San'in Main Line
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The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
and
Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushim ...
, operated by
West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
(JR West). It is the major railway line of the
San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Etymology The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. The ...
, approximately paralleling the
Japan Sea The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
, crossing
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
, Hyōgo, Tottori,
Shimane is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
, and Yamaguchi prefectures. The main portion from
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
to Hatabu is the longest single continuous railway line in Japan at , although no regularly scheduled train operates over the entire line. The section between Kyoto and Sonobe, connecting Kyoto and its northern suburbs, is a part of JR West's
Urban Network , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
and is nicknamed the
Sagano Line The is the popular name for a portion of the Sanin Main Line in the suburbs of Kyoto, Japan. The electrified and double-tracked railway is a commuter rail line in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area, owned and operated by West Japan Railway ...
.


Basic data

*Distances: *Operators **
West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
( Category 1) ***Kyoto - Hatabu: ***Nagatoshi - Senzaki: **
Japan Freight Railway Company , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was fou ...
( Category 2) ***Hōki-Daisen - Higashi-Matsue: ***:Yonago - Higashi-Matsue temporary closed ***Okami - Masuda: *Track: **Double: Kyoto – Sonobe, Ayabe – Fukuchiyama, Hōki-Daisen – Yasugi, Higashi-Matsue – Matsue, Tamatsukuri-Onsen – Kimachi **Single: the rest *Electric supply: **Kyoto – Kinosaki-Onsen, Hōki-Daisen – Nishi-Izumo: 1,500 V DC *
Railway signalling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormou ...
: **Kyoto – Nishi-Izumo: Automatic **Nishi-Izumo – Hatabu, including "Senzaki branch line": Special Automatic; a simplified automatic system *Maximum speed in service: **Kyoto – Saga-Arashiyama: **Saga-Arashiyama – Umahori: **Umahori – Ayabe: **Ayabe – Fukuchiyama: **Fukuchiyama – Tottori: **Tottori – Izumoshi: **Izumoshi – Masuda: **Masuda – Hatabu: **Nagatoshi – Senzaki:


Stations


From Kyoto to Sonobe (Sagano Line)

;Stations on this segment : - Umekōji-Kyōtonishi - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


From Sonobe to Tottori

Rapid trains are operated as local trains and stop at every station between Sonobe and Fukuchiyama.


From Tottori to Masuda

* TL: * AL: * CL: *All the trains stop at stations signed "+". Most trains stop at "‡". Most trains do not stop at "*". No trains (other than local) stop at "-". *''Rapid Commuter Liner'' runs from Nishi-Izumo to Yonago, one direction alone


From Masuda to Shimonoseki


Senzaki Branch Line


History

The line was built by three different private companies, which were subsequently nationalised and connected by the
Japanese Government Railway 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). The Kyoto Railway opened the section to Sonobe between 1897 and 1899. The Bantsuru Railway opened the Ayabe to Fukuchiyama section (as part of the current
Maizuru Line The is a railway line in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Ayabe and Higashi-Maizuru, the line beyond there being called the Obama Line connecting to Tsuruga. Stations *Local trains st ...
) in 1904. Both companies were nationalised in 1907. The first section opened by the JGR was between Yonago and Mikuriya in 1902, and the line was then progressively extended eastward, reaching Tottori in 1907 and Iwami in 1908, the same year the current
Bantan Line The is a railway line that connects Himeji and Wadayama station in Asago City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The line is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and serves as a connector between the Sanyo Main Line and the Sanin Main ...
opened to Wadayama and Yoka. Construction of that line continued westward, and the two lines were connected in 1912. In the meantime, the Sonobe to Ayabe section was opened in 1910, and the Fukuchiyama to Wadayama section the following year. In addition, construction from Yonago progressed westward, opening to Matsue in 1908 and Izumoshi in 1910, resulting in the continuous line upon the 1912 connection mentioned above. At the western end, the Choshu Railway opened the Hatabu to Kogushi section in 1914. From Izumoshi, construction continued progressively westward, opening to Masuda in 1923, and to Todakobama in 1925, the year that the Choshu Railway was nationalised and the Kogushi to Takibe section opened, with construction then continuing from both directions until the two sections were connected in 1933, completing the current line.


