Ōfunato Line
| Ōfunato Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 300px
KiHa 100 DMU at Kesennuma Station, October 2006
|
|||
| Overview | |||
| Type | Heavy rail | ||
| Locale | Iwate Prefecture | ||
| Termini | Ichinoseki Station Sakari Station |
||
| Stations | 25 | ||
| Operation | |||
| Operator(s) | JR East | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 105.7 km (65.7 mi) | ||
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | ||
| Electrification | Not electrified | ||
|
|||
The Ōfunato Line (大船渡線 Ōfunato-sen?) is a local rail line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It originally connected Ichinoseki Station in Ichinoseki to Sakari Station in Ōfunato, on the Tohoku coast.
The eastern section of the line was significantly damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. In January 2012, services resumed on the western 62.0 km portion of the route between Ichinoseki and Kesennuma. The eastern section between Kesennuma and Sakari remains closed, and in February 2012, JR East officially proposed that this section of the line be scrapped and the right-of-way used as a bus rapid transit (BRT) route.[1]
The line connects with the Kesennuma Line at Kesennuma Station and formerly connected with the privately owned Sanriku Railway's Minami-Riasu Line at Sakari Station in Ōfunato.
History
The Ishinoseki - Kesennuma section opened in stages between 1925 and 1929, with the Kesennuma - Sakari section opening between 1932 and 1935.
Freight services ceased in 1983/4.
Following the 2011 disaster, services resumed on the Ishinoseki - Kesennuma section on 1 April, but were suspended again between 7–18 April due to aftershocks.
The first section of the busway replacing the Kesennuma - Sakari section opened in March 2013.
Operations
In April 2005, there were 27 services daily using this line (14 eastbound, 13 westbound).
Following the 2011 disaster, operations were reduced to ten eastbound local trains and one Super Dragon rapid service, with westbound services consisting of nine local trains and one rapid. In March 2013 the rapid services were withdrawn.
On 22 December 2012, a special Pokémon With You train began running on the line.[2] It now operates one round-trip on weekends from 11 July to 27 September, departing at 11:01am eastbound from Ichinoseki and returning at 15:12 westbound. From 20 July to 14 August it operates every day.[3]
-
DC @ Rikuzen-Takata (2862527607).jpg
KiHa 100 series diesel multiple unit
-
JR-East "Pokemon With You Train" Kiha100.jpg
Pokemon With You Train
-
BRT-Sakari-stn01.jpg
Hino Blue Ribbon City bus used on BRT services
-
JR-East-Ofunato-line-BRT-1824.jpg
Isuzu Erga bus used on BRT services
Station list
Stations in greyed out cells have been closed since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
| Station name | Japanese | Distance (km) from | Super Dragon (Rapid) |
Connections | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| previous station |
Ichinoseki | |||||
| Ichinoseki | 一ノ関 | - | 0.0 | ● | Tōhoku Main Line, Tōhoku Shinkansen |
Ichinoseki, Iwate |
| Mataki | 真滝 | 5.7 | 5.7 | | | ||
| Rikuchū-Kanzaki | 陸中門崎 | 8.0 | 13.7 | | | ||
| Iwanoshita | 岩ノ下 | 3.8 | 17.5 | | | ||
| Rikuchū-Matsukawa | 陸中松川 | 3.8 | 21.3 | | | ||
| Geibikei | 猊鼻渓 | 2.0 | 23.3 | ● | ||
| Shibajyuku | 柴宿 | 2.8 | 26.1 | | | ||
| Surisawa | 摺沢 | 4.5 | 30.6 | ● | ||
| Senmaya | 千厩 | 9.2 | 39.8 | ● | ||
| Konashi | 小梨 | 3.6 | 43.4 | | | ||
| Yagoshi | 矢越 | 4.2 | 47.6 | | | ||
| Orikabe | 折壁 | 2.1 | 49.7 | | | ||
| Niitsuki | 新月 | 5.6 | 55.3 | | | ||
| Kesennuma | 気仙沼 | 6.7 | 62.0 | ● | Kesennuma Line | Kesennuma, Miyagi |
| Shishiori-Karakuwa | 鹿折唐桑 | 2.2 | 64.2 | ● | ||
| Kami-Shishiori | 上鹿折 | 5.3 | 69.5 | ● | ||
| Rikuzen-Yahagi | 陸前矢作 | 10.0 | 79.5 | ● | Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate | |
| Takekoma | 竹駒 | 3.0 | 82.5 | ● | ||
| Rikuzen-Takata | 陸前高田 | 2.9 | 85.4 | ● | ||
| Wakinosawa | 脇ノ沢 | 2.9 | 88.3 | ● | ||
| Otomo | 小友 | 4.5 | 92.8 | ● | ||
| Hosoura | 細浦 | 4.3 | 97.1 | ● | Ōfunato, Iwate | |
| Shimofunato | 下船渡 | 3.1 | 100.2 | ● | ||
| Ōfunato | 大船渡 | 2.9 | 103.1 | ● | ||
| Sakari | 盛 | 2.6 | 105.7 | ● | Minami-Riasu Line, Iwate Development Railway |
|
References
This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.jreast.co.jp/pokemon-train/index.html
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
.svg){kind=logo}
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles that mention track gauge 1067 mm
- Articles containing Japanese-language text
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- Use dmy dates from March 2012
- Lines of East Japan Railway Company
- Rail transport in Iwate Prefecture
- Rail transport in Miyagi Prefecture
- 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan
