The is a railway line in Japan linking Higashi-Noshiro Station in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

with Kawabe Station in

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, ...

, in the northern

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

. The line stretches 147.2 km (91.5 mi) along the

Sea of Japan 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 ...

coast with a total of 43 stations. The Gonō Line is 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 ...

(JR East). The Gonō Line in Akita Prefecture

Station list

* For the ''

Resort Shirakami The is a limited-stop "Rapid" service operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) as a sightseeing train along the scenic coastal Gonō Line in the north of Japan since March 1997. Operations The train service operates between and ...

'' rapid service, please see its article. * Trains may pass at stations marked "◇", "v", or "^".

Rolling stock

Kiha48-520 Gono-Line.jpg, Kiha 40 series Series HB-E300.jpg, HB-E300 series "Resort Shirakami" Gono-Line GV-E402-20.jpg, GV-E400 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 ...

DMU *

HB-E300 series The is a hybrid diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) on "resort train" services on scenic lines in Japan since October 2010. Design The HB-E300 series is based on the KiHa E200 hybrid DMU type ...

DMU *

GV-E400 series The is a diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) around Niigata and Akita areas of Japan from 2019. Design The GV-E400 series trains are the first diesel-electric multiple units (not ...

DMU

History

The first section of the Gonō Line was opened by the

Japanese Government Railways 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) from Higashi-Noshiro to Noshiro in 1908. When every JGR railway line was assigned a line name on October 12, 1909, this short railway was named the . In 1926 it was extended to Iwadate and in 1932 extended to . The private began operations on September 25, 1918 linking Kawabe with . The line was extended to on October 21, 1924 with the extension called the . The line was extended to on May 15, 1925. The company was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1927, with the Goshogawara Line being absorbed into the Mutsu Railway. The line was extended to on November 26, 1929 and connected to the Gonō Line on July 30, 1936, at which time the entire line adopted its current name. A CTC system was installed in 1986. With the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the

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 ...

(successor of JGR) on April 1, 1987, the Gonō Line came under the control of the

(JR East).

References

External links

JR East website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gono Line Rail transport in Aomori Prefecture Rail transport in Akita Prefecture Lines of East Japan Railway Company 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Railway lines opened in 1908 1908 establishments in Japan

Station list

Rolling stock

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links