Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō
| Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō KK | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Kabushiki-gaisha (joint stock company) |
| founding | March 9, 1989 |
| resolution | June 24, 2006 |
| Reason for dissolution | liquidation |
| Seat | Kitami , Hokkaidō |
| Branch | traffic |
The Hokkaido Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudo ( Jap . 北海道ちほく高原鉄道株式会社 , Hokkaido chihoku Kōgen tetsudō kabushiki-gaisha , Engl. Hokkaido Chihoku Highland Railway Co. Ltd. ) was a Japanese railway company based in Kitami . From 1989 to 2006 it operated the 140 km long Furusato Ginga Line in the east of the island of Hokkaidō .
Shareholders
The Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō was a so-called railway company of the third sector , which was supported by local authorities. The following were involved in the share capital of 499.55 million yen :
- the prefecture of Hokkaido
- the cities of Ikeda , Kitami , Ashoro , Honbetsu , Kunneppu , Oketo and Rikubetsu
- various local private companies
history
In the 1970s, the Japanese State Railways were chronically in deficit. In 1980 the parliament passed a law to reorganize the state railway finances. On the basis of this law, the state railway presented a list of 83 railway lines that should be shut down and switched to bus operation due to the particularly low level of cost recovery . These included the line from Ikeda via Rikubetsu to Kitami , which was then known as the Chihoku Line ( 池 北 線 , Chihoku-sen ) and opened in 1910/11. Since trouble-free bus operation could not be guaranteed in winter, this measure was initially not implemented after a second assessment in 1984. The railway line passed into the possession of JR Hokkaido on April 1, 1987 as part of the state railway privatization .
The rail operations through JR Hokkaido did not seem secure in the medium term. Therefore, representatives of the affected cities and municipalities in the sub-prefectures of Sorachi and Abashiri decided on November 14, 1988 to found a railway company with local sponsorship. On January 5, 1989, Hokkaido Prefecture made a funding commitment of 200 million yen, and on January 20, the name of the railway company to be established was announced. After the founding meeting on February 28th and the formal founding on March 9th, the MLIT granted the operating license on March 30th. The Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō took over the operation on June 4, 1989, initially according to the previous timetable of JR Hokkaido. With the timetable change on August 6, 1989, the number of trips was increased. At the same time, the line was given the new name Furusato Ginga Line .
With the use of new rolling stock and the introduction of express trains, the travel time between Kitami and Ikeda has been shortened by up to 45 minutes. There was a close cooperation between the Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō and JR Hokkaido. For example, tickets were available that were valid on both companies' networks. Vehicle maintenance was carried out in the JR Kitami depot. From November 1, 1991, the Kitami – Ikeda express trains continued on the Nemuro main line to Obihiro .
Despite the improved offer, the Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō never managed to achieve a positive operating result. The bursting of the bubble economy in 1990 led to a severe crisis in the regional economy in the subsequent “ lost decade ”, which was heavily dependent on the construction industry and related sectors. Due to the lack of economic prospects, this resulted in increased rural exodus . The number of schoolchildren, who always made up a considerable tail of passengers on routes in rural areas (more than half in the case of the Furusato-Ginga line), decreased steadily. While in the fiscal year 1990 1,027,085 passengers were counted, in the fiscal year 2002 it was only 536,037. The stability fund, which the government had created in 1987 as part of the privatization of the state railway to support private railway companies, hardly generated any income due to the zero interest rate policy of the crisis years, which also had a negative effect on finances.
There were plans to increase the maximum speed limit from 85 to 130 km / h in order to increase the attractiveness of the offer and to make the railway competitive with individual transport. The project failed because of the cost of 14 billion yen. The neighboring communities resisted the intention to convert the railway line to bus operation and wanted to get the Hokkaidō prefecture to take over 75% of the deficit. The prefectural administration rejected the request and pointed out that the regional road network was now well developed enough to guarantee bus operation even in winter. As there was no improvement in the financial situation, the management board decided on March 27, 2005 to apply for the company to be dissolved. The shareholders' meeting confirmed this resolution on April 17, 2005 and the Furusato Ginga line was closed on April 21, 2006. Finally, the general meeting on June 24, 2006 formally dissolved the company.
vehicles
The Hokkaidō Chihoku Kōgen Tetsudō diesel railcars of the CR 70 and CR 75 series used for rail operations. They both came from the medium-sized rail vehicle company Niigata Tekkō , were based on the KiHa 130 series from JR Hokkaido and were adapted to the harsh climate. The twelve cars from the CR 70 series were 16,300 m long, 2,998 m wide and 3,761 m high. They weighed 18 tons and offered 46 seats and 56 standing places. The engine of the series-produced type DMF13HS (with turbocharger ) enabled a top speed of 95 km / h. Additional equipment included a toilet and a ticket machine. The four cars of the CR 75 series were almost identical. The only difference was that they each had a place to sit and stand; in their place there was a drinks machine.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Committee for Contemporary History Kitami (ed.): 北 見 現代史 (Modern History of Kitami) . Kitami 2007, p. 950-951 .
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. Pp. 951-953.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. Pp. 953-954.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. Pp. 956-957.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. P. 967.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. P. 975.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. P. 978.
- ↑ 北 見 現代史. P. 981.
- ↑ 会 社 の 解散 を 決 め た 北海道 ち ほ く 高原 鉄 道 の 株 主 総 会. Hokkaido Shimbun, June 25, 2006.
- ↑ Anniversary Committee of the Furusato Ginga Line (Ed.): ふ る さ と 銀河 線 10 年 の あ ゆ み (10-year history of the Furusato Ginga Line). Kitami 1999, pp. 98-99.