Ōfunato Line

Ōfunato Line

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
Route map

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 In March 2013 the rapid services were withdrawn.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 15:08 westbound. From 6–19 August it operates every day. It also operates on certain public holidays.[3]

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

  1. ↑ 被災２路線、廃止しバス専用道提案へ　ＪＲ東、岩手県に [JR East proposes to scrap two lines and convert to bus routes]. The Asahi Shimbun Digital (in Japanese). Japan: The Asahi Shimbun Company. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.jreast.co.jp/pokemon-train/index.html
  3. ↑ JR East. "JR East Special Train timetable" (PDF) (in Japanese). p. 5. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
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