The is a railway line in
Kyushu
is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...
, Japan, operated by the
Kyushu Railway Company
The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle (JR Kyushu), Beetle hydrofoil service across th ...
(JR Kyushu). It connects
Kurume Station,
Kurume
is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 295,367 in 137,140 households, and a population density of 1309 people per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Kurume is located in the Chikugo Plain ...
in
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
and
Ōita Station,
Ōita in
Ōita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...
. It is also known as the Yufu Kōgen Line.
The line crosses the whole of Kyushu, approximately paralleling the
Chikugo River and its tributary the Kusu River near Kurume, and along the
Ōita River close to Ōita. It also traverses popular tourist resorts such as
Hita (known as Little
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
) and
spa resorts around
Yufu.
Stations
History
In 1915, the Daito Railway Co. opened the 22 km Oita - Onoya section. The company was nationalised in 1922, and westerly extensions were undertaken in stages from 1923 until Amagase was reached in 1933. The Kurume - Chikugoyoshi opened in 1928, and easterly extensions to Amagase opened between 1931 and 1934.
CTC signalling was commissioned over the entire line in 1984, and freight services ceased in 1987.
Typhoon damage
In 2012, a landslide disrupted services for 6 weeks.
On 5 July 2017, torrential rainfall washed out the bridge over the Oita River between Chikugo Oisha and Teruoka, resulting in the closure of the section. According to the Japanese language Wikipedia article, the line was fully re-opened on 14 July 2018.
Previous connecting/transfer lines

*Era Station: the 27 km Miyanoharu Line to Higo-oguni opened between 1937 and 1954. Freight services ceased in 1971, and the line closed on 1 December 1984.
*Kurume Station: the 46 km gauge Chigoku Line to Mameda opened between 1904 and 1916, and was electrified at 600 V DC in 1919. It had three short branch lines (1 to 4 km long). The entire system closed in 1929.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyudai Main Line
Lines of Kyushu Railway Company
1067 mm gauge railways in Japan
Railway lines opened in 1915
1915 establishments in Japan