The is a railway line in
Chiba Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...
, Japan, operated by the
private railway
A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector.
Japan
In Japan, , commonly simply ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...
operator . It extends from the west coast of central
Bōsō Peninsula
The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...
(where it connects with the
Uchibō Line at ) to in the town of
Ōtaki (where it connects to the
Isumi Line). All of its stations with the exception of the Kazusa-Nakano
terminus are within the city of
Ichihara. Diesel cars manufactured between 1961 and 1977 run through the scenic hilly areas of Bōsō Peninsula, and the line has many antique station buildings.
Stations
*All trains stop at every station.
Rolling stock
, the railway owns and operates a fleet of 14
KiHa 200 series diesel cars, built by
Nippon Sharyo
, formed in 1896, is a major rolling stock, Heavy equipment, heavy equipment, Diesel generator, generator, Special-purpose entity, special purpose vehicle and bridge manufacturer based in Nagoya, Japan. In 1996, it abbreviated its ...
between 1961 and 1977, and numbered 201 to 214.
All except cars 209 and 210 are air-conditioned.
From 2020 though 2021,
KiHa 40 series (KiHa 40 1006/2018/2019/2021/2026) had been withdrew from
JR East
The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 in ...
Tadami Line,
Tsugaru Line,
Gono Line and
Oga Line, and they had been transferred to Kominato Railway.
The vehicles, which were adopted in 2020, KiHa 40-2021 and KiHa 40-2026 were named KiHa 40-1 and KiHa 40-2 respectively, replaced part of series KiHa 200, have been operated as regular trains since they were operated at the first run as ''Express "SATOYAMA"'' in 23 April 2020.
The vehicles, which were adopted in 2021, KiHa 40-2018, KiHa 40-2019 and KiHa 40-1006 were named KiHa 40-3, KiHa 40-4 and KiHa 40-5 respectively.
File:Kominato-Kiha200-212.jpg, KiHa 200 DMU car in November 2021
File:小湊鐵道キハ40 2.jpg, KiHa 40 which remains JR East color
From 15 November 2015, a open-sided tourist train hauled by a replica steam locomotive powered by a diesel engine entered service on the line, operating generally at weekends only.
The train consists of four coaches, two of which have open sides, with a total capacity of 144 passengers. It is hauled by diesel locomotive number DB4, a replica of a German
Orenstein & Koppel-built steam locomotive formerly operated on the line from 1924 until the 1940s, powered by a Volvo diesel engine.
History
Plans for a railroad bisecting the Bōsō Peninsula were drafted by the
Railway Ministry in the
Meiji period
The was 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 colonizatio ...
, with the aim of connecting the town of Kominato (now part of
Kamogawa City), a town facing the Pacific and famous as the birthplace of
Nichiren
was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the '' Lotus Sutra''.
Nichiren declared that the '' Lotus Sutra ...
, for economic and military reasons. However, due to lack of profitability of other lines in the area, the idea was shelved.
The project was revived in 1917 by noted entrepreneur
Yasuda Zenjirō, who used the financial resources of the
Yasuda zaibatsu to fund over half of the construction costs, and who imported two steam locomotives from the
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...
in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
to run on the new line.
The Kominato Railway was founded on 31 May 1917, opening the initial section of the line from to on 7 May 1925.
The line was extended to on 1 September 1926, and reached its present eastern terminus at on 16 May 1928.
Diesel railcars were introduced on the line from this date.
At Kazusa-Nakano, the line connected with the
Japanese Government Railways
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group.
Name
The English name "Japanese ...
Kihara Line, which provided a route to the eastern shore of the Bōsō Peninsula and so plans to extend the line further to Kominato Town were subsequently abandoned.
In 1942, the line was forced to merge with the
Keisei Electric Railway
The (stylized as K'SEI since 2001) is a major private railway in Chiba Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan. The name ''Keisei'' is the combination of the kanji 京 from and 成 from , which the railway's main line connects; the combination uses diffe ...
, and remained a subsidiary of that company after the end of World War II. On 21 March 1962, the remaining steam locomotives were retired (and are currently on display at Goi Station).
Freight operations were phased out by 1 October 1969.
A new
ATS was installed in early 1995. On 12 April 2006, heavy rains washed away a portion of the tracks between Kazusa-Nakano and , leading to a two-month disruption in services.
In 2017, the line received a
Good Design Award from the
Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
[
]
References
External links
*
{{Keisei transit
Railway lines in Japan
Railway lines in Chiba Prefecture
Railway lines opened in 1925
1067 mm gauge railways in Japan