Shōnan–Shinjuku Line

Passenger railway service in Japan

The Shōnan–Shinjuku Line (Japanese: 湘南新宿ライン, romanized: Shōnan–shinjuku-rain) is a passenger railway service in Japan which commenced in December 2001. The line has no dedicated track as services run through shared sections along the Ryōmō Line, Takasaki Line, Utsunomiya Line, Yamanote freight line, Yokosuka Line, and Tōkaidō Main Line. It is treated as a distinct service at stations and on railway maps.

Services

Service patterns on the Shōnan–Shinjuku Line are as follows:

Utsunomiya Line–Yokosuka Line route

• Shōnan–Shinjuku Line local (Utsunomiya Line: local; Ōmiya–Ōfuna: local; Yokosuka Line: local)
  • Services commenced on December 1, 2001.
  • One train per hour is operated between Koganei (some to/from Utsunomiya) and Zushi; this increases to 2–3 trains per hour during peak periods. Sometimes trains operate to/from Ōfuna as well as to/from Koga on weekday mornings.
  • Most trains are operated in 15-car sets. Some pause at Koganei to couple-up or divide, with the 10-car portion continues northward; others are operated in 10-car sets along the entire line.
  • E233 series LED Displays show a green colour ■ for this service.
• Shōnan–Shinjuku Line local / Shōnan–Shinjuku Line rapid (Utsunomiya Line: Rapid; Ōmiya–Ōfuna: Local; Yokosuka Line: Local)
  • Services commenced on October 16, 2004.
  • From morning to midday, trains are operated hourly between Utsunomiya and Zushi (some to/from Ōfuna). Trains operate as rapid services within the Utsunomiya Line and as local services within the Yokosuka Line. These services replace daytime Rabbit rapid trains within the Utsunomiya Line to/from Ueno.
  • Most trains are operated in 15-car sets. Some pause at Koganei to couple-up or divide, with the 10-car portion is operated north of Koganei; others are operated in 10-car sets along the entire line.
  • E233 series LED Displays show an orange colour ■ within the Utsunomiya Line, and a green colour ■ south of Ōmiya for this service.

Takasaki Line–Tōkaidō Line route

• Shōnan–Shinjuku Line local / Shōnan–Shinjuku Line rapid (Takasaki Line: Local; Ōmiya–Totsuka: Rapid; Totsuka–Tōkaidō Line: Local)
  • Services commenced on December 1, 2001.
  • One train per hour is operated between Kagohara and Hiratsuka (some to/from Kōzu). During peak periods when there are no special rapid services this increases to 2–3 trains per hour, with trains to/from Takasaki, Kōzu, and Odawara. Some morning southbound trains and weekday evening northbound trains operate to/from Maebashi via the Ryōmō Line; one weekday morning train is operated from Fukaya.
  • Except for a single northbound morning and southbound evening train, all trains are operated in 15-car sets south of Kagohara, where they are joined/separated; a 10-car train is operated north of Kagohara. The train from Fukaya is operated as a 15-car set.
  • E233 series LED Displays show an orange colour ■ between Ōmiya and Totsuka, and a green colour ■ within the Takasaki and Tōkaidō Lines for this service.
• Shōnan–Shinjuku Line special rapid (Takasaki Line–Ōmiya–Ōfuna–Tōkaidō Line: Special Rapid)
  • Services commenced on October 16, 2004.
  • One train per hour is operated throughout the day. This service replaces Urban rapid services to/from Ueno within the Takasaki Line. Except for the first northbound train, which starts from Hiratsuka, all trains are operated between Takasaki and Odawara.
  • Except for two round trips on weekdays, all trains are operated in 15-car sets south of Kagohara, where they are joined/separated; a 10-car train is operated north of Kagohara.
  • On very rare occasions in the past, extra services would be operated on weekends and holidays, in which two services each way to/from Odawara are extended to/from Atami, stopping at Manazuru and Yugawara.
  • E233 series LED Displays show a blue colour ■ for this service.

Station list

• Trains stop at stations marked "●" and pass those marked "｜".
• For information on Limited Express services, see the Shōnan article.

Notes

1. Southbound Rapid trains from the Utsunomiya Line are labeled "Rapid" between Utsunomiya and Ōmiya and "Local" between Ōmiya and Zushi. Northbound trains are labeled "Local" between Zushi and Ōsaki and "Rapid" between Ōsaki and Utsunomiya. In the timetable of stations on the JR East website, all stations are guided as rapid trains.
2. Southbound Rapid trains from the Takasaki Line are labeled "Local" between Maebashi and Ōmiya, "Rapid" between Ōmiya and Totsuka, and "Local" between Totsuka and Odawara. Northbound trains are labeled "Rapid" between Odawara and Ōsaki and "Local" between Ōsaki and Maebashi. In the timetable of stations on the JR East website, all stations are guided as rapid trains.
3. The Ikebukuro–Akabane section is treated as passing over the Akabane Line when calculating fares; therefore, actual distance is approximately 9.5 km.
4. The Shōnan–Shinjuku Line shares tracks with the Saikyō Line between Ikebukuro and Ōsaki.
5. The Nishi-Ōi–Ōsaki section is treated as passing through Shinagawa when calculating fares.
6. Between Totsuka and Ōfuna, through-service trains for the Tōkaidō Line travel over Tōkaidō Line tracks, while through service trains for the Yokosuka Line travel over Yokosuka Line tracks.

Rolling stock

• E231-1000 series
• E233-3000 series (since March 2015)

Initially, services were operated using a mixture of rolling stock, including 115 series, 211 series, 215 series (double-deck), E217 series, and E231-1000 series EMUs, but rolling stock was standardized on the E231-1000 series EMUs in 2004, from which date these trains also included two bilevel Green cars. From the start of the new timetable on 14 March 2015, E233-3000 series trainsets were also introduced on Shonan–Shinjuku Line services.^[2]

History

On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced with stations being assigned station numbers between JS05 and JS24.^[3][4] Numbers increase towards in the northbound direction towards Omiya.

See also

• Ueno-Tokyo Line, a similar north-south line running through the east side of central Tokyo
• F Liner, a competitor to the Shonan-Shinjuku Line between Ikebukuro / Shinjuku / Shibuya to Yokohama.
• Utsunomiya Line
• Tohoku Main Line
• Takasaki Line

References

1. "平成27年 大都市交通センサス 首都圏報告書" (PDF). P.92. 国土交通省.
2. Ueshin, Daisuke (March 19, 2015). E233系、ダイヤ改正で湘南新宿ラインにも登場 [E233 series also appear on Shonan–Shinjuku line from timetable revision]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Japan: Mynavi Corporation. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
3. "⾸都圏エリアへ 「駅ナンバリング」を導⼊します" [Introduce “station numbering” to the Tokyo metropolitan area] (PDF). jreast.co.jp (in Japanese). April 6, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
4. Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (April 7, 2016). "JA・JK・JT・AKB…JR東日本、首都圏で駅ナンバリングなど導入へ" [JA, JK, JT, AKB … JR East to introduce station numbering in the Tokyo metropolitan area]. Response Automotive Media (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

Further reading

• Kusamachi, Yoshikazu (November 2011). "特集：湘南新宿ライン10周年" [Feature: 10th Anniversary of the Shōnan–Shinjuku line]. Japan Railfan Magazine. Vol. 51, no. 607. Japan: Kōyūsha Co., Ltd. pp. 7–42.

External links

• Shōnan–Shinjuku line (Japan guide) (in English)