Seibu Kokubunji Line

The Seibu Kokubunji Line (西武国分寺線) is a railway line in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway.

The line is part of the Seibu Shinjuku group of railway lines and connects suburban areas of western Tokyo to Seibu and JR main lines that run to central Tokyo. The line passes through the cities of Higashimurayama, Kodaira, and Kokubunji.

History
The line was opened in 1894 as part of the Kawagoe Railway linking Kokubunji and Hon-Kawagoe. At this time, Ogawa was the only intermediate station on the Higashi-Murayama to Kokubunji section. In 1927, the Kawagoe railway was diverted at Higashi-Murayama to a new section of track to Takadanobaba and so the Kokubunji line was formed from the orphaned section. The line was electrified in 1948. Two additional intermediate stations were later opened between Ogawa and Kokubunji: Takanodai opened in 1948, and Koigakubo opened in 1955. Setting up of Hanesawa and track doubling from Koigakubo to Hanesawa was carried out in 1968. Since July 2008, recorded announcements on trains have been provided in English in addition to Japanese.

Through service onto the Seibu Shinjuku Line has been suspended since 19 March 2019 because of the reconstruction of Higashi-Murayama Station into an elevated station.

Operations
2000 series EMUs are used on this line. These trains are painted in Seibu Railway's distinctive yellow livery. All trains are local services and stop at all stations. Trains take 12 minutes to complete the 7.8 km journey. The line is mostly single track between Higashi-Murayama and Koigakubo, but with double track sections at each station. Track between Koigakubo and Kokubunji is double track for the first 1.2 km and single track the last 0.9 km before Kokubunji station. The track changes from double to single at Hanesawa (羽根沢信号場). The 1.2 km double-track section allows 8 trains per hour to operate in each direction during peak. At Kokubunji Station, trains use only a single platform (platform 5) at the terminus.