Double-tracking

The Yonago to Hoki-Daisen section was double-tracked between 1962 and 1966, with the Ayabe to Fukuchiyama section double-tracked in between 1968 and 1969, and the Tamatsukuri-Onsen to Kimachi section in 1970. The Matsue to Higashi-Matsue section was double-tracked in 1979, and the Yonago to Yasugi section in 1980. The original Saga-Arashiyama to Umahori section was built on the banks of the Hozugawa in a narrow gorge. A new double-track alignment was opened in 1989, and the original alignment became the
Sagano Scenic Railway The or Sagano Sightseeing Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of West Japan Railway Company (JR West) that operates the , Sagano Sight-seeing Line, or in Kyoto. The line uses superseded tracks of the Sagano Line (officially a portion of the ...
. Further double-tracking occurred in stages, with the entire Kyoto to Sonobe section double-tracked by 2010.


Electrification

The Hoki-Daisen to Izumoshi section was electrified in 1982 in conjunction with the electrification of the
Hakubi Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in the mountainous area of the Chūgoku region of Japan. It begins at the south end of Okayama Prefecture at Kurashiki Station in Kurashiki, passing through Niimi Station o ...
. The Fukuchiyama to Kinosaki section was electrified in 1986 in conjunction with the electrification of the Fukuchiyama Line. The Sonobe to Fukuchiyama section was electrified between 1985 and 1986, and the Kyoto to Sonobe section in 1990.


Former connecting lines

* Fukuchiyama Station: The Hokutan Railway operated a line to Koumori between 1923 and 1971. * Ebara Station: The Izushi Railway operated an line to Izushi between 1929 and 1970. * Iwami Station: The Iwai Prefectural Government opened a gauge line to Iwai Onsen in 1925. In June 1934, 149 of the 216 buildings at Iwai Onsen burnt down, and then in September that year Typhoon Muroto caused such extensive damage to the line that it was out of service until February 1936. In 1944, the line was closed and materials recycled for the Japanese war effort. * Kurayoshi Station: In 1912, a line to Kamii opened, and was extended to Sekigane in 1941 and a further (as a passenger-only section) to Yamamori in 1958. Freight services ceased in 1974 and the line closed in 1985. * Yonago Station: The Hakuhi Electric Railway operated a line, electrified at 600 V DC, to Hosshoji between 1924 and 1967. A electrified branch from Aga to Mori operated between 1930 and 1944. * Arashima Station: The Hirose Railway opened an line, electrified at 600 V DC to Izumo Hirose in 1928. In 1954, the company merged with the Ichibata Electric Railway, and the line closed in 1960. * Izumoshi Station: On the northern side of the station, the
Taisha Line The is a 8.3 km railway line owned by the Ichibata Electric Railway. The line connects Kawato Station with Izumo Taisha-mae Station, all within Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. With the closure of JR West's Taisha Line in 1990, thi ...
opened in 1912, on the opposite bank of the Ogamogawa to the Izumo-Taisha Station on the
Ichibata Electric Railway Ichibata Electric Railway Co., Ltd. is the name of two related, yet different companies in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. was a railway operator until 2006, when it became a holding company of the Ichibata Group, spinning off its railway division to ...
line. Freight services ceased in 1974, and the line closed in 1990. * Gotsu Station: The Sanko Line operated 1930 - 2018. * Nishi-Hamada Station: A freight-only line to Hamada Minato to service the port operated between 1955 and 1982. * Hatabu Station: The Choshu Railway opened a line from Higashi-Mozeki to Kogushi in 1914. A proposed extension to Nagato was not built due to funding constraints. However, the line was electrified at 600 V DC in 1926. The company merged with the
Sanyo Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway operating company based in western Hyōgo Prefecture. It runs local and express rail service between Himeji and Kobe, and also connects directly with Hanshin Main Line to Osaka. Although the Hanshin Electric R ...
in 1928, and the line closed in 1971.


References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia. {{West Japan Railway Company Lines Railway lines opened in 1897 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan