operator(s)	JR East
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
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph)
Route map 200px

The Sōbu Line (Rapid) (総武快速線, Sōbu-kaisoku-sen) is a railway service on the Sōbu Main Line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Tokyo Station in Chūō, Tokyo with Chiba Station in Chūō-ku, Chiba via the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, and Narashino.

Services

Rapid services on the Sōbu Line are primarily operated between Tokyo and Chiba, although there are many through services onto the Yokosuka Line as well as some through services operated from the Yokosuka Line via Tokyo terminating at Tsudanuma. During weekday morning peak periods Tokyo-bound trains arrive once every 3–4 minutes; this is reduced to 10 Chiba-bound trains per hour during weekday evening peak periods. At other times there are approximately six trains per hour. There are many through services operated onto other lines. In addition, there is an hourly Airport Narita rapid service that runs to Narita Airport, complementing the non-stop Narita Express service.

Commuter rapid trains, operated during weekday peak periods in the mornings and evenings, make fewer stops that normal rapid trains. There are two Zushi-bound trains from Narita in the morning and a single Narita-bound train from Tokyo in the evening.

There are four Home Liner Chiba commuter liner services that operate every weekday evening, three of which start from Tokyo and another which starts at Shinjuku. It stops at the stations shown in the list below (the service departing from Shinjuku stops once at Akihabara).

For information on the Narita Express, Shiosai, Ayame, and other limited express services, see their respective articles.

Sōbu Line (Rapid) trains travel through onto the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna, Zushi, and Kurihama. Trains also travel through beyond Chiba to as far as:

• Kazusa-Ichinomiya on the Sotobō Line
• Kimitsu on the Uchibō Line
• Narita Airport via Narita on the Narita Line
• Kashima-Jingū on the Kashima Line
• Narutō on the Sōbu Main Line

Station list

• For information on local services between Kinshichō and Chiba, see the Chūō-Sōbu Line article.
• Trains stop at stations marked "●" and pass those marked "｜".

Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Rapid	Comm. Rapid	Home Liner Chiba	Transfers	Location
		Between stations	Total
Tokyo	東京	-	0.0	●	●	●	Yokosuka Line (through service), Tōhoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Jōetsu Shinkansen, Nagano Shinkansen, Chūō Line, Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Tōkaidō Line, Keiyō Line Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-17)	Chiyoda	Tokyo
Shin-Nihombashi	新日本橋	1.2	1.2	●	●	｜	Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Mitsukoshimae: G-12) Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line (Mitsukoshimae: Z-09)	Chūō
Bakurochō	馬喰町	1.1	2.3	●	●	｜	Toei Asakusa Line (Higashi-Nihonbashi: A-15) Toei Shinjuku Line (Bakuro-Yokoyama: S-09)
Kinshichō	錦糸町	2.5	4.8	●	●	｜	Chūō-Sōbu Line Tokyo Metro Hanzōmon Line (Z-13)	Sumida
Shin-Koiwa	新小岩	5.2	10.0	●	｜	｜	Chūō-Sōbu Line	Katsushika
Ichikawa	市川	5.4	15.4	●	｜	｜	Chūō-Sōbu Line	Ichikawa	Chiba
Funabashi	船橋	7.8	23.2	●	●	｜	Chūō-Sōbu Line Tōbu Noda Line Keisei Main Line (Keisei Funabashi)	Funabashi
Tsudanuma	津田沼	3.5	26.7	●	｜	●	Chūō-Sōbu Line Shin-Keisei Line (Shin-Tsudanuma)	Narashino
Inage	稲毛	9.2	35.9	●	｜	●	Chūō-Sōbu Line	Inage-ku, Chiba
Chiba	千葉	3.3	39.2	●	●	●	Sōbu Main Line (for Chōshi), Chūō-Sōbu Line, Uchibō Line, Sotobō Line, Narita Line Chiba Urban Monorail: Line 1, Line 2 Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Chiba)	Chūō-ku, Chiba

Rolling stock

• Rapid service: E217 series
• Limited express service:
  • 255 series
  • E257 series

External links

• Stations of the Sōbu Line (Rapid) (unofficial) (Japanese)