Ikawa line

Ikawa line
Diesel push - pull train with a cogwheel electric locomotive that is pretensioned on the valley side with a significantly higher car body than the rest of the train
Route length:	25.5 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Power system :	Abbot Ichishiro - Nagashima Damu 1500 V  =
Maximum slope :	90  ‰
Minimum radius :	50 m
Rack system :	Abbot (three-lamellar)
Top speed:	30 km / h
Society:	Ōigawa Tetsudō
Legend ↑ Ōigawa main line 1931– 0.0 Senzu ( 千頭 ) 1931– 1.1 Kawane-Ryōgoku ( 川 根 両 国 ) 1935– (2 tunnels) 2.4 Sawama ( 沢 間 ) 1935– ← Senzu forest railway 1935-1969 Sumata 3.9 Domoto ( 土 本 ) 1959– (2 tunnels) 5.8 Kawane-Koyama ( 川 根 小山 ) 1959– (3 tunnels) 7.5 Okuizumi ( 奥 泉 ) 1959– (2 tunnels) Ōi-gawa Kawane-Ichiyo ( 川 根 市 代 ) -1990 old route -1990 9.9 Abbot Ichishiro ( ア プ ト い ち し ろ ) 1990– Ōkashima ( 大 加 島 ) 1981-1990 Ōi-gawa (2 tunnels) 11.4 Nagashima Damu ( 長島 ダ ム ) 1990– Kawane-Karasawa ( 川 根 唐 沢 ) 1959-1990 12.6 Hiranda ( ひ ら ん だ ) 1990– Inuma ( 犬 間 ) -1990 Nagashima Reservoir 13.9 Okuōikojō ( 奥 大 井 湖 上 ) 1990– Nagashima Reservoir (4 tunnels) (4 tunnels) 15.5 Sessokyō Onsen ( 接 岨 峡 温泉 ) 1959– (6 tunnels) 17.8 Omori ( 尾 盛 ) 1959– (3 tunnels) Sekinosawa-gawa (6 tunnels) 20.5 Kanzō ( 閑 蔵 ) 1959– (13 tunnels) 25.5 Ikawa ( 井 川 ) 1959– 26.6 Dōdaira ( 堂 平 ) 1954-1971

The Ikawa Line ( Japanese 井 川 線 , Ikawa-sen ) is a railway line on the Japanese island of Honshū , which is operated by the railway company Ōigawa Tetsudō . It is a mixed adhesion and cogwheel operation in the upper, mountainous part of the Ōi Valley in Shizuoka Prefecture and (as of January 2019) the only mixed adhesion cogwheel railway in Japan. Originally built as a feeder to the construction sites of various dams and hydroelectric power stations, it is now of particular importance for tourist excursion traffic.

Route description

The single-track Ikawa line, laid in Cape Gauge (1067 mm), is 25.5 km long. 14 train stations and stops are served, with train crossings at seven intermediate stations being possible. At the southern terminus Senzu you can change to the Ōigawa main line . The winding route runs along the river Ōi through very sparsely populated mountain area, around a third of it through tunnels and over bridges. Overall, it overcomes a height difference of 385 meters. The Sekinosawa Viaduct is located between Omori and Kanzō; this steel arch bridge is the highest railway bridge in Japan at 70.8 meters. Most of the passengers are rail enthusiasts, tourists visiting one of the thermal baths along the way, or hikers en route to the peaks of the Akaishi Mountains . Most of the route is in the territory of the municipality of Kawanehon , the Kanzō and Ikawa stations belong to the territory of the Aoi-ku district of Shizuoka .

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  Passenger train with class DD 20 diesel locomotive in Senzu, the starting point of the Ikawa line

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  Rack entrance in Abbot Ichishiro, right the depot for rack locomotives

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  Pretty station building in Nagashima Damu, the end point of the rack section

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  Sekinosawa Viaduct, the highest railway bridge in Japan

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  Ikawa terminus. The track on the right is only used for freight traffic and used to lead to Dōdaira

history

Between 1925 and 1931, the Ōigawa main line was built in the central Tali Valley to facilitate the transport of building materials and workers to various dams and hydroelectric plants under construction . Construction projects on the upper reaches required the construction of another railway line. On March 20, 1935, the Ōigawa Denki electricity company put the 2.4 km long section from Senzu to Sawama into operation. The single-track line initially had a gauge of 762 mm, but was given a three- rail track on November 19, 1936 , so that Cape- gauge trains could also run. The narrower gauge was retained for the time being. This enabled the trains of the Senzu forest railway branching off in Sawama to go directly to Senzu in order to facilitate the loading of wood onto freight trains of the derigawa Tetsudō. Until the closure of the forest railway in 1969, both railways shared this part of the route .

