Sōbu Main Line
railway line in Japan
The Sōbu Main Line (Japanese: 総武本線, Hepburn: Sōbu-honsen) is a Japanese railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It connects Tokyo with the east coast of Chiba Prefecture, passing through the cities of Funabashi, Chiba, and Chōshi. Its name derives from the old provinces of the area which it serves: Musashi (Japanese: 武蔵国), Shimōsa (Japanese: 下総国) and Kazusa (Japanese: 上総国). Its official line color is navy.
Definition
Formally, the Sōbu Main Line refers to the line from Tokyo to Chōshi.
However, informally, the character of the line changes at Chiba. The more urbanized section west of Chiba is informally, but commonly, called the Sōbu Line (Japanese: 総武線, Japanese pronunciation: [Sōbu sen]) without using "Main". The "Main Line", in popular usage, refers to the more rural section east of Chiba.
Route maps, signs at stations, in trains, and the vocal announcements all maintain this distinction: with Main for the eastern rural section; without Main for the western frequent travel zone.
Description
Distances:
Tokyo - Chōshi: 120.5 km
Kinshichō - Ochanomizu: 4.3 km
Shin-Koiwa - Etchūjima Freight (Etchūjima freight line): 11.7 km
Shin-Koiwa - Kanamachi (Shinkane freight line): 8.9 km
Electrification: DC 1500 V excluding the non electrified Etchūjima freight line
Tracks
Quadruple: Kinshichō - Chiba
Double: Tokyo - Kinshichō, Kinshichō - Ochanomizu, Chiba - Sakura
Single: Sakura - Chōshi, Shin-Koiwa - Etchūjima Freight Line, Shin-Koiwa - Kanamachi Freight Line
Operation
Services west of Chiba (Tokyo/Ochanomizu - Chiba)
Local trains run between Ochanomizu and Chiba Station and are called the
Chūō-Sōbu Line (Japanese: 中央・総武線, Japanese pronunciation: [tɕɯːoː soːbɯ seɴ]) or Sōbu-Local Line (Japanese: 総武緩行線, Japanese pronunciation: [soːbɯ kaŋkoː seɴ]).
“Sōbu Main Line” enters the record as railway line in Japan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sōbu, Main and Line can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1191364. VIAF identifies the subject as 4797153126237524750003. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1500.
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