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The is a railway line in
The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
, Japan, operated by the 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). It connects Kisarazu Station
is a junction passenger railway station in the city of Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
Lines
Kisarazu Station is served by the Uchibō Line and Kururi Line. It is 31.3 kilometers from th ...
in Kisarazu
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 136,023 in 63,431 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Kisarazu is located in the midwest ...
to Kazusa-Kameyama Station in Kimitsu
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,058 in 39,138 households and a population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Kimitsu is located in the southweste ...
. The railway route extends through three cities, Kimitsu, Kisarazu, and Sodegaura
file:Sodegaura park-Chiba 袖ヶ浦公園-DSCF7066.JPG, 260px, Sodegaura park
is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 64,901 in 28,156 households and a population density of 680 p ...
. It has no double-track section, and trains can pass at only two stations, Yokota Station and Kururi Station
is a railway station s a passenger railway station in the city of Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
Lines
Kururi Station is a station on the Kururi Line, and is located 23.6 km from th ...
. The line runs mostly through rural area and operates at a huge loss.
Stations
Rolling stock
Kururi Line services KiHa E130-100 DMU series in amount of 10 cars. Those trains haveone-man 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, ...
system, so there no conductor need to operate the train. Also, those trains could be doubled or even tripled in rush periods. KiHa 130-100 series starter their operation from 1 December 2012.
*
Former rolling stock
* KiHa 30 DMU * KiHa 37 DMU * KiHa 38 DMUHistory
The Chiba Prefectural Government opened thegauge
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 ...
section from Kisarazu to Kururi as a light railway on 28 December 1912.
In 1922, the Railway Construction Act
The was promulgated by the Diet of Japan on June 21, 1892, and designated government support for a network of thirty-three railway lines covering most of Japan, with the exception of Hokkaidō. On April 11, 1922, the Diet amended the law to add an ...
was amended by the Diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
, and a new rail line connecting Kisarazu Station to Ōhara Station on the Sotobō Line
The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, on the eastern (i.e., outer) side of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Chiba Station in Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in Kamog ...
via Kururi and Ōtaki, to transect the Bōsō Peninsula
The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...
, appeared on the list as compensation for the underdeveloped network of roads in the area at that time.
On 1 September 1923, the Kisarazu to Kururi Line was nationalised, and the line was named the Kururi Line under the Japanese Government Railways
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Rai ...
(JGR) system. On 20 August 1930, the track gauge was widened to , and on 25 March 1936, the line was extended to Kazusa-Kameyama Station.
The private Kihara Line from Ōhara Station was extended to Kazusa-Nakano Station
is a railway station in Ōtaki, Chiba, Japan, jointly operated by the Isumi Railway Company and Kominato Railway Company.
Lines
Kazusa-Nakano Station is served by the Isumi Line and Kominato Line. It is located 26.8 km from the eastern ter ...
in 1934, and it was planned that the Kururi Line and the Kihara Line would be connected to form a single route across the Bōsō Peninsula (which would have been named the Kihara Line). However, due to 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 ...
, the plan was abandoned, and Kururi Line was never to be extended into the most mountainous area of the peninsula. Services on the section from Kururi Station to Kazusa-Kameyama Station were suspended from 1944 to 1947.
New KiHa E130-100 series DMU trains were introduced from 1 December 2012, replacing the ageing KiHa 30/37/38 DMUs.
Problems
The Kururi Line suffers from a small number of passengers and operates at deficit that requires JR East to give it subsidies. In 2020, fare revenue covered only 0.6% of operation costs for the section between Kururi and Kazusa-Kameyama stations.References
{{East Japan Railway Company Lines Lines of East Japan Railway Company Railway lines in Chiba Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1912 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Japan 1912 establishments in Japan