After the end of the war, the Ōigawa Denki merged with the Chūbu Denryoku , which, in addition to the various construction projects, also took over the railway line. On April 1, 1954, this was extended to Dōdaira, on the same day the subsidiary Chūbu Denryoku Sen'yō Tetsudō took over management. Since the electricity company wanted to concentrate on its core business, it dissolved the subsidiary and transferred the railway operations on August 1, 1959 to the Ōigawa Tetsudō , which introduced passenger transport on the same day and opened several intermediate stations. The Chūbu Denryoku is the owner of the route to this day. The short section between Ikawa and Dōdaira was closed on April 1, 1971. Previously, an extension project to the two Hatanagi dams planned further upstream had been abandoned in favor of a transport road.

Due to the construction work on the Nagashima dam , the section between the Kawane-Ichiyo and Sessokyō-Onsen stations had to be relocated because the dammed Ōi would flood the previous route. Therefore a new, elevated route was built and put into operation on October 2, 1990. This shortened the route and increased the gradient to 90 ‰. Since this was too steep for diesel vehicles, a 1.5 km long section of the route was electrified and equipped with a rack. After the closure of the old route of the Shin'etsu main line over the Usui Pass in 1963, Japan again had a rack railway.

business

Five pairs of trains run daily in passenger traffic . The passenger trains are set up as push- pull trains with class DD20 diesel locomotives arranged on the valley side and run continuously between Senzu and Ikawa. The number of intermediate cars depends on the volume of traffic. When demand is very high, either an additional diesel locomotive is used on the valley side or as an intermediate locomotive , or two push-pull trains run in double traction . To overcome the rack section in Abbot Ichishiro, an electric gear locomotive of the type ED 90 is coupled behind the diesel-hydraulic adhesion locomotive , which remains on the train until Nagashima Damu.

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  The trains run with diesel traction on the adhesion sections . Push-pull train with the DD 205 diesel-hydraulic adhesion locomotive in Ikawa.

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  Two electric ED 90 cogwheel locomotives are harnessed to a train traveling downhill in Nagashima Dam.

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  During the ascent the Zahnradlokomotiven work as sliding locomotives . They are also harnessed on the valley side during the descent.

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  In Nagashima Dam, the sliding locomotive is uncoupled and the diesel locomotive alone takes the train to Ikawa.

technology

Track of the Ikawa line with three-lamellar rack system Dept.

Rack entry system Abt with additional acceleration bar ( right) in Abt Ichishiro

When the 90 ‰ steep and 1.5 kilometer long section between Abbot Ichishiro and Nagashima Damu was rebuilt in 1990, the track was equipped with a three-lamellar Abt rack , which, unlike the two- lamellar rack system, is rarely used in Japan from the earlier rack railway over the Usui Pass is known. Otherwise it is only used today on the Santos – Jundiaí railway line in Brazil, to which the Japanese manufacturer Hitachi was able to deliver fourteen rack-and-pinion locomotives between 1972 and 1990.

Because the narrow clearance profile of the earlier 762 mm railway has not been adapted to the new gauge, special rolling stock with narrow car bodies 2.1 m wide runs on the Ikawa line .

vehicles

Diesel locomotives DB 1 and DD 10

Tractor series DB 1 No. 8
(built 1936–1938, wheel arrangement B, 8.3 t service weight, 85 PS , 20 km / h)

Diesel locomotive DD 107
(built 1954–1960, wheel arrangement B'B ', 35.0 t service weight, 2 × 175–225 hp)

When passenger traffic began in 1959, one or two passenger cars pulled by a DB 1 diesel tractor were sufficient to transport passengers in the off-season . When there was a big crowd, up to ten passenger cars and a diesel-hydraulic locomotive of the DD 10 series were used. The engines of the diesel locomotives built between 1954 and 1960, however, were expensive to maintain and the center driver's cab offered poor visibility on the winding Ikawa line.

Diesel locomotives DD 20

Locomotives of the Ikawa line	DD 20	ED 90
Numbering:	DD 201-206	ED 901-903
Manufacturer:	Nippon Sharyo	Hitachi
Commissioning:	1982-1986	1989
Wheel alignment :	B'B '	B 0 z 'B 0 z'
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Length over coupling:	8700 mm	14 020 mm
Height:	2691 mm	3860 mm
Width:	1848 mm	2060 mm
Service mass:	20.0 t	56.0 t
Top speed:	40 km / h
Gear system :	-	Abbot (3 slats)
Power system:	-	1500 V =
Number of engines:	1 (diesel)	4 adhesion (53  kW each ) 2 gear (175 kW each)
Motor type:	Cummins NT-855L from Komatsu	-
Installed capacity:	335 hp	-
Rated speed:	2100 rpm	-
Power transmission:	hydraulic from Niigata Tekkosho	-

Diesel locomotive DD 202 in Nagashima Dam

After it had been decided in connection with the construction of the Nagashima dam to continue the operation of the Ikawa line, the Ōigawa Tetsudō ordered new locomotives of the DD 20 series with Cummins diesel engines. They were the first Japanese locomotives with a diesel engine designed by an American manufacturer.

