Hakone Tozan Line

Hakone Tozan Line
Train on Hayakawa Bridge (2007)
Route length:	15.0 km
Gauge :	1067 mm / 1435 mm
Power system :	750 V / 1500 V  =
Maximum slope :	80  ‰
Minimum radius :	30 m
Top speed:	40 km / h
Dual track :	No
Society:	Hakone Tozan Tetsudō , Odakyū Dentetsu
Legend ^ Odakyu Odawara lineage 1927– ← Daiyūzan Line 1925– → Tōkaidō Shinkansen 1964– → Main Tōkaidō line 1920– 0.0 Odawara ( 小田原 ) 1920– Komine tunnel (286 m) 1.7 Hakone-Itabashi ( 箱根 板橋 ) 1935– Odawara-Atsugi Highway 3.2 Kazamatsuri ( 風 祭 ) 1935– Iriuda depot 4.2 Iriuda ( 風 祭 ) 1935– 6.1 Hakone-Yumoto ( 箱根 湯 本 ) 1919– Yumoto Tunnel (24 m) Chikurayama Tunnel (183 m) Tōnomine Tunnel (194 m) 7.1 Tōnosawa ( 塔 ノ 沢 ) 1919– Daigatake Tunnel (318 m) Sugiyama Tunnel (149 m) Hayakawa Deyama tunnel (125 m) Matsuyama Tunnel (97 m) 8.3 Deyama ( 出山 ) 1919– Arashiyama Tunnel (237 m) Kaneyama Tunnel (90 m) Jōbanyama Tunnel (167 m) Hatayama Tunnel (103 m) 9.9 Ōhiradai ( 大 平台 ) 1919– 10.4 Kami-Ōhiradai ( 上 大 平台 信号 ) 1919– Ōhiradai tunnel (302 m) 11.2 Dodge Sennindai 12.1 Miyanoshita ( 宮 ノ 下 ) 1919– 13.4 Kowakidani ( 小 涌 谷 ) 1919– 14.3 Chokokunomori ( 小 涌 谷 ) 1919– 15.0 Gōra ( 強 羅 ) 1919– ↓ Hakone-Tozan funicular 1921–

The Hakone Tozan Line ( Japanese 箱根 登山 鉄 道 線 , Hakone Tozan Tetsudō-sen , German: "Hakone-Bergbahnlinie") is a railway line on the Japanese island of Honshu . It is operated by the railway companies Odakyū Dentetsu and Hakone Tozan Tetsudō , both of which are subsidiaries of the Odakyu Group . The route in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, partly in standard gauge and partly in Cape gauge , connects Odawara with Hakone . Over a length of 15 km it overcomes an altitude difference of 527 m, with three switchbacks being negotiated. The incline is up to 80 ‰, making this route the steepest adhesion railway in Japan.

description

Three-rail track in Iriuda, behind the depot

Kami-Ōhiradai hairpin

The Hakone Volcanic Massif is a volcanic complex on the border of the prefectures Kanagawa and Shizuoka , about 80 kilometers as the crow flies southwest of Tokyo . Due to the charming landscape, the mild climate and the many thermal springs with onsen baths, the area has long been one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. The Hakone-Tozan Line opens up the region from the east through the Hayakawa Valley. It has a single track along its entire length and serves eleven train stations, with train crossings being possible at all intermediate stops.

Due to different technical features, the route is divided into two sections, a comparatively flat "valley route" from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto and a subsequent steep section to Gōra . The valley line, which has been used exclusively by the Odakyū Dentetsu since 2006 , connects directly to the Odakyū Odawara line in the direction of Tokyo’s Shinjuku station at Odawara station . With it it shares the cape gauge of 1067 mm and the traction current system (1500 V DC ). In contrast, the steep section traveled by the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō is standard gauge (1435 mm) and has a contact wire voltage of 750 V. On the two-kilometer section between Hakone-Yumoto and the depot Iriuda one is three-rail track laid; until 2006 it reached Odawara station.

After leaving Odawara station, the Cape-gauge line initially runs south parallel to the Tōkaidō main line . After reaching the Hayakawa Valley, it turns west and passes under the route of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen . With a slope between 28.5 and 33.3 ‰, it follows the left bank of the river. The depot for the trains of the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō is located about 150 m east of the Iriuda station. This is where the three-rail track begins, which extends to the next but one Hakone-Yumoto station. A gradient of 40 ‰ is overcome over a length of just over one kilometer. Immediately west of Hakone-Yumoto, the steep section begins with a maximum gradient of 80 ‰, which can only be traveled by the standard-gauge mountain railway. On the 43 m high and 60 m long Hayakawa Bridge, the route crosses a deeply cut gorge and switches to the right side of the valley. The bridge has been a listed material cultural asset since February 1999 .

