Ban'etsu East Line

Railway line in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan The Ban'etsu East Line (磐越東線, Ban'etsu-tō-sen) is a railway line in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Iwaki Station in Iwaki and Kōriyama Station in Kōriyama. The name "Ban'etsu" is taken from the first characters of the names of the ancient provinces of Iwaki (磐城) and Echigo (越後), which the Ban'etsu East and Ban'etsu West lines connect. "Tō" (東) means "east" in Japanese. The line's nickname is the Yūyū Abukuma Line (ゆうゆうあぶくまライン), taken from the Abukuma River that flows nearby. A Ban'etsu East Line train arriving at Mōgi Station, 2017. Service All trains are operated as local services in 2-, 3-, or 5-car formations. Service between Kōriyama and Ononiimachi is provided once every 30 minutes to two hours, but between Ononiimachi and Iwaki, there is a period of five hours where no trains operate. One reason for the few continuous services between Iwaki and Kōriyama is the opening of the parallel Ban-etsu Expressway in 1995; as a result, most long distance passengers use highway bus services. The last express service, Iwaki, stopped runnin