At one time there were through-trains operating to and from the Kobe Line; one was 'Kageki-tokkyu' (limited express), which directly connected Kyoto and Takarazuka, passing through the Kobe Line and the Hankyu Imazu Line, and the other was a limited express train, which was directly operated between Kobe and Kyoto from the post-war period until the 1930s of the Showa period (for about a decade from 1955).
なお、神戸線との直通列車は、かつて神戸線・阪急今津線経由で京都～宝塚間を直通する「歌劇特急」や、それとは別に戦後から昭和30年代までは、神戸～京都間を直通する特急があった。