The is a Japanese

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

line between

Kachigawa Station is the name for two different railway stations in the city of Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. One is operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tōkai) and the other by the Tōkai Transport Service Company (TKJ). Lines Kachigawa St ...

in Kasugai and

Biwajima Station 250px, Platforms is a railway station in the city of Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tōkai) and the Tōkai Transport Service Company (TKJ). Lines Biwajima Station is served by the Tōkaidō ...

Kiyosu is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,687 in 29,477 households, and a population density of 4,017 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kiyosu is located in far western Aichi P ...

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

. Trains are operated by

Tokai Transport Service Company , abbreviated as "TKJ", is a railway operating company in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). Lines TKJ operates only one line, the 11.2 km Tōkai Transport Service Jōhoku Line, Johoku Line ...

, or TKJ in short, while its rail facilities belong to

Central Japan Railway Company 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 ...

(JR Central). TKJ, a wholly owned subsidiary of JR Central, operates this line.

Services

All trains stop at all stations, and there are no limited stop rapid services. Services operate once per an hour in daytime, and 2 or 3 times per an hour in the morning and evening.

Stations

All stations are in

Rolling stock

The line is operated using a fleet of four

KiHa 11 The is a single-car diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and Tokai Transport Service Company (TKJ) on driver-only operated rural services in central Japan. A total of 43 cars were built be ...

single-car

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

DMUs. When the line first opened, services were operated using

KiHa 40 series The is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type introduced by Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1977 and operated by all Japan Railways Group companies on suburban and rural services in Japan. Since 2017, the train type has seen use by other ...

single-car DMUs leased from JR Central. These were painted in the TJK livery of cream with orange window band. Up until April 2015, the fleet consisted of four KiHa 11-200 series cars (KiHa 11-201–204), based at Kachigawa Depot. Two of these (KiHa 11-203 and 204) were sold to the

Hitachinaka Kaihin Railway The is a 14.3 km Japanese railway line operated by the third-sector railway operator between and , all within Hitachinaka, Ibaraki. It is the only railway line operated by the Hitachinaka Seaside Railway. The line was formerly operated by ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

in April 2015. KiHa 11-201 was withdrawn from Johoku Line services on 23 September 2015, and sold to the Hitachinaka Kaihin Railway. It was replaced from 24 September 2015 by KiHa 11-300 series car KiHa 11-301, purchased from JR Central. The remaining KiHa 11-200 series car (KiHa 11-202) was scheduled to be replaced by a KiHa 11-300 series car in 2016. File:TKJ-Kiha11DC.jpg, A KiHa 11-200 series car in August 2006 File:TKJ-kiha11-301.JPG, KiHa 11-301 in service in December 2015

History

The line was originally planned by

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) in the 1960s as a freight-only line linking the Chuo Main Line at with the Tokaido Main Line at . Construction began in March 1976, but was subsequently halted due to the huge deficit of JNR. The line consisted of two separate sections, one between Setoshi and Kōzōji, and another between Kachigawa and Biwajima. Construction of the both sections resumed later, as passenger lines, but by different operators. The former section, the current Johoku Line, was succeeded by

Tokai Transport Service , abbreviated as "TKJ", is a railway operating company in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). Lines TKJ operates only one line, the 11.2 km Johoku Line. The rail facilities are operated b ...

, while the latter, the current Jōhoku Line, was succeeded by JR Central and TKJ. The first section of the Jōhoku Line, between Kachigawa and Owari-Hoshinomiya, opened on 1 December 1991. The section between Owari-Hoshinomiya and Biwajima opened on 18 March 1993.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2009, the line was used by an average of 1,384 passengers daily.

References

External links

TKJ official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokai Transport Service Johoku Line Lines of Central Japan Railway Company Rail transport in Aichi Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1991 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan 1991 establishments in Japan