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 Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
line between
Kachigawa Station in
Kasugai and
Biwajima Station in
Kiyosu in
Aichi Prefecture. Trains are operated by
Tokai Transport Service Company, or TKJ in short, while its rail facilities belong to
Central Japan Railway Company (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
Aichi Prefecture.
Rolling stock
The line is operated using a fleet of four
KiHa 11 single-car
diesel multiple unit DMUs.
When the line first opened, services were operated using
KiHa 40 series 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 in
Ibaraki Prefecture 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KiHa 11-201 was withdrawn from Johoku Line services on 23 September 2015, and sold to the Hitachinaka Kaihin Railway.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.
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, 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.
See also
*
List of railway lines in Japan
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