The Jōban Line (Local) (常磐緩行線) is the all-stops tracks of the Jōban Line, run by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs between Ayase Station in Adachi ward, Tokyo, and Toride Station in Toride city, Ibaraki Prefecture.
History
On 20 April 1971 the quadruple track between Ayase and Abiko was finished. Local trains on the local tracks began running through with the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line (千代田線) in that section. The 103 series 1000 番台 began service in 1971. On 15 November 1982 the Abiko to Toride section was made quadruple track, and the line was extended to Toride. The 203 series began service. On 29 December 1986 the 207 series 900 番台 began service.
In summer 1989 weak-cooling cars were introduced, except for the Tokyo Metro cars. On 4 December 1999 the 209 series 1000 番台 began service.
On 9 September 2009 the E233 series 2000 番台 began service. On 1 August 2018 the company tested a departure-promotion chime instead of the station melodies on each station between Kameari and Toride, to reduce people running to board. The test showed some effect, and from 16 March 2019 it was used in full.
On 13 March 2021 JR East introduced its first automatic train operation (ATO) system. On 4 July 2021 Makabashi station began using platform doors, the first on the Jōban Local tracks, and they were installed at other stations in turn. Ayase station had platform doors installed by Tokyo Metro in 2020. On 7 June 2024 platform doors came into use at Abiko, completing the installation at every station on the Jōban Local tracks. On 15 March 2025 one-man operation began.
On 1 July 2026 the line was reorganised from the branch system to business headquarters, and its management moved from the Metropolitan Area headquarters to the Matsudo 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.