The Odakyu Odawara Line (小田原線) is a railway run by Odakyu Electric Railway (小田急電鉄). It runs from Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to Odawara Station in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
History
The Odawara Line was granted its licence on 29 May 1922 for the route from Shinjuku to Odawara. On 1 April 1927 the Odawara Kyūkō Railway (小田原急行鉄道) opened the whole Shinjuku to Odawara route at once. The line had 38 stations, and the trip took 2 hours and 20 minutes. Signal problems badly disrupted the timetable on the first day. On 29 April 1927 Prince Chichibu and Prince Takamatsu rode the line, the first time members of the imperial family had used it. Komae station opened on 27 May 1927. Shin-Zama station, now Zama, opened on 28 July 1927. The section from Inada-Noborito to Odawara, which had been single track, was made double track on 15 October 1927, and express service began. Tamagawa Gakuen-mae station opened on 1 April 1929, and the Enoshima Line opened the same day between Ōno signal station and Katase-Enoshima.
Gravel transport began on 14 November 1930 between Sagami-Atsugi, now Hon-Atsugi, and Higashi-Kitazawa. On 16 July 1937 an embankment at the Shijūhachise River was washed away, and both tracks were closed until 29 November 1937. On 1 April 1938 the Ōno signal station became a station, named Tsūshin Gakkō-mae, now Sagami-Ōno, and the junction with the Enoshima Line moved there. On 15 December 1940 Tsūshin Gakkō-mae was renamed Sagami-Ōno. On 1 May 1942 the line was merged into Tokyo Kyūkō Railway (東京急行電鉄), and the name Odawara Line (小田原線) came into use as part of the Greater Tokyu group. In this period the Odawara Line was treated as an alternative route when the Tōkaidō Line was damaged, and national railway test runs were made on it. On 1 April 1943 Ebina station opened as a station on the Odawara Line.
On 26 May 1945, after the Yamanote air raid of the day before, the section between Shinjuku and Minami-Shinjuku was closed. For several days all trains turned back at Minami-Shinjuku. Yoyogi-Uehara station was suspended from 1 June 1945 and resumed on 1 December 1945. Sanya and Setagaya-Nakahara stations were suspended on 1 July 1945. On 28 January 1946 an Odawara-bound train had brake failure near Ōtsuhara (now Hadano) station. It ran back down a slope and derailed and overturned at Tsurumaki station, and 30 people died. On 1 June 1946 Sanya station was abolished. On 1 June 1948 Odakyu Electric Railway was formed when the Tokyu group was split up, and the Odawara Line was transferred to the new company.
On 1 August 1950 through trains began running to Hakone-Yumoto on the Hakone Tozan Railway. Hotaruda station opened on 1 April 1952. On 1 April 1955 Inada-Tamagawa station was renamed Noborito-Tamagawa, and Inada-Noborito was renamed Mukōgaoka-Yūen. On 1 October 1955 a connecting line from Shin-Matsuda to Matsuda was completed, and through running to the JNR Gotemba Line, now JR Tokai, began. On 6 July 1957 the 3000 series, known as the SE car, began service. Yurigaoka station opened on 25 March 1960. On 17 February 1964 the first rebuilding of Shinjuku station was completed, which made it a multi-level terminal with three surface tracks and two underground. On 5 November 1964 through running between Ebina and Hon-Atsugi with the Sagami Railway ended. Shin-Yurigaoka station opened on 1 June 1974 as the branch station for the Tama Line. On 31 March 1978 through running with the Chiyoda Line of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority began, at first only on weekday mornings and evenings.
On 1 April 1982 the second rebuilding of Shinjuku station was completed, with five tracks at surface and underground and platforms for 10 cars and 210 m. On 12 July 1982 the Hakone Tozan Line began running 6-car trains of 20 m cars into the line. On 16 March 1991 a Saturday and holiday timetable was introduced. JR Tokai through running between Shinjuku and Numazu began, and the Asagiri was upgraded from connecting express to limited express. On 23 March 2002 the Shōnan Express and Tama Express were introduced. On 11 December 2004 the Shōnan Express was abolished, and rapid express and section semi-express services were introduced. On 15 March 2008 the 60000 series MSE Romance Car began running through to the Chiyoda Line, and express and semi-express through running to the Hakone Tozan Line ended.
On 11 March 2011 the Tōhoku earthquake (東北地方太平洋沖地震) caused power plant shutdowns. From 14 March rolling blackouts by Tokyo Electric Power stopped the Chiyoda Line through running and the Romance Car. Chiyoda Line through running resumed on weekday rush hours only on 1 April 2011, and Romance Car service resumed on 29 April. Weekend Chiyoda Line through running resumed on 2 July, and all-week service on 12 September 2011. On 17 March 2012 the Asagiri was shortened to end at Gotemba, and the MSE cars replaced JR Tokai cars, so through running became one-way from the Odakyu side. On 26 March 2016 Jōban local E233 2000 series trains began running onto the Odakyu line, and the section semi-express was abolished. On 3 March 2018 the quadruple track between Yoyogi-Uehara and Umegaoka was completed. On 17 March 2018 the Chiyoda Line through running was extended to Isehara, and commuter express and commuter semi-express trains were added. On 16 March 2019 10-car all-stop trains began running between Shinjuku and Yoyogi-Uehara, and express trains began stopping at Kaisei.
In February 2023 it was found that the company was studying moving the Ōno depot to a site between Isehara and Tsurumaki and building a new station. If built, it would be the first new Odakyu station since Harihino station on the Tama Line opened in 2004. On 30 August 2024 heavy rain from Typhoon No. 10 washed away embankment in 2 places between Tōkaidai-mae and Hadano. Trains were suspended between Isehara and Hadano until 1 September 2024.
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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.