The Itsukaichi Line (五日市線) is a trunk line run by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs from Haijima Station in Akishima city, Tokyo, to Musashi-Itsukaichi Station in Akiruno city.
History
The Itsukaichi Line was built by the Itsukaichi Railway (五日市鉄道), a private railway of the Asano zaibatsu (浅野財閥). On 21 April 1925 the section from a temporary stop at Haijima to Itsukaichi (10.62 km) opened, with stations at Haijima, Higashi-Akiru, Nishi-Akiru, Masuto and Itsukaichi. On 15 May 1925 the line was extended to the Ome Electric Railway (青梅電気鉄道, now the Ome Line (青梅線)) station at Haijima, and the temporary stop closed. On 16 May 1925 Masuto was renamed Musashi-Masuto, and on 1 June 1925 Itsukaichi was renamed Musashi-Itsukaichi. On 20 September 1925 the Musashi-Itsukaichi to Musashi-Iwai section (2.74 km) opened. On 1 July 1926 Tamagawa freight station, later Musashi-Tamagawa, opened. On 13 July 1930 the Tachikawa to Haijima section (8.1 km) opened. In 1930 the whole line from Tachikawa to Musashi-Iwai was open.
On 28 May 1931 Kumagawa stop opened. On 29 May 1931 Musashi-Tanaka stop was approved to become a station, and on 30 October 1931 Kumagawa stop was approved to become a station. On 8 December 1931 a freight branch from Musashi-Tanaka to Haijima-Tamagawa (1.6 km) opened, and Tamagawa station was renamed Musashi-Tamagawa. On 3 October 1940 the company merged with Nanbu Railway (南武鉄道), and the line became Nanbu's Itsukaichi Line. Musashi-Tamagawa station was abolished.
In October 1943 Nanbu Railway, Ome Electric Railway and Okutama Electric Railway signed a merger contract. On 1 April 1944 the line was bought and nationalised, and it became the Itsukaichi Line of the government railways. The section from Tachikawa to Haijima was suspended as a non-essential line, and it never came back after the war. On 11 October 1944 the Tachikawa to Haijima section (8.1 km) and a freight branch (3.0 km) were suspended, which in effect ended them. The rails from Tachikawa to Musashi-Ueno-hara and from Musashi-Ueno-hara to Nishi-Tachikawa are still used as a connecting line to the Nanbu Line and the down Chūō Line. Parts of the other old lines have been built over, and some became roads.
On 1 June 1949 Japanese National Railways (日本国有鉄道) was formed and took over the line. On 19 May 1957 diesel railcars were introduced. On 17 April 1961 the whole line from Haijima to Musashi-Iwai was electrified at 1,500 V DC. Trains that had shared trains with the Hachiko Line, and trains hauled by steam locomotives with old coaches, were replaced by electric trains from Ome depot. On 1 February 1971 the whole line received centralised traffic control (CTC) and automatic route control (ARC). Ōkuno to Musashi-Iwai was closed, and Musashi-Iwai station was abolished. Passenger service from Musashi-Itsukaichi to Ōkuno ended, and that part became a freight branch. A new through train to Tokyo Station on the Chūō Line was added. On 29 March 1978 the old national railway cars retired and were replaced by 101 series cars. On 15 November 1982 the freight branch from Musashi-Itsukaichi to Ōkuno (2.1 km) closed, and freight service from Tachikawa to Musashi-Itsukaichi ended.
On 31 March 1987 Nishi-Akiru station was renamed Akigawa. On 1 April 1987 the national railway was split up and privatised, and East Japan Railway Company (JR East) took over the line. On 6 July 1996 Musashi-Itsukaichi station was elevated. On 1 April 1998 management of the whole line moved from the Tokyo head office to the Hachioji branch.
On 2 December 2000 all trains were made six cars long. On 18 March 2007 the 201 series trains that ran through to the Chūō Line were replaced by E233 series trains. On 15 March 2008 half-automatic door operation began on E233 trains for the whole year.
On 12 February 2017 the Tokyo area transport management system (ATOS) was introduced, and the operations control centre moved from the Haijima CTC centre to the Tokyo Integrated Control Room. On 9 April 2020 automatic door operation began on E233 trains for the first time in 12 years, to improve ventilation inside the trains. On 12 March 2022 a timetable change ended through trains beyond Tachikawa to the Chūō Line, except the Holiday Rapid Akikawa. On 12 March 2023 the Holiday Rapid Akikawa made its last run, and through running with the Chūō Line ended. On 1 July 2026 the line moved from the branch system to business headquarters, and it is now under the Hachioji business headquarters.
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Written by an AI from the line's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.