Ikawa Line

(Redirected from Ōigawa Railway Ikawa Line)

The Ikawa Line (井川線, Ikawa-sen) is a railway line of the Ōigawa Railway. It runs from Senzu Station in Kawanehon, Shizuoka, the end station of the Ōigawa Main Line, and terminates at Ikawa Station in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka. The line has 61 tunnels and 51 bridges along its 25.5 kilometer length and includes the only rack-and-pinion railway section currently operating in Japan.

Ikawa Line
A train on the Ikawa Line
Overview
LocaleShizuoka Prefecture
Termini
Stations14
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Operator(s)Ōigawa Railway
History
Opened1935; 89 years ago (1935)
Technical
Line length25.5 km (15.8 mi)
1.5 km (0.93 mi) rack portion
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
(Abt rack system)
Electrification1,500 V DC overhead
(rack portion only)
Route map

km
0.0
Senzu
1.1
Kawane-Ryōgoku
2.4
Sawama
Sumata River
3.9
Domoto
5.8
Kawane-Koyama
Signal Tunnel No. 9
440 m
Signal Tunnel No. 10
393 m
7.5
Okuizumi
Kawane Ichishiro
(
closed
1990
)
former line (
closed
1990
)
9.9
Abt Ichishiro
Dai-Kajima Tunnel
Ōkashima
Ōigawa Bridge No. 2
Ōi River
11.4
Nagashima Dam
Yosekura Tunnel
Kawane-Karasawa
12.6
Hiranda
Hirata Tunnel
old│new
Inuma
Okuōi Rainbow Bridge
Lake Sesso
13.9
Okuōikojō
Lake Sesso
tunnel 3
15.5
Sessokyō-Onsen
17.8
Omori
Sekinosawa Bridge
100 m
tunnel 5
20.5
Kanzō
Misakubo Tunnel No. 2
264 m
23.4
Kamekubo
(
closed
1971
)
tunnel 13
25.5
Ikawa
26.6
Dohira
(
closed
1971
)
km
Electrified rack section

History edit

The Ikawa line began operations on March 20, 1935, as a private line for the Ōigawa Electric Company, to carry workers and materials upstream to facilitate dam construction. The single track line was originally constructed with 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge; however, in order to have dual usage with carriages on the Senzu-Shinrin Line (now closed) a third rail was added the following year for the Japanese standard gauge (1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)). In 1954, the line was extended under the aegis of the Chubu Electric Power Company to facilitate the construction of the Ōigawa Dam. Railway operations were spun out of Chubu Electric into a separate company in 1959, with the foundation of the Ōigawa Railway Company. With the completion of the Nagashima Dam, a portion of the line had to be re-routed along a 1.5 km section with a maximum gradient of 9% (~1 in 11). This required the installation of an Abt rack system on October 2, 1990. An automatic train stop system was installed at the end of March 2009.

The line runs through an isolated mountain area with no cities or towns, and has a very small population density. Most of the passengers are tourists visiting one of the hot spring resorts along the line, or alpinists and hikers heading for the peaks of the Southern Alps National Park.

Former connecting lines edit

  • Sawama station - the 762mm gauge Sen-to forest railway, consisting of a 36km 'main line', branches 6km and 4km long and a 1.4km cableway, operated between 1934 and 1968.

Stations edit

NameDistance (km)ConnectionsLocation
Senzu千頭0.0Ōigawa Railway Ōigawa Main LineShizuokaKawanehon,
Haibara District
Kawane-Ryōgoku川根両国1.1 
Sawama沢間2.4 
Domoto土本3.9 
Kawane-Koyama川根小山5.8 
Okuizumi奥泉7.5 
Abt Ichishiroアプトいちしろ9.9 
Nagashima Dam長島ダム11.4 
Hirandaひらんだ12.6 
Okuōikojō奥大井湖上13.9 
Sessokyō-Onsen接岨峡温泉15.5 
Omori尾盛17.8 
Kanzō閑蔵20.5 Aoi-ku, Shizuoka
Ikawa井川25.5 

See also edit

External links edit