The Narita Line (成田線) is a main line run by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs from Sakura station in Sakura city to Matsugaoka station in Choshi, both in Chiba Prefecture. It also has two branches: the Abiko Branch from Narita to Abiko, and the Airport Branch from Narita to Narita Airport.
History
Before railways, roads and boats moved people and goods around Chiba. These included the Narita Road to the Narita-san Shinshōji temple, and boat traffic on the Tone River to Sawara. Japan's first railway opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama in 1872. From 1886, companies in Chiba planned railways. The Busō Railway (武総鉄道) and the Sōshū Railway (総州鉄道) were both founded in November 1887. The Chiba governor was cautious, because the river transport was valued, and the Tone canal had just been decided. The application was rejected. The two companies then merged into the Sōbu Railway (総武鉄道) in January 1889. In April 1889 the army approved the plan, because it passed army barracks. Construction began in August 1893. The first section, Ichikawa to Sakura, opened on 20 July 1894. It was the first railway in Chiba Prefecture.
In 1894 the Shimōsa Railway (下総鉄道) was founded to build a line from Sakura to Sawara. In 1895 it was renamed the Narita Railway (成田鉄道). Its first section, Sakura to Narita, opened on 19 January 1897. At Sakura it connected with the Sōbu Railway. Narita to Namekawa opened on 29 December 1897. Namekawa to Sawara opened on 3 February 1898. The Abiko Branch from Narita to Abiko opened in 1901, in two parts. Narita to Ankui opened on 2 February, and Ankui to Abiko on 1 April. It was built to shorten a Narita to Kawagoe licence that another company had applied for, and to link with the Joban Line (常磐線). Through trains from Ueno to Narita began on 1 March 1902. A through train from Narita to Honjo on the Sōbu Railway began on 20 March 1904.
The Narita Railway was nationalised on 1 September 1920. Sakura to Abiko and Narita to Sawara then became the Narita Line (成田線). Local towns campaigned for a line from Sawara to Matsugaoka, known as the Sasho Line (佐松線). Local towns fought over station sites and names. The town of Sasagawa objected to the planned name, so the Tohoku Main Line's Sasagawa station was renamed Azumi Nagamori to free the name. The extension to Sasagawa opened on 10 November 1931. The extension to Matsugaoka opened on 11 March 1933. There the line joins the Sōbu Main Line (総武本線) and the route took its present form. In June 1938, flooding between Abiko and Kohoku stopped all trains. In April 1944, wartime emergency measures removed second-class cars from trains between Sakura and Matsugaoka.
After the 1923 Kantō earthquake, the Sōbu Main Line was electrified up to Chiba as part of Tokyo's rebuilding plan. East of Chiba it stayed single track and steam-hauled, and so did the Narita Line. Steam locomotives were phased out from the 1950s. Tokyo's airport could no longer meet demand, and a new airport was planned. In 1966 the cabinet decided on an airport in the Narita area. The Narita Line then took a bigger role than the Sōbu Main Line, and it was electrified and double-tracked up to Narita. On 21 December 1967 a cabinet meeting planned double track from Sakura to Narita before the airport opened, which was then planned for 1971. Sakura to Narita got automatic signals on 25 February 1968, and electrification on 28 March 1968. Narita to Abiko was electrified on 28 September 1973, and double track between Honsakura and Namiki was added the next day. Narita to Matsugaoka was electrified on 26 October 1974. Sakura to Narita was double-tracked on 24 February 1986. Freight service between Kashima and Matsugaoka ended on 1 November 1986. Freight service between Narita and Abiko ended on 1 February 1984. Protests against the airport caused frequent disruption from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Things calmed after 1991, when the government and the airport authority began talks with local people.
On 1 April 1987 JNR was split up and the line passed to JR East. On 19 March 1991 the Airport Branch opened from Narita to Narita Airport, with CTC and ATS-P from the start. It reused part of the remains of a Narita Shinkansen plan. That plan had been in the 1971 basic plan but was never opened. The branch linked with the Keisei Main Line (京成本線) for a direct airport terminal link. The Narita Express and Sōbu Rapid services began running through to the Sōbu Main Line after it opened. On 14 September 1992, a local train hit an overloaded dump truck at a level crossing near Ōsuge, between Kuzumi and Namekawa. The train driver died on the way to hospital. The crossing was made grade-separated and closed on 25 February 1998. On 3 December 1992, Airport Second Terminal station opened. ATS-P was brought into use between Sakura and Narita on 28 October 1994.
From 1997, work on double-tracking the Abiko Branch started, but it was frozen during land purchase. From 22 March 1997, all ordinary trains from Narita to Matsugaoka became non-smoking. ATS-P came into use between Narita and Abiko on 12 March 2000. Suica, the IC card, started between Sakura and Narita on 18 November 2001. On 14 March 2009 Narita to Matsugaoka joined the Tokyo suburban area, and Suica started there too. On 1 October 2009, 209 series trains began running between Chiba, Narita and Choshi, to replace the old 113 series. ATS-P came into use between Narita and Matsugaoka on 14 February 2010. On 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Ueno-Tokyo Line, some Abiko Branch trains began running to and from Shinagawa on the Tokaido Line (東海道本線).
On 15 April 2018, a section near Narita-Yugawa station was moved onto new track, as part of a city road project in Narita. On 13 March 2021, one-man operation began between Sawara and Katori, on E131 series trains running through to the Kashima Line (鹿島線). One-man operation began between Narita and Sawara on 12 March 2022. On 1 July 2026 the branch system became business headquarters. Control of the whole line, except the area near Abiko, moved from the Chiba Branch to the Chiba Business HQ. The Abiko area went to the Matsudo Business HQ. On 21 September 2026 heavy rain from Typhoon No. 25 suspended trains between Sawara and Choshi. Restoration was expected to take about two weeks. Service resumed on 4 October 2026.
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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.