The was a railway line in northern Japan that linked

Aomori Station is a railway station in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The station has been operating since September 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of three island platforms connected to the station building by a ...

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

and

Hakodate Station is a railway station on the Hakodate Main Line in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). Lines *South Hokkaido Railway Company Dōnan Isaribi Tetsudō Line (Normally ends at Goryōkaku, but trains g ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island 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 the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. The Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line was actually made up of portions of four separate lines: the

Tsugaru Line The is a railway line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aomori Station and Minmaya Station on the Tsugaru Peninsula in western Aomori Prefecture. The section of the line between Aomori Station and Naka-Oguni Stat ...

, operated by

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 ...

, and the Kaikyō, Esashi, and Hakodate Main lines, operated by

Hokkaido Railway Company The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a sm ...

. The name was created following the opening of the Kaikyō Line and

Seikan Tunnel The Seikan Tunnel ( ja, 青函トンネル, or , ), is a dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait, which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern isla ...

on 13 March 1988. The line name has been out of use since 26 March 2016 when the

Hokkaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that links up with the Tōhoku Shinkansen in northern Aomori Prefecture in Honshu and continues on into the interior of Hokkaido through the undersea Seikan Tunnel. Construction started in May ...

opened and replaced the regular passenger services connecting Aomori and Hakodate on the Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line with high-speed services along the shinkansen line. The railway lines that formed the Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line continue to operate freight and passenger trains except for passenger trains on the Kaikyō Line section. The section of line between Naka-Oguni and Kikonai Station ceased operation for conventional line passenger trains like Hakuchō and Super Hakuchō and sleeper trains like Hokutosei, Cassiopeia, Twilight Express and Hamanasu by the 21 March 2015.https://railf.jp/news/2016/03/22/120000.html Today this section is only operated by the

and conventional line freight trains.

Station and line divisions

through Naka-Oguni Station comprised part of the Tsugaru Line * Between Naka-Oguni Station and

Kikonai Station is a railway station in Kikonai, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) and South Hokkaido Railway Company. Lines Kikonai Station is served by the following lines. * South Hokkaido Railway Line *Kaikyō Line (freig ...

was the

Kaikyō Line The is an 87.8-kilometer long railway line operated mainly by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The line connects Naka-Oguni Station in Sotogahama, Aomori, through the Seikan Tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido, to Kikonai Station in K ...

with former stations * Kikonai Station through Goryōkaku Station comprised part of the Esashi Line (present-day South Hokkaido Railway) * Goryōkaku Station through

comprised part of the Hakodate Main Line

References

External links

Lines of East Japan Railway Company Rail transport in Aomori Prefecture 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan {{Japan-rail-line-stub