Taiheiyō Coal Services And Transportation Rinkō Line
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The was a Japanese
freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...
only
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
line between Harutori and Shireto, all within
Kushiro is a city in Kushiro Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Located along the coast of the North Pacific Ocean, it serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island. History An ...
,
Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...
. It was the only railway line of . The line was the only
private railway A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector. Japan In Japan, , commonly simply ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...
in Hokkaidō, as well as the only surviving
colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...
railway in Japan. The first section of the line opened in 1925. It also had a passenger service until 1966. The line transported coals from the mine to
Port of Kushiro A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manches ...
until its closure in 2019.


Basic data

*Distance: 4 km *
Gauge Gauge ( ) 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, especia ...
: 1,067 mm *Stations: 2 *Track: single *Traction: internal combustion (diesel)


History

The Pacific Ocean Coal Co. opened a 6 km line from the coal mine at Harutori to Irifune-cho wharf in 1925/27, with a 3 km line connecting the mine to Higashi-Kushiro opening in 1928. The line was truncated 2 km in 1966 when a new coal loading wharf opened, the passenger service ceasing at the same time. The Pacific Ocean Coal Co. merged with Taiheiyō Coal Services and Transportation Co. in 1979. The Higashi-Kushiro - Harutori section closed in 1986, with the remaining section continuing to operate. Operations on the line ceased in March 2019. A farewell run was operated on April 6, 2019. The line closed in June 2019.


Rail Roads


Routes

*Rinko Line between Harutori Station and Chiren Station (Freight Specialty, Abolished on June 30, 2019)


Fleet

*
Diesel–electric powertrain A diesel–electric transmission, or diesel–electric powertrain, is a transmission (mechanics), transmission system powered by diesel engines for vehicles in #Road and other land vehicles, road, #Railway locomotives, rail, and #Ships, marine tra ...
- D401, DE601(
New Zealand DH class locomotive The New Zealand DH class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric heavy transfer and shunting locomotive in New Zealand's national railway network. The class consists of six heavy shunt U10B type locomotives built by General Electric United S ...
), D701, D801


After the line was abandoned

As of May 2020, the track has been removed, but local volunteers are using materials such as scrap materials and photographs of the level crossing, and the vehicles (4 locomotives, 28 freight cars) stored at the former Haruori Station by the operating parent company Shin Taipei Shoji (4 locomotives, 28 freight cars) as industrial heritage for tourism and other purposes. However, after that, once a sale contract was signed with a company that handles used railroad vehicles, the contract was dissolved due to soaring transportation costs due to the influence of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, and it was difficult to save it by a railway enthusiast group and raise maintenance costs, etc., and it was dismantled from October 2022.


See also

*
List of railway companies in Japan List of railway companies in Japan lists Japanese railway operators. Those in ''italics'' are the third-sector operators; being half-public, half-private. Japan Railways Group The Japan Railways Group consists of the seven companies that were f ...
*
List of railway lines in Japan List of railway lines in Japan lists existing Rail transport, railway lines in Japan alphabetically. The vast majority of Japanese railways are classified under two Japanese laws, one for and another for . The difference between the two is a leg ...


References


External links

* Closed railway lines in Japan Rail transport in Hokkaido Railway lines opened in 1925 {{Japan-rail-line-stub