After three years of development, the frame locomotives were delivered from 1982 to 1986. The DD 20 have a steel car body with two end driver's cabs and are equipped with push-pull control and multiple unit control. The diesel engine with exhaust gas turbocharger manufactured by Komatsu has an output of 335 hp and drives the four axles via a torque converter and a switchable gearbox with two gears.

Names of the locomotives

No.	Surname	meaning
DD 201	Rothorn	Mountain station of the partner railway in Switzerland
DD 202	Ikawa	End point of the Ikawa line
DD 203	Brienz	Starting point of the Swiss partner railway
DD 204	Sumata	Viewpoint in Shizuoka Prefecture in the Akaishi Mountains
DD 205	Akaishi	Mountain (3120 m TP) on the border of the Shizuoka and Nagano prefectures
DD 206	Hijiri	Mountain (3013m TP) in Nagano Prefecture

ED 90 electric cogwheel locomotives

Electric cogwheel locomotive ED 903 in Abt Ichishiro

Different warning devices on the ED (left), 902 (middle) and 903

For the rack section electrified with 1500 V DC , Ōigawa Tetsudō purchased three electric locomotives of the ED 90 series with separate gear and adhesion drives from Hitachi . Two of the total of six electric motors drive the pinion gears. The other four are used to drive the four drive axles that support the gear drive on the rack section. The drive motors are controlled by starting resistors .

The machines only used between Abbot Ichishiro and Nagashima Damu have a larger vehicle cross-section than the vehicles that run on the entire Ikawa line. In order to avoid a transfer to the Kawane-Ryōgoku workshop for major maintenance work, the Abbot Ichishiro depot is equipped with a lifting platform and overhead crane .

As is customary with rack-and-pinion vehicles, the locomotives are equipped with a speed monitor that triggers rapid braking at 19 km / h . There are various warning systems on side I. While the whistle of a locomotive whistle of a Swiss Ae 4/7 is mounted on the ED 901 , there is a warning device from Germany on the ED 902 and a Japanese warning device on the ED 903.

Passenger and freight cars

The narrow clearance profile also leads to some special features in the wagon fleet:

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  The doors of the passenger cars are manually operated and locked by the conductor.

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  Some of the passenger cars are equipped with longitudinal benches.

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  The coupling is located 640 mm above the top edge of the rail instead of 880 mm as is common in Japan.

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  The freight cars are also adapted to the narrow profile

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  Two-axle open freight car with a short wheelbase

List of train stations

Nagashima reservoir with Okuōi rainbow bridge and the Okuōikojō stop between the two bridge parts

Surname	km	Connecting lines	location	place
Senzu ( 千頭 )	00.0	Ōigawa main line	Coord.	Kawanehon
Kawane-Ryōgoku ( 川 根 両 国 )	01.1		Coord.
Sawama ( 沢 間 )	02.4		Coord.
Domoto ( 土 本 )	03.9		Coord.
Kawane-Koyama ( 川 根 小山 )	05.8		Coord.
Okuizumi ( 奥 泉 )	07.5		Coord.
Abbot Ichishiro ( ア プ ト い ち し ろ )	09.9		Coord.
Nagashima Damu ( 長島 ダ ム )	11.4		Coord.
Hiranda ( ひ ら ん だ )	12.6		Coord.
Okuōikojō ( 奥 大 井 湖 上 )	13.9		Coord.
Sessokyō Onsen ( 接 岨 峡 温泉 )	15.5		Coord.
Omori ( 尾 盛 )	17.8		Coord.
Kanzō ( 閑 蔵 )	20.5		Coord.	Aoi-ku , Shizuoka
Ikawa ( 井 川 )	25.5		Coord.

literature

• Iwao Iijima: 大 井 川 鉄 道 (私 鉄 の 車 両 14) . Neko Publishing, Shinagawa 2002, ISBN 978-4-87366-297-8 .
• Akira Shirai: 大 井 川 鐵道 井 川 線 (RM Library 96) . Neko Publishing, Shinagawa 2007, ISBN 978-4-7770-5204-2 .
• Keisuke Imao: 日本 鉄 道 旅行 地 図 帳 (Japan Rail Travel Atlas ) . tape 7 Tōkai. Shinchosha, Tokyo 2008, ISBN 978-4-10-790025-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ikawa line  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of Ōigawa Tetsudō (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 地方 鉄 道 及 軌道 一 覧. 昭和 15 年 11 月 1 日 現在. National Library of Parliament , November 1, 1945, accessed February 2, 2019 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ Timetable. Ōigawa Tetsudō, 2019, accessed February 4, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Abt Line's main diesel locomotive. Data sheet of the operator Ōigawa Tetsudō, accessed on November 1, 2017 (English)

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap