Konpoku line
| Konpoku line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Bridge over the Ikushina-gawa (August 2009)
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| Route length: | 12.8 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1067 mm ( cape track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | No | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Konpoku Line ( Japanese 根 北 線 , Konpoku-sen or Kompoku-sen ) was a railway line in the east of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō . It was built from 1938, but was only in operation from 1957 to 1970.
description
The 12.8 km long line was Konpoku kapspurig , single track and not electrified. It branched off from the Senmō main line at Shiretoko-Shari station . It then led in a south-westerly direction through the Ikushina Valley on the southern edge of the Shiretoko Peninsula .
Shortly after the Koshikawa terminus, there is the partially preserved concrete bridge over the Ikushina-gawa River, which has never been used by a train. It is 147 m long, 21.6 m high and spans the valley with a slope of 25 ‰. Two bridge piers had to be removed in 1973 to make room for the extension of national road 244 . The rest of the ten-arch bridge has been protected as a "material cultural asset" since 1998.
history
Since the Taishō period there was a desire to build a railway line in the hinterland of the coastal city of Shari in order to promote forestry , develop new settlement areas and transport agricultural products. Project 149 was included in the appendix to the revised Railway Construction Act of 1922. It provided for a stretch from Shari over the Konpoku Pass to Nemuro-Shibetsu , where it would meet the Shibetsu Line . Due to increasing tensions with the Soviet Union , Parliament decided to build this route in 1937, as it was seen as an important national defense measure.
In 1939, a year after construction began, the section to Koshikawa and the bridge over the Ikushina-gawa were completed. Due to the increasing intensity of the Pacific War , there was a great shortage of building materials and vehicles, so that no trains could run. The work was stopped in 1941 and the tracks that had already been laid were removed so that they could be used in strategically more important locations. A decade after the end of the war, the Ministry of Transport decided to lay tracks again. Finally, on November 10, 1957 , the Japanese State Railways opened the section between Shari and Koshikawa.
At the time of the opening, the road conditions along the route were poor, so that a heavy forest traffic was expected. Due to the ongoing expansion of National Road 244 , however, expectations were far from being met and the completion of the route was unrealistic under these circumstances. Freight traffic was stopped as early as 1960. In passenger transport there has been strong competition from a Shari Bus company bus line since 1959 , most recently only two pairs of trains ran daily. Due to a lack of profitability, the Konpoku line was closed on December 1, 1970.
List of train stations
| Surname | km | Connecting lines | location | place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shiretoko-Shari ( 知 床 斜 里 ) | 0.0 | Senmō main line | Coord. | Shari |
| Ikushina ( 以 久 科 ) | 4.6 | Coord. | ||
| Nishi-Nisen ( 西 二線 ) | 5.8 | Coord. | ||
| Shimo-Koshikawa ( 下 越 川 ) | 8.2 | Coord. | ||
| Jūyongō ( 十四 号 ) | 9.5 | Coord. | ||
| Jūrokugō ( 十六 号 ) | 11.0 | Coord. | ||
| Koshikawa ( 越 川 ) | 12.8 | Coord. |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 旧 国 鉄 根 北 線 ア ー チ 橋梁. (No longer available online.) Ac.auone-net.jp, formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 22, 2017 (Japanese). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Keisuke Imao: 日本 鉄 道 旅行 地 図 帳 (Japan Rail Travel Atlas ) . tape 1 Hokkaidō. Shinchosha, Tokyo 2008, ISBN 978-4-10-790019-7 , pp. 43 .
Map with all coordinates: