Musashino Line
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The Musashino Line (武蔵野線 Musashino-sen?) is a trunk railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
It links Tsurumi Station, Yokohama, Kanagawa and Nishi-Funabashi Station, Funabashi, Chiba, forming a 100 km unclosed loop around central Tokyo. Passenger operations are limited to the 71.8 km portion between Fuchū-Hommachi Station and Nishi-Funabashi; the Tsurumi to Fuchū-Hommachi portion, called the Musashino South Line, is used almost exclusively by freight trains.
[edit] History
The Musashino Line was initially envisioned as a "Tokyo Outer Loop Line" in a 1927 railway appropriations bill, but was not built for several decades due to World War II and its aftermath. Construction finally began in 1964.
In 1967, a train carrying jet fuel to Tachikawa Air Base in west Tokyo exploded while passing through Shinjuku Station. This disaster led to the banning of freight trains on railway lines in central Tokyo and sped the development of the Musashino Line as an alternative route. Because most of the line passed through sparsely populated areas, it was initially envisioned as a freight-only line: however, opposition from local residents, at the same time as the violent landowner battles plaguing Narita International Airport, led the railway authorities to agree to passenger service as well.
The northern portion of the line (Fuchū to Funabashi) was completed in 1973; the southern freight-only portion (Fuchū to Tsurumi) was completed in 1976. The line remains in use for transporting US military jet fuel from Yokohama to west Tokyo, among other purposes.
[edit] Trains
Most trains on the Musashino Line are 205 series 8-car electric multiple units making all station stops. Some trains run on the Keiyō Line through Nishi-Funabashi to continue to Tōkyō Station or Minami-Funabashi Station. Some go to Kaihimmakuhari Station via Minami-Funabashi.
Other trains include:
- Burari Kamakura, seasonal express service between Iwaki Station and Kamakura Station using the Musashino Line between Minami-Koshigaya and Tsurumi. Uses 485 series trains.
- Musashino, rapid service between Fuchū-Hommachi and Omiya Station. Uses 115 series trains.
Locomotive types seen hauling freight trains include EF64, EF65, EF66, EF81, EF200, EF210, EH200, EH500, and DE10.
Rolling stock previously used includes 101-1000 series 6-car EMUs, 201 series 6-car EMUs and 103 series 8-car EMUs (until 2005).
[edit] Stations
Tsurumi Station is considered to be the origin of the Musashino Line; trains going clockwise (toward Nishi-Funabashi) are therefore called outbound (下り kudari?) while trains going counter-clockwise (toward Fuchū-Hommachi) are called inbound (上り nobori?). This is often counterintuitive, as it results in through trains to Tōkyō Station being labeled and numbered as outbound trains while on the Musashino Line; however, such trains switch to inbound after passing into the Keiyō Line.
