Hanshin Railway 阪神
Hanshin Train
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The Hanshin Railway lines connect Umeda and Namba stations in Osaka with Amagasaki and Sannomiya in Hyogo Prefecture. Hanshin lines include the Hanshin Main Line and the Hanshin Namba Line.
Hanshin Railways is part of the larger Hankyu-Hanshin Group that runs both Hanshin and Hankyu trains in the Kansai area of west central Japan.
The kanji compound for Hanshin is made up of the second character of Osaka (阪) and the first character of Kobe (神) and illustrates the railway's role in connecting these two cities.
Hanshin also owns the popular Hanshin Tigers baseball team of the Central League. The Hanshin Main Line runs to the team's home ground at Koshien, which is also the mecca for high school baseball in Japan.
The Sanyo shinkansen runs in to Shin-Kobe Station to the north and can be reached by the Seishin-Yamate Line of Kobe subway or local bus.
JR Sannomiya Station, Kobe-Sannomiya Station and Sannomiya-Hanadokeimae Station are all connected by walkways or the underground shopping mall, Santica.
Hanshin Lines
Hanshin Main Line
The Hanshin Main Line runs 32km from Umeda Station in Osaka to Motomachi Station in Kobe. Motomachi is one stop west of Kobe-Sannomiya Station, the major train station in the city along with JR Sannomiya Station. The two stations are interconnected and also intersect with the Kobe subway and Port Liner to Kobe Airport.
The 33 stations on the Hanshin main Line are Umeda, Fukushima, Noda, Yodogawa, Himejima, Chibune, Kuise, Daimotsu, Amagasaki, Deyashiki, Amagasaki Center Pool-mae, Mukogawa, Naruo, Koshien, Kusugawa, Imazu, Nishinomiya, Koroen, Uchide, Ashiya, Fukae,Ogi, Uozaki, Sumiyoshi, Mikage, Ishiyagawa, Shinzaike, Oishi, Nishi-Nada, Iwaya, Kasuganomichi, Kobe-Sannomiya and Motomachi.
The Hanshin Namba Line connects with the Hanshin Main Line at Amagasaki. The Mukogawa Line connects at Mukogawa Station. The Kobe Kosoku Line continues from Motomachi to Nishidai Station in Hyogo Prefecture.
The Hanshin Namba Line runs from Amagasaki Station to Osaka Namba Station. The list of stations on the Hanshin Namba Line are Amagasaki, Daimotsu, Dekijima, Fuku, Dempo, Chidoribashi, Nishikujo (on the Osaka Loop Line and Sakurajima Line), Kujo (Chuo Line of the Osaka subway), Dome-mae (Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line), Sakuragawa (Sennichimae Line and Nankai Koya Line to Koyasan at nearby Shiomibashi Station) and Osaka Namba on the Midosuji Line, Yotsubashi Line and Sennichimae Line of the Osaka subway. Namba also has Kintetsu Line trains to Kintetsu Nagoya Station and Kintetsu Nara Station, and Koya Line trains to Gokurakubashi for Koyasan.
Mukogawa Line
The Mukogawa Line is a short branch line of the Hanshin Main Line from Mukogawa Station to Mukogawadanchimae with stops at Higashi-Naruo and Susaki in between.
Kobe Kosoku Line
The Kobe Kosoku Line (Kobe Tozai Line) runs from Motomachi Station in Kobe city to Nishidai with stops at Nishi-Motomachi, Kosoku Kobe, Shinkaichi, Daikai, Kosoku Nagata and Nishidai.
Sanyo Electric Railway Main Line
From Nishidai trains run on the Sanyo Electric Railway Main Line to Sanyo-Himeji Station in Himeji.
See a pdf map of the Hanshin railway network.
Hanshin Rail Passes
JR Rail Passes are not valid on Hanshin trains but the company has a number of its own passes and other rail passes are valid on Hanshin trains.
Hanshin Railways rail passes include the Hanshin Tourist Pass (One Day) for foreign visitors available at Kansai Tourist Information Center at Kansai International Airport, Osaka Tourist Information Center near Shinsaibashi, the Hotel New Hankyu Osaka, Hotel Hanshin and various BIC Camera stores in Osaka.
The Kansai Thru Pass is valid on Hanshin trains as is the Osaka Amazing Pass and the Hankyu-Hanshin 1 Day Pass.
See the Hanshin website for a full listing of discount tickets and passes.
Hanshin Buses
Hanshin also operates a number of local buses, limousine buses and highway buses (Salad Express). Hanshin Hankyu highway buses run from both Osaka (Umeda) and Kobe (Sannomiya) to Tokushima, Niihama, Uwajima and Imabari on Shikoku, and Hamada and Tsuwano in Shimane Prefecture.
Limousine buses make the shuttle to both Kansai International Airport and Itami Airport. Buses to Itami leave from Sannomiya (40 minutes), Osaka Station (25 minutes) and Universal Studios Japan (45 minutes). Buses to KIX leave from Osaka Station (50 minutes), Sannomiya (65 minutes), Universal Studios Japan (70 minutes) and Amagasaki (65 minutes).
Local buses run into the suburbs from many Hanshin stations.
See www.hanshin-bus.co.jp (in Japanese) for further details.
Local Hanshin buses
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