Sōbu Line (Rapid)

The Sōbu Line (Rapid) (Japanese: 総武快速線, romanized: Sōbu-kaisoku-sen) is a railway service on the Sōbu Main Line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Tokyo Station in Chūō, Tokyo with Chiba Station in Chūō-ku, Chiba via the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, and Narashino.

Sōbu Line (Rapid)
JO
An E235 series EMU at Ichikawa Station
Overview
Locale	Tokyo, Chiba prefectures
Termini	Tokyo Chiba
Stations	10
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Daily ridership	693,998 (daily 2015)[1]
History
Opened	1972
Technical
Line length	60.2 km (37.4 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph)
Route map

Services

Rapid services on the Sōbu Line are primarily operated between Tokyo and Chiba, although there are many through services onto the Yokosuka Line as well as some through services operated from the Yokosuka Line via Tokyo terminating at Tsudanuma. During weekday morning peak periods Tokyo-bound trains arrive once every 3.2 minutes; this is reduced to 10 Chiba-bound trains per hour during weekday evening peak periods. At other times there are approximately six trains per hour. There are many through services operated onto other lines.

For information on the Narita Express, Shiosai, and other limited express services, see their respective articles.

Sōbu Line (Rapid) trains travel through onto the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna, Zushi, and Kurihama. Trains also travel through beyond Chiba to as far as:

• Kazusa-Ichinomiya on the Sotobō Line
• Kimitsu on the Uchibō Line
• Narita Airport via Narita on the Narita Line
• Kashima-Jingū on the Kashima Line
• Narutō on the Sōbu Main Line

Past services

Home Liner Chiba

Main article: Home Liner Chiba

Before 16 March 2019, there were five Home Liner Chiba commuter liner services that operated every weekday evening, four of which started from Tokyo and another which started at Shinjuku.

Stations served:

(Shinjuku – Akihabara) / Tokyo – Tsudanuma – Inage – Chiba

Limited Express Ayame

Main article: Ayame (train)

Commuter Rapid

Commuter Rapid services were abolished with the timetable revision on 12 March 2022.^[2] Prior to this they ran on weekday peak hours only, stopping at Tōkyō, Shin-Nihombashi, Bakurochō, Kinshichō, Funabashi, and Chiba.

Station list

• For information on local services between Kinshichō and Chiba, see the Chūō-Sōbu Line article.
• All rapid trains stop at all stations listed below.

Station No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers	Location
			Between stations	Total
Through services to JO Yokosuka Line for Yokohama, Ofuna, Kamakura, Zushi and Kurihama
TYOJO19	Tokyo	東京	-	0.0	JO Yokosuka Line (Mostly through service) Tōhoku, Yamagata, Akita and Hokkaido Shinkansen Jōetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen JC Chūō Line (JC01) JY Yamanote Line (JY01) JK Keihin-Tōhoku Line (JK26) JT Tōkaidō Line (JT01) JU Ueno–Tokyo Line JE Keiyō Line (JE01) Tōkaidō Shinkansen M Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (M-17) T Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (Otemachi: T-09)	Chiyoda	Tokyo
JO20	Shin-Nihombashi	新日本橋	1.2	1.2	G Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Mitsukoshimae: G-12) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Mitsukoshimae: Z-09)	Chūō
JO21	Bakurochō	馬喰町	1.1	2.3	A Toei Asakusa Line (Higashi-nihombashi: A-15) S Toei Shinjuku Line (Bakuroyokoyama: S-09)
JO22	Kinshichō	錦糸町	2.5	4.8	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB22) Z Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-13)	Sumida
JO23	Shin-Koiwa	新小岩	5.2	10.0	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB25)	Katsushika
JO24	Ichikawa	市川	5.4	15.4	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB27)	Ichikawa	Chiba
JO25	Funabashi	船橋	7.8	23.2	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB31) TD Tobu Urban Park Line (TD35) KS Keisei Main Line (Keisei Funabashi: KS22)	Funabashi
JO26	Tsudanuma	津田沼	3.5	26.7	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB33) KS Keisei Matsudo Line (Shin-Tsudanuma: KS66)	Narashino
JO27	Inage	稲毛	9.2	35.9	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB37)	Inage-ku, Chiba
JO28	Chiba	千葉	3.3	39.2	JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB39) ■ Sōbu Main Line (for Chōshi) ■ Narita Line ■ Sotobō Line ■ Uchibō Line Chiba Urban Monorail: Line 1, Line 2 KS Keisei Chiba Line (Keisei Chiba: KS59)	Chūō-ku, Chiba
Through services to: ■ Sotobō Line for Kazusa-Ichinomiya ■ Uchibō Line for Kimitsu ■ Narita Line for Narita and Narita Airport Kashima Line for Kashima-Jingū via the Narita Line ■ Sōbu Main Line for Narutō

Note: Special Rapid service was discontinued on 4 March 2017.^[3]

Rolling stock

JNR 113 series train at Kinshichō Station in 1978

Rapid service

• E235-1000 series (from 21 December 2020)^[4]

Limited express service

• E257 series (Shiosai)
• E259 series (Narita Express, Shiosai)

Former rolling stock

• 113 series (from October 1980 to December 1999)
• E217 series (from December 1994 to March 2025)

History

On 20 August 2016, station numbering was introduced with stations being assigned station numbers between JO19 and JO28.^[5][6] Numbers increase towards in the eastbound direction towards Chiba.