Tanimachi Line


The Osaka Metro Tanimachi Line is a rapid transit line of Osaka Metro, running from Dainichi Station in Moriguchi to Yaominami Station in Yao through Osaka City. Its official name is Rapid Electric Tramway Line No. 2, while the Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau refers to it as Osaka City Rapid Railway Line No. 2, and in MLIT publications, it is written as Line No. 2 . On line maps, stations on the Tanimachi Line are indicated with the letter T.
The central part of the line runs underneath Tanimachi-suji, a broad north-south thoroughfare lined with prefectural government buildings and Buddhist temples. Its only above-ground segment is the vicinity of Yaominami Station. The line color on maps, station signs and train livery is Purple#Royal purple, derived from the kasaya robes worn by Buddhist monks.

Overview

As noted above, the Tanimachi Line is officially "Line No. 2", but it was actually the fourth to open, after Line No. 3 during World War II and Line No. 4 in the early 1960s. The line was opened gradually from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
Ridership, though less than half the numbers of the Midōsuji Line, is still the second-highest of all lines in the Osaka subway network, thanks to the large number of government buildings in eastern Chūō-ku and schools around Tennōji. It is also the second-most profitable subway line in Osaka.
The Tanimachi Line has the longest operating distance in the Osaka subway network, after the Midōsuji Line. It runs completely underground from Dainichi to just before Yaominami, and was known as the longest continuously underground subway line in Japan for a long time after the opening of Yaominami Station. Now, it is fourth in Japan after the Toei Ōedo Line, Saitama Rapid Railway Line/Tokyo Metro Namboku Line/Tōkyū Meguro Line, and Nagoya Municipal Subway Meijō Line/Meikō Line.
If one considers,, and stations as the same station, the Tanimachi Line has connections to all other subway lines in Osaka.

Line data

For the purposes of fare calculation, the Higashi-Umeda–Tennōji segment is adjusted to the same length as Umeda–Tennōji on the Midōsuji Line.

Stations

Stopping patterns

All trains stop at every station along their route. During the day, trains alternate between Dainichi and Yaominami, and between Miyakojima and Fuminosato, with additional trains starting or terminating at Kire-Uriwari during rush hour. As the line is quite long and goes through the center of Osaka, express service was planned, but never implemented.
Since 1976, all trains have had 6 cars. Platforms are long enough to accommodate 8-car trainsets; the unused portions are fenced.

Women-only cars

were introduced on the line from 15 December 2003. There is one such designated car in each train, the use of which is restricted on weekdays from the first train until 9 a.m. The women-only restriction is lifted after 9 a.m.

Rolling stock

Train maintenance and inspection is carried out by the same group in charge of Chūō Line trains, at the Morinomiya depot and workshop, accessible through a spur located before Tanimachi Rokuchōme Station on the Tanimachi Line and after Tanimachi Yonchōme Station on the Chūō Line. In 2006, in preparation for the opening of the Kintetsu Keihanna Line extension of the Chūō Line, nine 20-series trainsets of the Tanimachi Line were exchanged for nine 22-series trainsets from the Chūō Line.

Former

Construction

According to the original plan laid out for the Tanimachi Line in 1927, it was to follow Matsuyamachi-suji. It was also intended to interface directly with the Midōsuji Line directly at Umeda, similar to the cross-platform interchange between the Yotsubashi Line and the Midōsuji Line at. A second tunnel was dug at Umeda for this purpose, but the connection southwards was plagued by collapses and other accidents; as a result, the planned route was changed to the current one, stopping at Higashi-Umeda and then veering eastward. The tunnel at Umeda reserved for the Tanimachi Line went unused for decades before finally being adapted for the southbound track of the Midōsuji Line in 1989, allowing for expanded platforms to cope with overcrowding.
Over the course of tunnel construction for the line, the underground waterways in Osaka were greatly altered, causing a number of incidents in which famous wells dried up.
In 1970, during the construction of the underground Tenjimbashi Rokuchōme Station, there was a large gas explosion which caused a number of workers' deaths. This became known as the ":ja:天六ガス爆発事故|Ten-Roku Gas Explosion Accident" in Japan.

Successor to the Nankai Hirano Line

Compared to the majority of areas served by the subway, where it runs underneath major roadways with high levels of traffic, part of the Tanimachi Line runs underneath relatively narrow streets with fewer cars, near residential areas. This is because the Abeno–Hirano section of the line was constructed as the successor in passenger transport to the same section of the Nankai Hirano Line, a tramway which ran aboveground between Imaike and Hirano, following the route of the Tanimachi Line from Abeno eastward. While it belongs to a different operator, this section of the Tanimachi Line is essentially the old streetcar line converted to an underground rapid-transit service.
The names of stations within this section reflect the station names of the Hirano Line:
StationReplaced byNote
ImaikeStation still exists on the Hankai Tramway Hankai Line; Hirano Line branched off just south of the station
TobitaLocated at the southwest edge of Tobita Shinchi, next to the wall of the former pleasure district
Abeno Located perpendicular to Uemachi Line Abeno Station; a spur east of the station allowed through service between Tennōji-ekimae and Hirano
Nawashiroda
FuminosatoSubway station shifted northwest towards Nawashiroda; Hirano Line station was located at the entrance to Fuminosato shopping arcade
MomogaikeLocated next to Momogaike park, where the JR Hanwa Line crosses over the Tanimachi Line
TanabeSubway station shifted 200m northwest towards Momogaike
Komagawa-chōLocated near Komagawa-ekimae Shopping Street
NakanoLocated roughly where Imazato-suji crosses the Tanimachi Line
Nishi-HiranoLocated north of Hirano Ward office; former station site landscaped and maintained as "Setoguchi Park"
HiranoLocated east of Osaka Inner Loop Road, near the southwest edge of historical Hirano Village; small park and monument in former location

Timeline