Through the two directly adjoining tunnels, the route describes an approximately 180 ° curve and reaches the Deyama hairpin. From here you can see the Hayakawa Bridge, which was passed shortly before. The direction of travel is changed two more times, in Ōhiradai station and in the Kami-Ōhiradai hairpin. The curve after Kowakidani station is the narrowest of the entire mountain railway with a radius of only 30 m. The route between Chokokunomori and the terminus is almost flat. At Gōra station you can change to the Hakone Tozan Cable Car , a funicular to the higher parts of Hakone. The Hakone cable car to Lake Ashi connects to this.

Trains

Water tank on the bogie

On the valley route from Hakone-Yumoto to Odawara, passenger trains run by Odakyū Dentetsu run every quarter of an hour. They are tied through to the Odakyū Odawara Line in the direction of Shinjuku . This also applies to the half-hourly express trains that do not stop at the intermediate stations and where romance cars are used. The timetable is further compressed at peak times. On the Hakone-Yumoto-Gōra mountain line, trains run every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes in the evening; they stop at all intermediate stations.

To overcome the up to 80 ‰ steep incline, the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō uses water to lubricate the wheel rim on the mountain stretch. For this purpose, the wagons have a 360-liter water tank attached to the bogie at both ends . At the push of a button by the driver, water is sprayed onto the wheels, consuming around 50 to 80 liters on each journey.

Moha 2 series

Moha 1 and Moha 2 trains have been running since the 1950s, and are gradually being phased out and replaced by newer models.

Hakone Tozan Tetsudō has had a partnership with the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland since 1979 . In addition to the exchange of railway technology experience, tourism and cultural cooperation is particularly fostered. A sign of this solidarity are the railcars , all of whose names are related to the Canton of Graubünden . The class 1000 multiple units introduced in 1981 bear the name “Bernina”; they are named after the Bernina Railway and have received the Blue Ribbon Award . The 2000 series followed in 1989, called “ St. Moritz ”. The 3000 series cars that have been in service since 2014 and the 3000 series 2-car units that have been in service since 2017 and are known as the 3100 series are called " Allegra ".

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  Series 1000 "Bernina"

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  Series 2000 "St. Moritz "

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  Series 3000 "Allegra"

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  Sister Railways badge

history

Planning and construction of the mountain route

The Tōkaidō , Japan's most important post and trade route since the early Edo period , once passed through Odawara and Hakone . The Tōkaidō main line built in the 1870s and 1880s did not open up these places, but circumnavigated the Hakone volcanic massif on its north side (this route corresponds to today's Gotemba line ). Influential people from Odawara feared that their city would be left behind and therefore campaigned for the construction of a horse-drawn tram . It was built in 1888 by a predecessor of today's Hakone Tozan Tetsudō and connected the Kōzu station with Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto . In 1900 it was converted into an electric tram . The section Kōzu – Odawara remained until 1920, the Odawara tram existed within the city until 1956.

In 1907, planning began for a mountain railway from Hakone-Yumoto to promote tourism. The influential politician Inoue Kaoru and Masuda Takashi , the chairman of the Mitsui group, supported the project. An extraordinary general assembly in January 1910 decided to implement the project. Shortly afterwards, however, floods in the Hayakawa Valley caused massive landslides , so that the originally planned route could not be built. The re-planning included a cogwheel railway section according to the Abt system with an incline of 125 ‰, but there were concerns that the encroachment on nature would be too great. In 1912 the chief engineer traveled to Europe for half a year to study various mountain railways. After his return, the choice fell on an adhesion track based on the model of the Bernina track in Switzerland , which had been completed two years earlier . The incline had to be limited to 80 ‰, which required three switchbacks .

Construction work began in November 1912, but had to be interrupted shortly afterwards as the approval process had not yet been completed. They were resumed in June 1913 and stalled again after the outbreak of the First World War . Various building materials could no longer be imported or their delivery was significantly delayed. For this reason, the no longer required framework of a bridge was to be reused to bridge the Hayakawa, which spanned the Tenryū River on the Tōkaidō main line since 1888 . The governor of Kanagawa Prefecture feared that the landscape would be neglected and only consented to the recycling on the condition that it would later be completely rebuilt. A geological survey carried out in 1916 came to the conclusion that it was not possible to build a tunnel at Miyanoshita without impairing the thermal springs there, which is why the route in this area had to be adjusted again.

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  Construction of the Spitz sweeper Deyama

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  Construction of the Hakone-Yumoto train station

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  Kowakidani station shortly after the opening

The costs were well above the original estimates and the company's capital had to be tripled in the meantime gradually to 6.6 million yen . Thanks to Masuda's great influence, the Tokyo business community reacted benevolently to the capital increases, especially as the earnings outlook remained good. The construction work was finally completed on May 24, 1919. A week later, on June 1, 1919, the mountain route from Hakone-Yumoto to Gōra was opened .

