The Izu Kyūkō Line ( ja, 伊豆急行線, ) is a privately owned

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line of the

Izukyū Corporation The is a private railroad company in Japan, and a subsidiary of the Tokyu Corporation. The company operates the Izu Kyūkō Line train service on Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, and has subsidiary operations involved in taxi and bus s ...

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The line approximately parallels the eastern coast of the

Izu Peninsula The is a large mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The peninsul ...

, a tourist district noted for its numerous hot spring resorts, and

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s, between

Itō Station is a railway station located in the city of Itō, Shizuoka, Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), with the Izukyū Corporation's Izu Kyūkō Line as a tenant running a through service. It also has a freight depot for the J ...

in Itō and

Izukyū Shimoda Station 270px, Platforms is a railway station in the city of Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Izukyū Corporation. Lines Izukyū-Shimoda Station forms the southern terminus of the Izu Kyūkō Line, and is located 45 ...

in Shimoda. The line opened in 1961. Since March 13, 2010,

PASMO is a rechargeable contactless smart card electronic money system. It is primarily used for public transport in Tokyo, Japan, where it was introduced on 18 March 2007. Pasmo can also be used as a payment card for vending machines and stores. ...

and Suica cards are accepted on the line."Suicaサービスの開始について" (14 January 2009)
.

Basic data

*Track: single *

Signalling In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

: Automatic (

ATS ATS or Ats may refer to: Businesses * ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team * ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company ...

-Si, compatible with

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East) ATS-SN.)

History

Initial plans called for the

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) to build a

spur line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

linking Atami on the

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

with Shimoda. However, funding was limited in the 1930s due to a combination of a tight

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variables ...

under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Osachi Hamaguchi Hamaguchi Osachi (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: , also Hamaguchi Yūkō, 1 April 1870 – 26 August 1931) was a Japanese politician, cabinet minister and Prime Minister of Japan from 1929 to 1931. Nicknamed the due to his dignified demeanor and mane- ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, and a number of technical issues. On March 30, 1935, the initial 8.7 km section of the Itō Line linking Atami with was opened. The second (8.3 km) section from Ajiro to was opened on December 15, 1938. Both sections were electrified at 1500 VDC when opened. Further work was delayed, and then canceled due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Construction south of Itō resumed when the private-sector

Tokyu Corporation The is a Japanese multinational ''keiretsu'' ( conglomerate) holding company headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. Its main operation is , a wholly owned subsidiary operating railways in the Greater Tokyo Area. History The oldest predecessor ...

acquired the rights to complete the line to Shimoda and established the

to manage construction and operations of this section. The line to Shimoda opened in 1961.

Operation

The northern

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

for the Izu Kyūkō Line is at Ito Station, from which local trains depart for the southern terminal station of Izukyū-Shimoda. However, several varieties of

limited express A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common ...

trains operated by

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

originate at

Tokyo Station Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is ...

travel via the

Itō Line The Itō Line ( ja, 伊東線, ) is a railway line owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) which connects Atami and Itō Stations, along the east coast of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. From Itō, the line continues sou ...

tracks to Ito, and then terminate at Izukyū-Shimoda. These include the ''

Odoriko Odoriko ( ja, 踊り子) is a limited express train service in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), Izukyu Corporation, and Izuhakone Railway, which runs between and or in Sh ...

'' and '' Super View Odoriko'' named trains. Similarly, the '' Resort Odoriko'' operated by the Izu Kyūkō Line also makes the same run, but using different

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

Station list

Rolling Stock

Current Izukyu 2100 series, Izukyu 8000 series, E257-2000/2500 series Future Izukyu 3000 series (Former 209-2000/2100 series) Former

185 series Year 185 ( CLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius (or, less frequently, year 938 ''Ab urbe cond ...

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Izu Kyuko Line Izukyū Corporation Railway lines in Japan Rail transport in Shizuoka Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1961 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan