However, during the war the Keihan Electric Railway was swallowed by the Keihanshin Express Railway (the name was changed to Hankyu Railway in 1973), and after the war, in 1949, part of the Keihan Electric Railway restarted its business, handing over the Shinkeihan Line (the name of which was then changed to the Kyoto Main Line) to Hankyu Railway and began competing with other railway lines to attract commuters between Kyoto and Osaka by introducing limited express trains.
だが、戦中に京阪電気鉄道が京阪神急行電鉄（1973年に阪急電鉄と改称）に統合され、戦後の1949年にその京阪電気鉄道が新京阪線を京都本線と改称して阪急に残した形で再発足すると、それらとも争う形で再び京阪間直通客の獲得に乗り出し、特急が運転されるようになる。