The Temiya Line (手宮線, ''Temiya-sen'') was a local freight

narrow gauge railroad A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

Otaru, Hokkaidō is a city and port in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tou ...

, Japan, connecting Minami-Otaru Station and Temiya Station. The line was a state-owned enterprise, originally established in the late 19th century to transport coal and marine products, and closed in 1985. The line was originally constructed as a part of the Horonai Railway, the first railway in Hokkaidō, and began operations in 1880. Like many other

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

railroad enterprises, the line uses gauge track over its 2.8 km route, in order to lower the cost of the original project. Though it was originally intended to extend from the seashore to the

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

at Temari-mura Kayanuma, this was deemed inefficient, as ships could do the same work. The Horonai Railway was sold to the Hokkaidō Colliery and Railway Company in 1889, and by 1906 the Temiya Line had come under government control, officially inaugurated under that name three years later. It carried both cargo and passengers, for nearly a century. Elements of service in the area, on the Temiya Line and other related lines, were discontinued in 1962, and the line formally closed in 1985. For the majority of its time in service, the line only stopped at Temiya and Minami-Otaru Stations, where it connected with the

Hakodate Main Line The is a railway line connecting the cities of Hakodate and Asahikawa via Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of the trunk lines operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The Sawara Line, a 35 km loop line from Ōnuma to Mo ...

. Today, parts of the line still remain, along with signage in some places. The local Otaru Memorial Museum is caretaker of the remains, and proposals to revive the line have been discussed.

References

This article's contents are derived from those on the corresponding article on the Japanese Wikipedia. {{Hokkaidō transit Railway lines in Japan 1985 disestablishments in Japan Railway lines opened in 1880 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan