In 1921, around the time that the construction project of the Shinkeihan Line was formulated, a private company called Kita-Osaka Electric Railway began operating with a line diverging from the Hankyu Kobe Line and Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line at Juso Station, and reaching up to Senriyama Station (currently, the line is divided into two sections at Awaji Station, with the west section belonging to the Kyoto Line and the north section to the Hankyu Senri Line).
ちょうど新京阪線の計画がたった頃の1921年に、阪急神戸線・阪急宝塚本線の十三駅から分岐して千里山駅までを結ぶ、北大阪電気鉄道（現在淡路駅を境に、西は京都線、北は阪急千里線）という私鉄路線が開業していた。