Utsunomiya Line

This article is about the JR East railway line. For the Tōbu Railway line, see Tōbu Utsunomiya Line.

Utsunomiya Line
300px E231-1000 series EMU between Higashi-Ōmiya and Hasuda
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Locale	Tokyo, Saitama, Tochigi, Ibaraki
Termini	Ueno Kuroiso
Stations	33
Operation
Opened	1883
Operator(s)	JR East
Depot(s)	Oyama
Technical
Line length	159.9 km (99.4 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph)

The Utsunomiya Line (宇都宮線, Utsunomiya-sen) is the name given to a 159.9 kilometre section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Kuroiso Station in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Japan. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network. Service on the line has been extended to Tokyo Station via the Ueno-Tokyo Line.

Services

Services on the Utsunomiya Line are typically divided into those starting and terminating at Ueno and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line through services from Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and points south. Between Ueno and Ōmiya, trains share the track with the Takasaki Line, both of which serve as de facto express services compared to the parallel Keihin-Tōhoku Line. The Utsunomiya Line has four trains per hour to/from Ueno, with another two trains per hour through from the Shōnan-Shinjuku Line, one of which is a rapid service.

The fastest service on the line, the rapid Rabbit, makes the run between Ueno and Utsunomiya in one hour and 26 minutes.

Service on the line is generally divided at Utsunomiya, though the number of through trains has been increasing steadily over the years. South of Utsunomiya, 10- and 15-car E231 series four-door suburban commuter EMUs with Green cars attached service the line, while to the north service is provided chiefly by 5-car 211 series three-door EMUs.

Limited express

Numerous limited express services use the line, including:

• Ohayō Tochigi / Hometown Tochigi
• Nikkō / Spacia Nikkō / Kinugawa / Spacia Kinugawa (from Ikebukuro/Shinjuku to Kurihashi and on to the Tōbu Nikkō Line)
• Hokutosei, Cassiopeia (once or twice daily night trains)

Home Liner Koga

Two trains bound for Koga depart Ueno every weekday evening. Passengers can board only at Ueno; all other stations are for disembarking only. Stops include: Ueno, Urawa, Ōmiya, Higashi-Ōmiya, Hasuda, Kuki, and Koga. Service is provided by 7-car 185 series and 9-car 489 series EMUs.

Local/rapid services to/from Ueno

Commuter rapid

Commuter rapid services for Utsunomiya make fewer stops than the Rabbit rapid services described below. They are operated only on weekday evenings, departing Ueno between 18:00 and 22:00 and Utsunomiya between 16:00 and 21:00, with approximately one round-trip per hour. One train runs to Kuroiso. All trains are E231 series 10- or 15-car EMUs.

Rapid Rabbit

Rapid Rabbit services run between Ueno and Utsunomiya, skipping some intermediate stations. Rabbit trains were first operated by the Japanese National Railways as an hourly/half-hourly rapid service. Since October 2004, however, Rabbit services run only twice during the morning; on weekends, they replace the weekday commuter rapid service. Trains are E231 series EMUs, except for a single Oyama-bound 211 series EMU operated on weekends and holidays.

Local

Local trains run four times hourly; one of those terminates at Koganei, while the rest terminate at Utsunomiya. During the morning peak, Ueno-bound trains run at intervals of 4–6 minutes. Services are provided by E231 series and 211 series 10- and 15-car EMUs.

Shōnan-Shinjuku Line services

See also: Shōnan-Shinjuku Line

Within the Utsunomiya Line, Shōnan-Shinjuku Line rapid and local trains are each operated once per hour. They do not stop at Saitama-Shintoshin Station since it has no platforms available.

All trains are 10- or 15-car E231 series EMUs.

Rapid

Rapid trains operate once hourly, making limited stops. They travel between Shinjuku and Utsunomiya in one hour, 35 minutes.

Local

Local trains operate once hourly (twice hourly during the morning), stopping at all stations. They travel between Shinjuku and Ōmiya in 32 minutes.

Utsunomiya – Kuroiso services

Between Utsunomiya and Kuroiso, local and rapid trains stop at every station. Trains operate approximately three times per hour, traveling between Utsunomiya and Kuroiso in approximately 50 minutes. Most trains are 211 series EMUs.

Station list

• Local trains, excluding Shōnan-Shinjuku Line through trains, stop at all stations (except Nippori)
• Rapid, Home Liner, and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains stop at stations marked "●" and "▼"; they pass those marked "｜". (Passengers on Home Liner services can only disembark at stations marked "▼".)
• For limited express services, please see their respective articles.