Extension to Odawara and takeover by Odakyū

Destruction after the Great Kantō Earthquake (1923)

The Great Kanto earthquake on September 1, 1923 caused severe damage. Several station buildings collapsed, debris buried large parts of the route and the catenary , all railcars jumped off the rails. All bridges were destroyed - with the exception of the controversial Hayakawa Bridge, which remained almost undamaged and, contrary to earlier assurances, has not yet been rebuilt. The repair work began in January 1924 and progressed slowly. The section between Hakone-Yumoto and the Deyama hairpin reopened on September 10th, the sections Deyama-Ōhiradai and Kowakidani-Gōra on November 24th, the section Miyanoshita-Kowakidani on December 24th. With the commissioning of the Ōhiradai – Miyanoshita section, the reconstruction was completed on December 28, 1924.

On January 20, 1928, the Odawara Denki Tetsudō merged with the electricity company Nippon Denryoku . This connection lasted only a little over half a year: on August 13, 1928, Nippon Denryoku transferred all business areas except electricity production to the railway company, which became independent on the same day and was now called Hakone Tozan Tetsudō. Due to increasing competition from coaches that drove from Odawara directly to Gōra, the revenue fell. The railway company wanted a faster connection between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto, especially since the tram was not efficient enough and made detours. After construction work began in November 1931, the “valley route” was opened on October 1, 1935. It enabled a time saving of 20 minutes on the entire Odawara – Gōra route.

The mountain railway was largely spared from the effects of the Second World War . On the other hand, Typhoon Ione destroyed two bridges on September 15, 1948 and caused landslides that buried part of the route. Traffic could not be resumed until July 6, 1949. In the meantime, the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō lost its independence. It was taken over on June 1, 1948 by the Odakyū Dentetsu railway company , the parent company of today's Odakyu Group , which introduced a non-stop express train service between Shinjuku and Odawara on the same day .

Three-rail track on the valley line

Test train on the Itabashi Bridge on the valley line (1935)

In order to gain a competitive advantage over the state Tōkaidō main line, the new owner thought it appropriate to run direct trains from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto. This project was opposed to different gauges: The Odakyū Odawara line was laid in Cape gauge (1067 mm), the Hakone-Tozan line, however, in standard gauge (1435 mm). A gauging the cable car was out of the question, because sufficiently powerful electric motors for propulsion of railcars on the 80-thousandth Steilstrecke were too great that they would have fit in Kapspurfahrzeuge then. Re-gauging the Odawara line would have been technically possible, but this option was also ruled out due to the high costs.

So the decision was made to lay a three- rail track between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto that can be used by vehicles of both gauges. Another problem was that Odakyū vehicles could only cope with gradients of up to 25 ‰ at that time, but the valley route from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto is up to 40 ‰ steep. Therefore, Odakyū had to retrofit several of his vehicles with more modern braking systems. Traffic on the three-rail track began on August 1, 1950, and the contact wire voltage on this section was increased from 600 to 1500 V. Passenger numbers rose by more than a quarter within a year. In 1964, the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō replaced the now outdated depot in Hakone-Yumoto with a new building near the Iriuda station.

Crowds during the 1993 Golden Week at Odawara station

In 1991 the number of passengers passed the 10 million mark annually. At that time, 52% of the visitors to Hakone traveled by mountain railway, although their transport capacity was limited: a train with two carriages ran every 15 minutes, which led to bottlenecks with waiting times of up to two hours, especially during the Golden Week . For this reason, the route should be adapted for the use of three-car trains. The necessary extension of the platforms turned out to be particularly complex in Tōnosawa, as this station is bordered by tunnels at both ends. In the tunnel on the mountain side, the slope therefore had to be removed, partly by hand. The adaptation of this station alone devoured almost half of the total renovation costs. The substations were replaced and the contact wire voltage increased from 600 to 750 V. Since July 14, 1993, most trains have been running on the mountain route with three cars.

The Odakyu Group decided in 1995 to restrict the trains of the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō to the mountain route between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra on days with particularly high passenger volumes and to leave the valley route to the trains of the Odakyū Dentetsu. In this way, more people could be transported on the mountain route with the same number of vehicles. This measure has proven itself and has been in force since the timetable change on March 18, 2006. The three-rail track between Odawara and the Iriuda depot, which was no longer required for this reason, was then removed, only the section from there to Hakone-Yumoto station remained.

From October 2019 to July 2020, the steep stretch between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra was closed due to severe damage as a result of Typhoon Hagibis .

