[citation needed] The Kita-Umeda extension opened on March 18, 2023, replacing the above-ground Umeda Freight Line.

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-Osaka, 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.

[1][clarification needed] But because of problems with the illegal occupation of a site, construction of the northern part was delayed.

[2] Construction of the northern segment started in 2011 and the section between Shin-Osaka and Hanaten has opened on 16 March 2019.