Osaka
Osaka's rail history began in 1885, when the Hankai Railway opened between Namba and Yamatogawa. That stretch is still part of the Nankai Main Line and is the oldest private railway line in Japan still in operation. The city's network grew out of JR, private railways, and the subway together, with Hankyu, Hanshin, Keihan, Kintetsu, and Nankai reaching out from Umeda and Namba toward Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and Wakayama. The Midosuji Line opened in 1933 as Japan's first publicly run subway, and the Osaka Loop Line began running as a full loop in 1964. In March 2023 new underground platforms opened at JR Osaka Station, and in January 2025 the Osaka Metro Chuo Line reached Yumeshima for Expo 2025.