List of train stations

Surname		km	Height (m)	Connecting lines	location	place
OH47	Odawara ( 小田原 )	00.0	014th	Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tōkaidō Main Line Shōnan Shinjuku Line Daiyūzan Line Odakyū Odawara Line	Coord.	Odawara
OH48	Hakone-Itabashi ( 箱根 板橋 )	01.7	016		Coord.
OH49	Kazamatsuri ( 風 祭 )	03.2	036		Coord.
OH50	Iriuda ( 入 生 田 )	04.2	054		Coord.
OH51	Hakone-Yumoto ( 箱根 湯 本 )	06.1	096		Coord.	Hakone
OH52	Tōnosawa ( 塔 ノ 沢 )	07.1	153		Coord.
	Hairpin Deyama ( 出山 )	08.3	222		Coord.
OH53	Ōhiradai ( 大 平台 )	09.9	337		Coord.
	Kami-Ōhiradai hairpin ( 上 大 平台 )	10.4	346		Coord.
OH54	Miyanoshita ( 宮 ノ 下 )	12.1	436		Coord.
OH55	Kowakidani ( 小 涌 谷 )	13.4	523		Coord.
OH56	Chokokunomori ( 彫刻 の 森 )	14.3	539		Coord.
OH57	Gōra ( 強 羅 )	15.0	541	Hakone Tozan funicular railway	Coord.

literature

• Toshiyuki Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通 . (Modern traffic on the Hakone). Kanagawa Shimbun, Yokohama 1995, ISBN 978-4-87645-189-0 .
• Takashi Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を を 越 え た 技 . Kōtsū Shimbun-sha, Chiyoda 2011, ISBN 978-4-330-23111-2 .
• Kazuo Watanabe: ト コ ト コ 登山 電車 . Akane Shobō, Chiyoda 1985, ISBN 4-251-06396-1 .
• Yoshio Anbe: 小田急 物語 . Tamagawa Shimbun-sha, Kawasaki 2000, ISBN 4-924882-37-2 .
• Hakone Tozan Tetsudō (Ed.): す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100 . Odawara 1988.

Web links

Commons : Hakone Tozan Line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hakone Tozan Tetsudō website (Japanese, English)
• Info flyer Hakone Tozan Tetsudō (English, PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tetsudō Journal, Volume 33, No. 5. Tetsudōjānarusha, Tokyo April 1999, p. 95.
2. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 17.
3. ↑ Timetable Odawara – Hakone-Yumoto. (PDF, 217 kB) Odakyu Hakone Holdings, 2018, accessed on January 1, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Gōra – Hakone-Yumoto timetable. (PDF, 104 kB) Odakyu Hakone Holdings, 2018, accessed on January 1, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Toshihiko Kusui: 特集 箱根 登山 鉄 道 . In: Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō . No. 93 . Kōtsū Shinbunsha, Chiyoda January 1992, pp. 26-47 .
6. ^ "Carriage replacement". February 2020, accessed on February 23, 2020 . 
7. ↑ RhB locomotive in the design of the sister line. Rhaetian Railway , August 3, 2010, accessed on January 1, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. Pp. 35-39.
9. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 93.
10. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. Pp. 96-98.
11. ↑ Watanabe: ト コ ト コ 登山 電車. P. 25.
12. ↑ Watanabe: ト コ ト コ 登山 電車. P. 22.
13. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 148.
14. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 151.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 44.
16. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 45.
17. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 48.
18. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. Pp. 155-156.
19. ↑ Watanabe: ト コ ト コ 登山 電車. P. 52.
20. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 175.
21. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 58.
22. ↑ Anbe: 小田急 物語. P. 18.
23. ↑ Anbe: 小田急 物語. Pp. 68-69.
24. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路. P. 63.
25. ↑ Anbe: 小田急 物語. P. 69.
26. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路. Pp. 72-73.
27. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 90.
28. ↑ Mamoru Miura: 天下 の 険 を 攀 じ 登 る 箱根 登山 鉄 道 箱根 湯 本 - 強 羅 間 3 両 編成 運 転 化 で 輸送 力 増 強 . In: Tetsudō Journal . No. 324 . Tetsudōjānarusha, Tokyo October 1993, p. 70-77 .
29. ↑ Satoshi Honda: 小田急 電 鉄 列車 運 転 の 興味 . In: Tetsudōpikutoriaru . No. 679 . Denkisha kenkyūka, Chiyoda December 1999, p. 189-193 .
30. ↑ Hiroshi Sugita: 小田急 電 鉄 列車 運 転 の 変 遷 と そ の 興味 . In: Tetsudōpikutoriaru . No. 829 . Denkisha kenkyūka, Chiyoda January 2010, p. 204-219 .
31. ↑ お 帰 り！ 箱根 登山 鉄 道 台風 被 災 か ら ９ カ 月 ぶ り に 全線 復旧 . In: Tōkyō Shimbun . July 23, 2020, accessed August 17, 2020 (Japanese). 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap