Kintetsu Utsube Line
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The is a
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railway line operated by the Japanese private railway company
Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway The is a railway company in Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan. The company operates the Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Utsube Line, Utsube Line and the Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Hachiōji Line, Hachiōji Line in Yokkaichi. Both lines are gauge railways. The c ...
, connecting Asunarou Yokkaichi Station and Utsube Station, both in the city of
Yokkaichi, Mie is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-central ...
, Japan. The line connects with the
Kintetsu ''Kintetsu'' is the abbreviation of , or Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese railway corporation. It may also refer to: Companies * Kintetsu Group Holdings, the holding corporation of the Kintetsu Railway ** Kintetsu Bus, a bus company and a subsidiary ...
Nagoya Line and the
Yunoyama Line The is a railway line of the Rail transport in Japan#Major private railways, Japanese private railway company Kintetsu Railway, connecting Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station (Yokkaichi, Mie, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture) and Yunoyama-Onsen Station (Komono, ...
at Asunarou Yokkaichi Station; these other lines use an elevated platform called Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station whereas the Utsube Line uses a low-level platform. At Hinaga Station, the line connects with the Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Hachiōji Line, a one-station branch line. Because all trains on the Hachiōji Line offer direct service to Asunarou Yokkaichi via the Utsube Line, the two lines are collectively called the . Until March 2015, the line was under control of
Kintetsu ''Kintetsu'' is the abbreviation of , or Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese railway corporation. It may also refer to: Companies * Kintetsu Group Holdings, the holding corporation of the Kintetsu Railway ** Kintetsu Bus, a bus company and a subsidiary ...
, a major railway company.


Narrow gauge railway

The line was originally built as a
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
utilising a
track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...
of 762mm, which was relatively common at that time for such local lines. Later on the legal classification of the line was changed from a tram to a light rail, however the gauge was not widened, unlike the majority of 762mm gauge lines. Today, there are only four gauge railway lines in operation in Japan. ; railways of Japan: * Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway: Utsube Line (this line) * Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway: Hachiōji Line (neighboring branch line) *
Sangi Railway is a private railway company in Mie Prefecture, Japan, which also operates bus lines. The company was founded in 1928 and its initial line, the Sangi Line, originally functioned as a freight line transporting cement, but in recent years it beca ...
: Hokusei Line (also in northern Mie Prefecture, formerly operated by Kintetsu) *
Kurobe Gorge Railway The , or for short, is a private, narrow gauge railway company operating the Kurobe Gorge Main Line along the Kurobe River in the Kurobe gorge area of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. The railway was built to serve the construction of the Kurobe dam f ...
(
Kurobe is a city in Toyama Prefecture, in the Chūbu region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 41,564 in 15,387 households and a population density of 95.8 persons per km². Its total area was . Geography Kurobe is located in northea ...
,
Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 1,044,588 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...
)


Services

: services stop at every station. :All trains are ''wanman''
driver only operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus ...
. :Trains run four times per hour. In the down direction, each hour there are two bound for Utsube and two for (via the Hachiōji Line)


