Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (北大阪急行電鉄, Kita Ōsaka Kyūkō Dentetsu, lit. "North Osaka Express Electric Railway") is a railway operator in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its sole line, officially named the Namboku Line (南北線, Namboku sen), operates as a through-service extension of the Midōsuji Line of the Osaka Metro.
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Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway
Kita-Osaka Kyuko 8000 series train (between Momoyamadai Station and Senri-Chūō Station)
The Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Company, Ltd. (北大阪急行電鉄株式会社, Kita Ōsaka Kyūkō Dentetsu Kabushiki-gaisha), established on 11 December 1967, is 54% owned by Hankyu Corporation, a major component of the wider Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Kitakyu, as it is often abbreviated, also owns various commercial and residential properties along the line. It is not to be confused with an earlier railway company called Kita-Osaka Electric Railway[ja] which operated a section of the Hankyu Senri Line (between Awaji and Senriyama) and Hankyu Kyoto Main Line (between Jūsō and Awaji) from 1919 until 1928, when it was merged into Keihan Electric Railway.
Former line map showing through-service with Midōsuji Line (1987–2024)
The line was opened on 24 February 1970, to connect the then northern terminus of the Midōsuji Line, Esaka, with the grounds of the 1970 World's Fair. The Expo link was closed on 14 September, and the line was redirected to the new underground terminal station of Senri-Chūō.
Takeo Miki, then Minister of International Trade and Industry, brokered the deal creating the railway as a joint venture between the City of Osaka and Hankyu Railway. Although the line was originally envisioned as a straightforward extension of the Midosuji Line, the city government was unable to independently complete the extension because it went beyond municipal boundaries, thus raising issues of expropriation and financing.
The temporary tracks between Senri-Chūō and the Expo Park were removed following the Expo, and the right-of-way repurposed as part of the Chugoku Expressway.
A plan to extend the line 2.5km (1.6mi) northward from Senri-Chuo to the city of Minoh was proposed in 1989. The Minoh municipal government exchanged a letter of confirmation with Hankyu and Kitakyu regarding studies of the extension in 2011, and the government of Osaka Prefecture joined a four-party memorandum of understanding in 2012.[1]
On 19 January 2017, construction began on the extension of the line to Minō-Kayano, which will have one intermediate station at Minō-Semba-Handaimae. Completion of the extension was originally scheduled for 2020;[2] in May 2019, the extension's scheduled opening date was delayed to 2023 because of construction problems.[3] The scheduled opening of the extension was set for the end of 2023,[4] but was later pushed back further to 23 March 2024.[5]
"北大阪急行電鉄南北線延伸線の新駅の名称が本日決定しました"[Names of new stations of the Kitakyu line to be finalized](PDF). Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (in Japanese). 24 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
"北大阪急行，南北線延伸線（千里中央—箕面萱野間）を2023年度末に開業へ"[Kita-Osaka Railway to open Namboku Line extension (between Senri-Chuo and Minoh-Kayano) by the end of 2023]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