Station	Japanese	Distance (km)			Rapid Rabbit	Comm. Rapid	Home Liner Koga	Shōnan- Shinjuku Line		Transfers	Location
		Between stations	Total
			From Ueno via Oku	From Tokyo via Ōji				Local	Rapid
Through services via the Shōnan-Shinjuku Line to Ikebukuro and Shinjuku and the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna and Zushi
Ueno	上野	-	0.0	3.6	●	●	●	∥	∥	Tohoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Joetsu Shinkansen, Hokuriku Shinkansen, Yamanote Line, Keihin-Tohoku Line, Takasaki Line, Joban Line Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (G-16), Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (H-17) Keisei Main Line (Keisei Ueno)	Taitō	Tokyo
Oku	尾久	2.6	4.8	-	｜	●	｜	∥	∥		Kita
Akabane	赤羽	5.0	9.8	13.2	●	●	｜	●	●	Keihin-Tōhoku Line, Shōnan-Shinjuku Line, Saikyō Line
Urawa	浦和	11.0	20.8	24.2	●	●	▼	●	●	Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Urawa-ku, Saitama	Saitama
Saitama-Shintoshin	さいたま新都心	4.5	25.3	28.7	｜	｜	｜	｜	｜	Keihin-Tōhoku Line	Ōmiya-ku, Saitama
Ōmiya	大宮	1.6	26.9	30.3	●	●	▼	●	●	Tohoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Joetsu Shinkansen, Hokuriku Shinkansen, Keihin-Tohoku Line, Takasaki Line, Shonan-Shinjuku Line, Saikyo Line, Kawagoe Line Tobu Noda Line Ina Line (New Shuttle)
Toro	土呂	3.0	29.9	33.3	｜	｜	｜	●	｜		Kita-ku, Saitama
Higashi-Ōmiya	東大宮	2.1	32.0	35.4	｜	｜	▼	●	｜		Minuma-ku, Saitama
Hasuda	蓮田	3.8	35.8	39.2	●	｜	▼	●	●		Hasuda
Shiraoka	白岡	4.3	40.1	43.5	｜	｜	｜	●	｜		Shiraoka
Shin-Shiraoka	新白岡	2.4	42.5	45.9	｜	｜	｜	●	｜
Kuki	久喜	3.0	45.5	48.9	●	●	▼	●	●	Tōbu Isesaki Line	Kuki
Higashi-Washinomiya	東鷲宮	2.7	48.2	51.6	｜	｜	｜	●	｜
Kurihashi	栗橋	5.6	53.8	57.2	｜	｜	｜	●	｜	Tōbu Nikkō Line
Koga	古河	7.5	61.3	64.7	●	●	▼	●	●		Koga	Ibaraki
Nogi	野木	4.7	66.0	69.4	｜	｜		●	｜		Nogi, Shimotsuga District	Tochigi
Mamada	間々田	3.9	69.9	73.3	｜	｜		●	｜		Oyama
Oyama	小山	7.3	77.2	80.6	●	●		●	●	Tōhoku Shinkansen, Ryōmō Line, Mito Line
Koganei	小金井	7.5	84.7	88.1	●	●		●	●		Shimotsuke
Jichi-Idai	自治医大	2.6	87.3	90.7	●	●		●	●
Ishibashi	石橋	4.7	92.0	95.4	●	●		●	●
Utsunomiya Freight Terminal	宇都宮貨物ターミナル	1.2	93.2	96.6	｜	｜		｜	｜		Kaminokawa, Kawachi District
Suzumenomiya	雀宮	5.2	98.4	101.8	●	●		●	●		Utsunomiya
Utsunomiya	宇都宮	7.7	106.1	109.5	●	●		●	●	Tōhoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Nikkō Line
Okamoto	岡本	6.2	112.3	115.7	●	●
Hōshakuji	宝積寺	5.5	117.8	121.2	●	●				Karasuyama Line	Takanezawa, Shioya District
Ujiie	氏家	5.9	123.7	127.1	●	●					Sakura
Kamasusaka	蒲須坂	4.5	128.2	131.6	●	●
Kataoka	片岡	3.9	132.1	135.5	●	●					Yaita
Yaita	矢板	6.3	138.4	141.8	●	●
Nozaki	野崎	4.8	143.2	146.6	●	●					Ōtawara
Nishi-Nasuno	西那須野	5.2	148.4	151.8	●	●					Nasushiobara
Nasushiobara	那須塩原	6.0	154.4	157.8	●	●				Tōhoku Shinkansen
Kuroiso	黒磯	5.5	159.9	163.3	●	●				Tōhoku Main Line (for Shirakawa and Kōriyama)

Rolling stock

• 205-600 series EMUs
• E231-1000 series EMUs
• E233-3000 series EMUs

From March 2013, a fleet of eight refurbished 4-car 205 series EMUs was phased in on Utsunomiya Line services between Koganei and Kuroiso, replacing 211 series sets.

• Jreast 205-600 Utsunomiya Line 20130316.jpg

  A 205-600 series EMU

• JR EAST E231-1000 U541.jpg

  An E231-1000 series EMU

• 

  An E233-3000 series EMU

External links

• Stations of the Tōhoku Main Line (JR East) (Japanese)