Stations


History

The Utsube Line was originally conceived and built by the , later renamed Mie Railway (''Santetsu''). The original section of the line was completed in 1912 making it one of Kintetsu's oldest train lines. In 1916, an extension from (at that time called Suwa Station and located slightly to the east), to what is now
JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...
was opened. However, this extension was sold off in 1927 to
Ise Electric Railway , usually abbreviated as Iseden (伊勢電), was a private railway company that operated mostly in Mie Prefecture, Japan, for 25 years from 1911 to 1936, when it was absorbed by Sangū Express Electric Railway. At its height, Iseden operated th ...
(''Iseden'') for use as part of their main line. This made Suwa Station, a hub between three different private railways and the biggest station in Yokkaichi, the terminus again.
Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s ran on the line for many years until 1928 when
gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
-powered trains were introduced, which ran until the line was
electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
in 1943. The line originally included the Hachiōji Line and ended at Ise-Hachiōji Station. However an extension to Suzuka was planned to originate from Hinaga Station and construction began in 1922. However, this new section of the line was only completed as far as in Yokkaichi because legal permission to continue construction of the train line was revoked. The original section of the line, from Suwa to the end of never-to-be-finished Suzuka branch became the "Utsube Line", and the section of track which included the old terminus at Ise-Hachiōji became a branch line called the "Hachiōji Line". Ownership of the line has changed a few times during its existence. Mie Tramway built the line in 1912 but control was transferred to Santetsu in 1916. Then in 1944, Santetsu, along with six other companies, merged to form Mie Transport (''Sanco''). During the latter part of the Santetsu era and the entire Sanco era, there was direct service offered between the now-separate Utsube Line and
Yunoyama Line The is a railway line of the Rail transport in Japan#Major private railways, Japanese private railway company Kintetsu Railway, connecting Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station (Yokkaichi, Mie, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture) and Yunoyama-Onsen Station (Komono, ...
, which at that time was also a
gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
railway; the combination of these two train lines was called the Mie Line. In 1964, the railway department of Sanco become a separate company called Mie Electric Railway (''Sanden''), however this organization was short-lived as it was bought up by
Kintetsu ''Kintetsu'' is the abbreviation of , or Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese railway corporation. It may also refer to: Companies * Kintetsu Group Holdings, the holding corporation of the Kintetsu Railway ** Kintetsu Bus, a bus company and a subsidiary ...
the following year. In 1954 the initial portion of the route was re-routed by Sanco, which planned the re-routing because of Kintetsu's plan to re-route its Nagoya Line, which suffered from many sharp curves between Yokkaichi and Suwa stations. Kintetsu developed a plan to straighten the Nagoya Line as well as enlarge Suwa Station, which would be moved about a kilometre to the west; construction began in 1952 and took several years to complete. In accordance with this plan, Sanco altered its own Yokkaichi-area railways in 1956 to utilize the new location of Suwa Station, which was renamed to Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station. From Akahori Station, the track to the old Suwa Station was closed and a new track was built to Kintetsu-Yokkaichi. At first, the direct connection with the Yunoyama Line was maintained however in 1964, the Yunoyama Line was altered and renovated to connect directly with the Nagoya Line and thus the connection with the Utsube Line was closed and direct service ended. In August 2012, Kintetsu announced its wishes to close both the Utsube and Hachioji Lines, with plans to convert the trackbed into a dedicated bus route. The two lines together lose approximately ¥300 million annually. It has since been announced that Kintetsu would transfer the operation of these lines to the Yokkaichi City Government in 2015. As a consequence, Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway was incorporated and took control of the line as from April 1, 2015. In this new scheme, the railway tracks and rolling stock are owned by the city government while Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway operates trains.


Timeline

* October 6, 1912 - Minami-Hamada (now closed) to Hinaga section opens (Mie Tramway). * May 16, 1913 - Suwa to Minami-Hamada section opens. * July 19, 1916 - Control of line is transferred to Mie Railway (''Santetsu''). * March 30, 1916 - Yokkaichi (Kokutetsu) to Suwa section opens. Yokkaichi becomes origin of the line. * December 1, 1916 - Based on train-related laws, the line's classification is officially changed from a tram to a light railway. * January 10, 1922 - Hinanga to Ogoso section opens (Suzuka extension). * June 21, 1922 - Ogoso to Utsube section opens. Utsube becomes the terminus of the line. * November 29, 1927 - Yokkaichi to Suwa section closes. Suwa becomes the starting point of the line. * March 1, 1928 - Gasoline-powered trains are introduced. * March 1, 1931 - Santetsu acquires Yokkaichi Railway and what is now the Kintetsu
Yunoyama Line The is a railway line of the Rail transport in Japan#Major private railways, Japanese private railway company Kintetsu Railway, connecting Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station (Yokkaichi, Mie, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture) and Yunoyama-Onsen Station (Komono, ...
. Direct connection with the Yunoyama Line opens. * December 25, 1943 - The entire line is
electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
. * February 11, 1944 - Santetsu and six other companies merge to form Mie Transport (''Sanco''). The line is officially renamed the Sanco Mie Line. * July 1, 1944 - Ogoso Station closes. * November 1, 1944 - Minami-Hamada Station closes. * September 23, 1956 - Suwa Station closed, moved, and re-opened as Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station. The section between Suwa and Akahori closes. The section between Kintetsu-Yokkaichi and Akahori opens. * December 23, 1956 - The voltage is increased from 600 V DC to 750 V DC. * May 1, 1959 - Ogoso Station re-opens. * August 24, 1959 - Electronic signal station added between Kintetsu-Yokkaichi and Akahori. * February 1, 1964 - Sanco railway division splits off and forms a new company Mie Electric Railway (''Sanden''). * March 23, 1964 - Connection with the Yunoyama Line is severed and direct service ends. * April 1, 1965 - Sanden, and all of its lines, are acquired by
Kintetsu ''Kintetsu'' is the abbreviation of , or Kintetsu Railway, a Japanese railway corporation. It may also refer to: Companies * Kintetsu Group Holdings, the holding corporation of the Kintetsu Railway ** Kintetsu Bus, a bus company and a subsidiary ...
. The line is officially renamed the Kintetsu Utsube Line. * March 17, 1989 - Electronic signalling added to entire line. ATS System is introduced. * June 1, 1989 - ''Wan man''
driver only operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus ...
begins. * April 1, 2015 - Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway took control of the line.


References

{{Kintetsu Lines Rail transport in Mie Prefecture 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1912 1912 establishments in Japan