Kaikyo Line between Tappi-Kaitei Station and Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station

The is an railway line operated mainly by the

Hokkaido Railway Company The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to by its official abbreviation: . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart ...

(JR Hokkaido). The line connected Naka-Oguni Station in Sotogahama,

Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per squa ...

, through the Seikan Tunnel between

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

and

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, to Kikonai Station in Kikonai, Hokkaido. Two stations on the Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line, Tappi-Kaitei Station and Yoshioka-Kaitei Station (both closed since 2014), were inside the tunnel.

Facilities

The approximately section of concrete-slab track-bed was built to accommodate the Hokkaido Shinkansen, and is

dual gauge Dual gauge railroad track has three or four rails, allowing vehicles of two track gauges to run on it. Signalling and sidings are more expensive to install on dual gauge tracks than on two single gauge tracks. Dual gauge is used when there i ...

, with both narrow (national standard) 1,067 mm gauge and 1,435 mm gauge track. As all regular passenger services are

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond lon ...

, the Kaikyō Line is normally used only by freight trains. The line was originally electrified at 20 kV AC (50 Hz) and was changed in 2016 to the Shinkansen-standard 25 kV AC (50 Hz). To continue freight operations, JR Freight introduced Class EH800 dual-voltage locomotives.

Stations

* Naka-Oguni Station * Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station (Shinkansen station with facilities for freight trains on the Kaikyō Line) *'' Tappi-Kaitei Station'' (closed 2014) *'' Yoshioka-Kaitei Station'' (closed 2014) *'' Shiriuchi Station'' (closed 2014) * Kikonai Station

History

The line was opened on 13 March 1988 in conjunction with the opening of the Seikan Tunnel. Originally the line ran both freight and passenger trains; the latter included daytime limited express '' Hakuchō'' and night train '' Hokutosei''. Three of the stations on the Kaikyō Line, Tappi-Kaitei, Yoshioka-Kaitei, and Shiriuchi, were closed on 15 March 2014 due to construction work connected with the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which opened on 26 March 2016. From that time, this line has largely re-designed as a freight-only route, except for the '' Train Suite Shikishima'' cruise train.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaikyo Line Lines of Hokkaido Railway Company Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Seikan Tunnel

Facilities

Stations

History

See also

References