Kamisunagawa branch line

Kamisunagawa branch line
Route length:	7.3 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Maximum slope :	20  ‰
Dual track :	No
Legend ↔ Hakodate main line 1891– 0.0 Sunagawa ( 砂 川 ) 1891– 3.7 Shimo Uzura ( 下 鶉 ) 1959-1994 4.5 Uzura ( 鶉 ) 1948-1994 5.8 Higashi-Uzura ( 東 鶉 ) 1959-1994 7.3 Kami-Sunagawa ( 上 砂 川 ) 1918-1994

The Kamisunagawa branch line ( Japanese 上 砂 川 支線 , Kamisunagawa-shisen ) was a railway line in the center of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō . It was opened in 1918 and closed in 1994.

description

The Cape-gauge line was 7.3 km long, single-track and not electrified. At Sunagawa Station it branched off the Hakodate main line and headed east to Kami-Sunagawa Station , where an important coal mine was located. As a result, the transport of coal dominated the operation, while passenger traffic was only of local importance.

history

In order to increase the production capacity of the mine, which has existed since 1914, the Mitsui Group decided to build a railway line to the closest station on the Hakodate main line . It was opened on November 5, 1918 and initially only served freight traffic. On August 1, 1926, Mitsui transferred the route to the Ministry of Railways . It started passenger traffic on the same day and considered the route operationally as part of the Hakodate main line. The Japanese State Railways started using diesel multiple units for passenger transport from July 1, 1960 , while steam locomotives were still in use in freight transport until November 4, 1975 .

Due to the closure of the mine, the state railway stopped freight traffic on March 24, 1987. Eight days later, on April 1, 1987, passenger traffic was transferred to the new company JR Hokkaido as part of the privatization of the state railway . Although the one-man operation was introduced in 1990, the route could not be operated profitably. On May 16, 1994 JR Hokkaido put the Kamisunagawa branch line out of order and the passenger traffic was transferred to a bus line of the company Hokkaidō Chūō Bus .

List of train stations

Surname	km	Connecting lines	location	place
Sunagawa ( 砂 川 )	0.0	Hakodate main line	Coord.	Sunagawa
Shimo Uzura ( 下 鶉 )	3.7		Coord.	Kamisunagawa
Uzura ( 鶉 )	4.5		Coord.
Higashi-Uzura ( 東 鶉 )	5.8		Coord.
Kami-Sunagawa ( 上 砂 川 )	7.3		Coord.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kamisunagawa History Commission (ed.): 新 上 砂 川 町 史 (New History of the City of Kamisunagawa) . Kamisunagawa 1988, p. 213 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Kazuo Tanaka: 写真 で 見 る 北海道 の 鉄 道 (Hokkaidō's railroad in photos) . tape 1 . Hokkaidō Shinbunsha, Sapporo 2002, ISBN 978-4-89453-220-5 , pp. 218-219 .
3. ↑ Tetsudō Fan, Volume 21, No. 7 June 1987, p. 103.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap