The Kameido Line (亀戸線) is a line run by Tobu Railway (東武鉄道). It runs from Hikifune Station in Sumida ward to Kameido Station in Kōtō ward, Tokyo.
History
Tobu Railway (東武鉄道) was founded in 1897 to link Tokyo with Saitama, Gunma and Tochigi. It first planned to extend its start point from Honjo (Gyōbashi) to Echujima near Tokyo Bay, but the licence for the Echujima to Honjo to Senju route was not granted at once, because the review needed care. So Tobu's first section opened in August 1899, from Kita-Senju on the Nippon Railway coast line (now the JR Jōban Line) to Kuki. In 1900 a licence was granted for a new Kita-Senju to Echujima plan, with branches. In 1902 Kita-Senju to Azumabashi opened. On 5 April 1904 Kameido to Hikifune (3.4 km) opened. Only one station, Tenjin, lay between them. The line was not electrified and ran steam trains. At opening, trains ran through over the Sōbu Railway (総武鉄道) to Ryōgoku-bashi station, which opened the same day. The Azumabashi to Hikifune section was abolished.
On 6 July 1905 Tenjin station was suspended. On 1 September 1907 the Sōbu Railway was nationalised and became the Sōbu Main Line (総武本線), and through running continued. In March 1908 the Azumabashi to Hikifune section reopened for freight. On 4 April 1908 Tenjin station was abolished, so the line had no stations between its ends. In March 1910 Azumabashi was renamed Asakusa and passenger service resumed. Kameido to Hikifune then became a branch. On 27 March 1910 through running to the Sōbu Main Line ended. The licence for the Kameido to Echujima extension expired in August 1910. In 1911 a plan to extend to Nishi-Hirai was not granted.
On 27 March 1918 the whole line was changed to a light railway under the Light Railway Act. On 4 September 1925 Tenjin station reopened. On 1 July 1926 the national railway opened a freight-only shortcut, the Shinkin Line (新金線), linking Shin-Koiwa on the Sōbu Main Line with Kanamachi on the Jōban Line. Through freight from the national railway then ended, and the line became a local line. On 15 April 1928 the whole Kameido Line was electrified, and six intermediate stations opened, so the line had up to seven. The national railway built a freight branch from Kameido to Onagigawa in 1929, and from Onagigawa to Echujima in 1958. In the Second World War air raids caused heavy damage, and more than half of the stations were closed or suspended. On 26 December 1943 Toraebashi-dōri station was suspended. On 10 March 1945, during the Tokyo air raids, Toraebashi-dōri and Hiraido-kaidō were abolished, and Kitajūken and Jūkenbashi-dōri were suspended and then abolished.
On 5 December 1946 Kitajūken and Kameido-suijin were relocated and merged into one station, Kameido-suijin. On 20 May 1956 Higashi-Azuma station opened on the old site of Hiraido-kaidō, which in effect restarted service. On 31 October 1956 Tenjin station was suspended, and it was abolished on 20 May 1957. On 22 October 1958 Jūkenbashi-dōri station was abolished. After the war, passengers grew with development along the Isesaki Line (伊勢崎線). On 31 May 1962 through running began between Kita-Koshigaya and Ningyōchō on the Isesaki Line and the Hibiya Line (日比谷線) of Teito Rapid Transit Authority (帝都高速度交通営団, now Tokyo Metro). The commuter routes to central Tokyo changed, and passengers on this line fell.
Since then little has changed. On 19 March 2003 the Hanzōmon Line (半蔵門線) was extended to Oshiage, starting through running with the Isesaki Line and the Nikko Line (日光線), and the weekday morning service was cut. On 19 October 2004 one-man operation began. On 17 March 2012 station numbers were introduced at all stations.
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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.