The station list is as of 1997 before the street running section was abandoned due to replacement by the Tōzai Line subway.

The line was built in 1912 (dual track electrified at 600 V DC) to connect the city centers of Kyoto and Ōtsu by electric streetcars, as the steam-powered Tōkaidō Main Line was an indirect route between the two cities before its realignment in 1921.

[citation needed][4] The busiest section of the line, between Keishin-Sanjō Station and Misasagi Station, was replaced in 1997 by the Kyoto Subway Tōzai Line, and the voltage increased to 1,500 V DC in conjunction with this project in 1996.

[citation needed][5] One of the aims of the realignment was to move the tracks underground in the Kyoto area, in order to remove the former alignment along public roads.

The line retains its public road alignment in Ōtsu.