Bantan Line
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The is a railway line that connects
Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...
and Wadayama station in Asago City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The line is operated by the
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) and serves as a connector between the
Sanyo Main Line , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
and the
Sanin Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Ky ...
. The name refers to the ancient
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Harima or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...
(播磨) and Tajima (但馬), which the line connects. The line is long, with 18 stations.


Service

Local train operation is divided into the electrified section between
Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...
and Teramae, and the non-electrified section between Teramae and Wadayama. All local trains makes every stop on the line, and no local train runs the entire length of the line. The ''Hamakaze'' limited express, which connects the
Kinki region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolit ...
to 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 ...
, uses the Bantan Line to access the
Sanin Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Ky ...
.


Stations


Rolling stock

*
103 series 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
EMUs (since 1998) *
221 series The is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) in the Kansai Region of Japan since March 1989. Operations * Tōkaidō Main Line (Biwako Line, JR Kyoto Line, JR Kobe Line) ( - , unti ...
EMUs (since 2003, sometimes substituted by 223-6000 series) *
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 ...
DMUs *
KiHa 189 series The is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) on '' Hamakaze'' limited express services between and since November 2010 and '' Biwako Express'' services between Osaka and since March 2014. ...
DMUs (''
Hamakaze The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West), which runs from to and . Stops Trains stop at the following stations: - - - - ( Nishi-Akashi) - () - - - - - - - - - - - () - ...
'' limited express, since 2010)


Former

*
113 series The is a Japanese suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type introduced in 1963 by Japanese National Railways (JNR), currently operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) and Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku), and formerly also op ...
EMUs (from 2006 until 2007) * KiHa 10 series DMUs * KiHa 58 series DMUs (''Tajima'' express) *
KiHa 80 series The KiHa 80 series was a diesel multiple unit type that operated on express services from 1960 to 2002, under Japan National Railways and later under JR Hokkaido and JR Central. Two variants were initially built: the KiHa 81 series to replace t ...
DMUs (''Hamakaze'' limited express, until 1982) *
KiHa 181 series The was a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated in Japan on limited express services between 1968 and 2010. Initially introduced by Japanese National Railways (JNR), the trains were later operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West ...
DMUs (''Hamakaze'' limited express, from 1982 until 2010) * coaches hauled by
JNR Class DD51 The is a B-2-B wheel arrangement diesel-hydraulic locomotive type operated in Japan since 1962. 649 locomotives were built between 1962 and 1978 by Kawasaki Sharyo, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi. The class was designed for mainline passenger and fre ...
or
JNR Class DE10 The is a class of Japanese C-B wheel arrangement diesel-hydraulic locomotives. 708 locomotives were built between 1966 and 1978. , 138 locomotives remained in operation. Variants DE10-0 subclass 158 DE10-0 locomotives were built with steam h ...
locomotive (until 1992)


History

The 29.6km section from Himeji north to Teramae was constructed by the private company and opened in 1894, with the 6.3km section to Hase opening in January the following year, and the 7.7km section to Ikuno three months later. The 8.3km section to Nii opened in 1901. The Bantan Railway was purchased by the in 1903, which extended the line 13.8km to Wadayama, opening in April 1906, 8 months before the company was nationalised. Individual section opening dates are given below. The line was named the Bantan Line in anticipation of the Sanyo Railway company being purchased by the Japanese government under the Railway Nationalisation Act of 1906. The Bantan Railway Co. also built a ~15.7km line from Himeji east to Shikama-Kou (near Kakogawa), opened in 1895 and closed in 1986. CTC signalling was commissioned between Himeji and Wadayama in 1978, and freight services ceased between 1984 and 1986. The Himeji - Teramae section was electrified in 1998.


Bantan Railway (north of Himeji)

* July 26, 1894: Himeji - Teramae opens. * January 15, 1895: Teramae - Hase opens. * April 17, 1895: Hase - Ikuno opens. * August 19, 1896: Nibuno Station opens. * February 20, 1898: Kyoguchi Station opens. * March 28, 1898: Mizoguchi Station opens. * August 29, 1901: Ikuno - Nii opens.


Sanyō Railway

* June 1, 1903: Sanyō Railway purchased Bantan Railway. * April 1, 1906: Nii - Wadayama opens. * October 12, 1906: Line renamed Bantan Line.


JNR/JR West

* December 1, 1906: Sanyō Railway company nationalised. * October 15, 1925: Tofu-Machi Station closed. * August 10, 1934: Aokura Station opens. * November 20, 1935: Tohori Station opens. * October 15, 1951: Niino Station opens. * April 1, 1987:
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) was privatised and regionalised, with the line transferring to the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). * March 14, 1998: Himeji - Teramae electrified.


Bantan Railway (east of Himeji)

* April 17, 1895: Himeji - Shikama Station (later Shikama-Kou Station) opened. * November 20, 1897: Tenjin Station (later Shikama Station) opened. * September 21, 1915: Shikama Station was renamed Shikama-Kou Station, and Tenjin Station was renamed Shikama Station. * November 1, 1986: Himeji - Shikama-Kou closed.


References

{{West Japan Railway Company Lines Lines of West Japan Railway Company 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1894