The is a regional railway line in
Shiga Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...
operated by the private railway operator
Ohmi Railway
is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...
. It connects the cities of
Maibara and
Koka
KOKA (980 AM) is an AM radio station, paired with an FM relay translator, licensed to Shreveport, Louisiana, and serving the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area with an Urban contemporary gospel format. The station is currently under own ...
. Its alignment is parallel with the
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...
between Takamiya and Gokasho.
The line is long, extending from
Maibara to
Kibukawa. The line connects with the
JR Central
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 ...
Tōkaidō Main Line
The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...
and
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...
, and the
JR West
, 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 ...
Hokuriku Main Line
The Hokuriku Main Line ( ja, 北陸本線, ) is a 176.6 kilometer railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting the Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with the Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, Niigata. The section betwee ...
and
Biwako Line
The is the nickname used by the operator of the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) to refer to the portion of the Tōkaidō Main Line (between Maibara Station and Kyoto Station) and the Hokuriku Main Line (between Maibara Station and Nagahama ...
at Maibara, and the JR West
Kusatsu Line
The is a railway line in western Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Tsuge on the Kansai Main Line with Kusatsu on the Biwako Line (Tōkaidō Main Line).
History
The Kansai Railway Co. opened the entire line ...
and the
Shigaraki Kōgen Railway
is a Japanese third-sector railway company funded by Shiga Prefecture and the city of Koka.
The railway operates the Shigaraki Line, a former JR West line that was transferred to the third sector in 1987. The Shigaraki Line connects Kibukawa ...
Shigaraki Line at Kibukawa.
History
The Hikone to Yokaichi section opened in 1898, reaching Kibukawa in 1900. The Hikone to Takamiya section was electrified at 600 V DC in 1925, with the Takamiya to Kibukawa section electrified at 1,500 V DC in 1928, and the Hikone to Takamiya section raised to that voltage at the same time. The Hikone to Maibara section opened in 1931 following the construction of the 340 m Sawayama Tunnel, electrified from opening.
Transport of postal items ceased in 1984, and freight services ceased in 1988.
Rapid train services were introduced in 2003, but were discontinued in 2013.
Timeline
* 11 June 1898: Line opened between Hikone and Echigawa via Takamiya.
* 24 July 1898: Line opened between Echigawa and Yokaichi.
* 19 March 1899: Toyosato and Obata Stations opened.
* 1 October 1900: Line opened between Yokaichi and Hino via Sakuragawa.
* 28 December 1900: Line opened between Hino and Kibukawa via Minakuchi. Asahino station opened.
* 20 May 1901: Shinmachi Station opened.
* 1 January 1910: Obata Station renamed Gokasho Station.
* 1 June 1911: Amago Station opened.
* 16 October 1916: Asahi Otsuka Station opened.
* 27 December 1916: Nagatanino Station opened.
* 1 January 1917: Shinmachi Station renamed Hikoneguchi Station.
* 12 March 1925: Line was electrified between Hikone and Takamiya.
* 18 April 1928: Line was electrified between Takamiya and Kibukawa.
* 15 March 1931: Electrified line opened between Hikone and Maibara via Toriimoto.
* 1 August 1957: Minakuchi Ishibashi Station opened.
* 1 May 1987: Driver-only operation commenced.
* 5 April 1989: Minakuchi Matsuo and Minakuchi Jonan Stations opened.
* 29 March 1990: Daigaku-mae Station opened.
* 16 March 1991: Kyocera-mae Station opened.
* 13 March 2004: Kawabe-no-mori Station opened.
* 18 March 2006: Fujitec-mae Station opened.
* 8 April 2009: Hikone-Serikawa Station opened.
Stations
:Local trains stop at all stations.
See also
*
List of railway lines in Japan
List of railway lines in Japan lists existing 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 legal, and not alwa ...
References
This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.
{{Osaka transit
Rail transport in Shiga Prefecture
Railway lines in Japan
1067 mm gauge railways in Japan
Ohmi Railway