History
The Musashino Line was initially envisioned as a "Tokyo Outer Loop Line" in a 1927 railway appropriations bill, but was not built for several decades due to World War II and its aftermath. Construction finally began in 1964.
In 1967, a train carrying jet fuel to Tachikawa Air Base in western Tokyo exploded while passing through Shinjuku Station. This disaster led to the banning of freight trains on railway lines in central Tokyo and sped the development of the Musashino Line as an alternative route. Because most of the line passed through sparsely populated areas, it was initially envisioned as a freight-only line: however, opposition from local residents, at the same time as the violent landowner battles plaguing Narita International Airport, led the railway authorities to agree to passenger service as well.
The northern portion of the line (Fuchū to Funabashi) was completed in 1973; the southern freight-only portion (Fuchū to Tsurumi) was completed in 1976. The line remains in use for transporting US military jet fuel from Yokohama to west Tokyo, among other purposes.
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