Conceived in the 1950s during Japan's explosive postwar economic growth, it was planned as a grand "outer loop" of the city, using existing freight lines to link
Amagasaki with
Shin-Ōsaka,
Suita,
Awaji,
Hanaten,
Kami, Uriwari and
Sugimotochō, with a newly constructed segment into Osaka's (then primarily industrial) Nankō Port Town. However, with JNR's financial situation deteriorating catastrophically (culminating in its privatization) and continuing issues surrounding land acquisition and squatting by local residents on railway property, the plan was cut back to Shin-Osaka and Kami, terminating at
Kyūhōji in the south. (The Hanwa Freight Line, which would have carried the southern segment from Kami to Sugimotochō, was officially abandoned by JR Freight in 2009.) The line connects
Shin-Osaka Station in northern
Osaka with
Kyūhōji Station in
Yao, forming an arc around the northern and eastern suburbs of the city. The southern part opened on March 15, 2008. Due to problems with the illegal occupation of a site, construction of the northern part was delayed. Construction of the northern segment started in 2011, and the section between Shin-Ōsaka and Hanaten opened on March 16, 2019. Incorporated into the second phase of the Osaka Higashi Line project is the construction of underground platforms at Osaka Station (known as Umekita). The project provides the basis for the future Naniwasuji Line while also providing a small shortcut on current services on the
Haruka and
Kuroshio limited express trains. In February 2023, track switching work took place between the 11th and 13th of that month. The underground platforms began operation later in the year on March 18. ==Stations==