Kuzuryūko line

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Course of the Kuzuryūko Line.

The Kuzuryūko Line ( 宇 九 頭 竜 湖 線 Kuzuryūko-sen ) is a single-track, non-electrified railway line in Cape Gauge operated by JR West , which takes its name from the terminus, the Kuzuryūko-eki ( 宇 九 頭 竜 湖 駅 ) in Fukui Prefecture in the center of the Japanese island of Honshu has.

route

The Etsumi-hoku-sen opened on December 15, 1960 in Asuwa (today incorporated into Fukui as Higashi-Ashiwa).
Echizen-Hanandō station (2009).
Kuzuryūko station (winter 2010).

The line was opened as Etsumi-hoku-sen in 1960 and operated under this name until 1995. An expansion was planned with a possible connection to the Etsumi-nan line ( 越 美 南 線 ) in Hokunō ( 北 濃 ). Due to the foreseeable high construction costs for tunnels, the last 24 kilometers were not built. Until 2004 there was a train bus for this section that ran from Ōno to the Mino-Shirotori ( 美濃 白鳥 駅 ) train stop .

The opening was at the end of 1960, initially on 43.1 km between Minami-Fukui ↔ Echizen-Hanandō ↔ Kadohara. Over the years, further stops have been set up along the route. The extension to Kuzuryūko (10.2 km) opened on December 15, 1972. The 5251 meter long Arashima Tunnel is on this section.

The entire route of the 52.5-kilometer branch line runs in the area of ​​the municipalities of Fukui and Ōno. There are 22 breakpoints. Although all trains travel the 2.6 km to Fukui, the actual departure station of the line is today Echizen-Hanandō, where you can change to the Hokuriku main line . Minami-Fukui Station was closed in 1987.

Kuzuryūko is located at the end of the reservoir of the same name created in 1962–1968. In the dam there is a power plant with an output of 220 MW. The lake is popular with anglers in summer. The region is also a winter sports area, due to global warming, snowfall and the corresponding operations have been declining for decades.

From 1980 to 1997, vacationers' express trains called Okuetsu-gō drove seasonally . The regular express train service was also given up in 2001. Since then, all trains have stopped at all stations. Special trains run on some weekends in May and October when Kuzuryūko has festivals. Only these have conductors, otherwise it has been completely switched to one-man operation since 1990.

In July 2004 five bridges were washed away after heavy rains. Shuttle operation between Echizen-Hanandō ↔ Ichijōdani and Miyama ↔ Echizen-Ōno could already be resumed in September. The entire route was only restored on July 1, 2007. Today the track bed is designed for a top speed of 65-85 km / h.

As everywhere in rural Japan, passenger numbers are falling. From an average of 772 passengers in 1987, the number of passengers was reduced to 378 in 2018. On weekdays in 2019, only four pairs of trains will travel the entire route every day. A few more are on the way between Ōno and Fukui.

There is no signal system in the rarely used upper section of the route, the route clearance will also take place in 2019 with tension rods .

Freight trains

Freight traffic began in 1965 on the Echizen-Ōno ↔ Kadohara section, but this was shortened in 1968. The rest of the freight operations that took place between Minami-Fukui ↔ Echizen-eingestelltno were finally stopped in 1982.

The steam locomotive 28651 on display near Kuzuryūko station today, built in 1919, was based in Fukui in 1968–1973 as a freight locomotive.

Vehicle fleet

KiHa 120 diesel railcar, a standard model of the JR West (2012) in the livery that has been in use since 2011.

There are five KiHa 120 railcars available. Usually two were coupled together, and three in the morning rush hour from Ōno. The vehicles Kioka 58-1114 and Kiha 28-2360 were taken over in 2005 because their old route was electrified. Converted as a one-man vehicle, they were used for several years, especially in the evening. As on many routes in Japan, toilets began to be installed in trains in 2006.


Web links

Commons : Etsumi-Hoku Line  - collection of images, videos and audio files