Tobu Isesaki Line
The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway company Tobu Railway, extending from Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen Station in Saitama to Isesaki Station in Gunma Prefecture. The Isesaki Line can refer to the entire section between Asakusa - Isesaki and Oshiage - Hikifune, but from March 2012, the 41.0 km section south of Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen was branded as the Tobu Skytree Line in conjunction with the opening of the Tokyo Skytree tower. Operation. Service patterns. Stops and operated sections are as of 2017. History. The first section of the Isesaki Line was opened by the present  company in 1899 between and utilising steam motive power. In 1902, Tobu extended the line south to have a maritime connection at present (then , later renamed Asakusa) in downtown Tokyo, and north to . The following year a further northern extension to (then on the south bank of Tone River) was opened. Further northward extension progressed, and in 1910 the line arrived at . In 1931, a bridge over the Sumida River was built and present Asakusa Station (then ) opened as part of the department store building, the entire line being completed. The Asakusa to Nishiarai section was double-tracked in 1912 , and the rest of the line was double-tracked between 1920 and 1927, except for the Hanyu to Kawamata section, which was double-tracked when a second bridge was built over the Tonegawa in 1992. Electrification was begun in 1924 on the section of Asakusa and , and in 1927 completed as far as Isesaki. The distance of over 100 km was then one of the longest electrified railway lines together with the present Kintetsu Osaka Line and Yamada Lines. After World War II, the Tobu Lines had no connection to the Yamanote Line or other major lines of the then  Japanese National Railways (JNR) to offer efficient transfers to central Tokyo. The sole connection was with the Jōban Line at Kitasenju, which offered poor access to central Tokyo. To solve the inefficiencies of transfers at Kitasenju and notoriously narrow Asakusa, in 1962, the Hibiya Line of the then , known as TRTA, present Tokyo Metro) was built, connecting at Kitasenju. Further growing traffic required Tobu to build a second through line to Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line in the 1990s. In 2003, the company built new tracks from Hikifune to connect at , officially an annex station of Tokyo Skytree. From the 3  March 2006, timetable revision, less than half of trains originated or terminated at Asakusa, with more trains operating through to Tokyo Metro subway lines. From 17 March 2012, the section south of Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen was rebranded as the Tobu Skytree Line. References. This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia