Kamaishi Line
SL Ginga running on Miyamorigawa Bridge
Overview
Native name	釜石線
Status	In operation
Owner	JR East
Locale	Iwate Prefecture, Japan
Termini	Hanamaki Kamaishi
Stations	24
Service
Type	Regional rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Rolling stock	KiHa 100 series DMU
History
Opened	25 October 1913
Technical
Line length	90.2 km (56.0 mi)
Number of tracks	Entire line single tracked
Character	Rural
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	None
Operating speed	85 km/h (53 mph)
Route map km year closed Hanamaki Electric Railway Dentetsu Hanamaki Nishi-Hanamaki 0.0 Hanamaki Tōhoku Main Line Chuo-Hanamaki Hanamaki Toyagasaki former line (Iwate Light Railway) 1943 3.5 Nitanai Kitakami River Kamaishi Expressway 6.0 Yasawa 1985 6.4 Shin-Hanamaki Tōhoku Shinkansen 8.3 Oyamada 12.7 Tsuchizawa 15.9 Haruyama Fuchinoketsu 1925 21.7 Iwanebashi Tassobekawa River 25.1 Miyamori Miyamori viaduct Akasawa River 31.2 Kashiwagidaira 33.6 Masuzawa 35.3 Naka-Masuzawa 1936 36.4 Arayamae Yamayagawa River 39.3 Iwate-Futsukamachi Izagosawa River 41.1 Ayaori Sarugaishi River 46.0 Tōno Hayasegawa River Kawauchikawa River 50.3 Aozasa 51.6 Aozasa 1914 51.7 Sekiguchi 1950 52.2 Akasawa 1927 Nekogawa River 53.8 Iwate-Kamigō Hayase River 56.6 Hirakura 61.2 Ashigase former line 1950 Hinode 1916 Sennintoge 1950 Ashigase Tunnel 3 tunnels 65.4 Kamiarisu Kisen River (Tsuchikurazawa) Tsuchikura Tunnel 2.975 km 1.849 mi freight ropeway 7 tunnels Ōhashi Tunnel No.2 Kasshigawa River Ōhashi 73.7 Rikuchū-Ōhashi Kamaishi Mining Railway 1965 79.6 Dōsen 83.2 Matsukura 86.5 Kosano Ogawa River Kamaishi Kogyo Yamada Line 90.2 Kamaishi Owatarigawa River Sanriku Railway Minami-Rias Line

The Kamaishi Line (釜石線, Kamaishi-sen) is a 90.2 km (56.0 mi) rural railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Hanamaki Station in the city of Hanamaki with Kamaishi Station in the city of Kamaishi.

History

Preserved Class 231 locomotive number 233

The precursor to the line opened in 1915 as the Iwate Light Railway (岩手軽便鉄道), a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) light railway extending 65.4 km from Hanamaki to Sennintōge Station (仙人峠).^[1] The original plan was to link with Kamaishi Mine and Kamaishi Port, but at an altitude of 887m, the mountain pass at Sennintōge prevented immediate expansion eastward to Kamaishi. A ropeway conveyor was used to convey goods onward to Ōhashi, from where a 16 km 762mm (2'6") gauge mining railway (which operated between 1915 and 1965) provided the service to Kamaishi.^[1]

The railway was nationalized in August 1936, and the line became the "Kamaishi Line". Motive power for the line was provided by six JNR Class 231 steam locomotives, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA, and numbered 231 to 236.^[1] Work started on upgrading and re-gauging the line, and the first section, the 31.2 km from Hanamaki to Kashiwagidaira was regauged to the standard Japanese track gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and re-opened from September 1943. The mining railway between Rikuchū-Ōhashi and Kamaishi was also upgraded to 1,067 mm gauge by October 1944 to meet the urgent need for increased capacity to transport iron ore during the war period, and was named the Kamaishi East Line (釜石東線, Kamaishi-Higashi-sen). The entire 90.2 km line was finally completed between Hanamaki and Kamaishi in June 1950, opening to traffic on 10 October of that year.

Stations

All stations are in Iwate Prefecture.

Rolling stock

KiHa 100 series DMU train running alongside Route 283, August 2008

KiHa 110 series DMU train at Morioka on a Hamayuri rapid service, March 2007

Kamaishi Line services are operated using KiHa 110 series diesel trains.

From 12 April 2014, a newly formed SL Ginga "Joyful Train" (excursion train) began operating on the line at weekends using the restored JNR Class C58 steam locomotive C58 239 together with a train of four modified former KiHa 141 series diesel cars purchased from JR Hokkaido (themselves rebuilt from earlier 50 series passenger coaches and made surplus to requirements following the electrification of the Sasshō Line).^[3][4][5] The diesel cars provide additional power to cope with the line's gradients.^[4] The coach design work was overseen by industrial designer Ken Okuyama.^[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kamaishi Line.