Sekishō line

Sekishō line
Super Ōzora diesel tilting train in the Nishi-Shintoku slip road
Route length:	132.4 km km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Maximum slope :	12  ‰
Top speed:	120 km / h
Dual track :	No
Society:	JR Hokkaidō
Legend -2.6 Shin-Chitose Kūkō ( 新 千 歳 空港 ) 1992– ↔ Chitose line 1926– 0.0 Minami chitose ( 南 千 歳 ) 1980– 5.4 Avoid Komasato 1981– 1. Oiwake tunnel (1955 m) 11.7 Avoid Nishi-Hayakita 1981– 2. Oiwake tunnel (365 m) ← Muroran main line 1892– 17.4 Oiwake ( 追 分 ) 1892– → Main Muroran line 1892– Dōtō Highway 21.6 Higashi-Oiwake ( 東 追 分 ) 1965-2016 27.0 Kawabata ( 川端 ) 1894– Yūbari-gawa 30.3 Dodge takinoshita 1981– Yūbari-gawa (2 ×) 35.8 Takinoue ( 滝 ノ 上 ) 1897– 40.3 Tomisato ( 十三 里 ) 1962-2016 Dōtō Highway 1. Momijiyama tunnel (1052 m) Momojiyama ( 紅葉 山 ) 1892-1981 Shin-Yūbari ( 新 夕 張 ) 1981– Yūbari line 1892-2019 Yūbari-gawa 2.7 Numanosawa ( 沼 ノ 沢 ) 1905– ← Mayachi Coal Railway 1913-1987 Yūbari-gawa 6.7 Minami-Shimizusawa ( 南 清水 沢 ) 1962-2019 ← Ōyūbari Railway Line 1911-1987 8.2 Shimizusawa ( 清水 沢 ) 1897-2019 → Yūbari Railway Line 1926-1975 14.8 Shikanotani ( 鹿 ノ 谷 ) 1901-2019 16.1 Yūbari ( 夕 張 ) 1990-2019 16.9 Yūbari 1985-1990 18.2 Yūbari 1892-1985 Takamatsu ( 高 松 ) 1927-1951 Yūbari-machi-teimi ( 夕 張 町 丁未 ) 1927-1951 2. Momijiyama tunnel (1061 m) 3. Momijiyama tunnel (516 m) 4. Momijiyama tunnel (1245 m) Dōtō Highway Kaede tunnel (55 m) (4.5) Kaede ( 楓 ) 1967-1981 Kaede 1907-1967 48.7 Dodge Kaede 1981– (7.6) Noborikawa ( 登川 ) 1911-1981 Noborikawa Tunnel (5700 m) 55.7 Dodge Osawa 1981– Osawa Tunnel (1802 m) 59.6 Dodge Higashi-Osawa 1981– Shin Noborikawa Tunnel (5825 m) 1. Niniu tunnel (685 m) Dōtō Highway 67.3 Avoid Seifūzan 1981– 2. Niniu tunnel (262 m) 3. Niniu tunnel (988 m) Onitōge Tunnel (3765 m) Shimukappu tunnel (417 m) 77.3 Shimukappu ( 占 冠 ) 1981– 81.3 Dodge Higashi-Shimukappu 1981– 4. Tomamu tunnel (1071 m) 85.7 Dodge Takinosawa 1981– 3. Tomamu tunnel (549 m) Dōtō Highway 2. Tomamu tunnel (1600 m) 1. Tomamu tunnel (65 m) Dōtō Highway 92.6 Evade Horoka 1981– 98.6 Tomamu (ト マ ム) 1981– 2. Kushinai tunnel (4225 m) 104.2 Dodge Kushinai () 1981– 1. Kushinai tunnel (475 m) Shinkarikachi tunnel (5810 m) → Nemuro main line 1907– 108.3 Kami-Ochiai branch 1966– 113.9 Dodge Shin-Karikachi 1966– Masuda-san Tunnel (355 m) 120.1 Dodge Hirouchi 1966– 2. Hirouchi tunnel (610 m) 1. Hirouchi tunnel (698 m) 125.6 Avoid Nishi Shintoku 1966– Shintokuyama tunnel (1683 m) Sakurayama Tunnel (330 m) 132.4 Shintoku ( 新 得 ) 1907– ↓ Nemuro main line 1907–

The Sekishō Line ( Japanese 石 勝 線 , Sekishō-sen ) is a railway line on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō , which is operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). It connects Chitose with Shintoku (until 2019 a branch line led to Yūbari ). The Sekishō Line was created by expanding the earlier Yūbari Line and extending it at both ends. It has been the most important connection to the east of the island since it opened in 1981.

The name of the track is composed of the kanji the traversed Subprefectures -special Ishikari ( 石狩 ) and Tokachi ( 十勝 together).

description

The Sekishō Line forms the main connection from Sapporo to the east of Hokkaidō, together with the northern part of the Chitose Line and the eastern part of the Nemuro Main Line . It is laid in Kapspur (1067 mm), has a length of 132.4 km and leads from Minami-Chitose to Shintoku ; in Oiwake it crosses with the Muroran main line . At the Kami-Ochiai siding in the Shinkarikachi tunnel, it meets the Nemuro main line, with which it is then identical over a length of 24.1 km. Until 2019 there was a 16.1 km long branch line that connected the upper reaches of the Yūbari River and Shin-Yūbari with Yūbari .

As the main line crosses the Hidaka Mountains , several tunnels had to be built. The longest is the Shin Noborikawa Tunnel (5825 m), followed by the Shinkarikachi Tunnel (5810 m), the Noborikawa Tunnel (5700 m), the 2nd Kushinai Tunnel (4225 m) and the Onitōge Tunnel (3765 m). 13 train stations and stops are opened up for passenger transport, the greatest distance between two train stations is 34.3 km (between Shin-Yūbari and Shimukappu). Tomamu train station is 538 m above sea level and is therefore the highest Hokkaidō. The entire route is single-track, but counts no fewer than 17 evasions .

Trains

Due to its great supra-regional importance, there is a brisk traffic with diesel-powered tilting express trains . The Super Ōzora run six times a day from Sapporo to Kushiro and back. In addition, the Super Tokachi run five times a day from Sapporo to Obihiro and back.

Regional trains run from Minami-Chitose to Shin-Yūbari approximately every two to three hours . There is no regional traffic between Shin-Yūbari and Shintoku stations as the route runs through almost unpopulated area.

history

Yūbari Railway Station in 1918

The mining and railroad company Hokkaidō Tankō Tetsudō opened on November 1, 1892 the Yūbari line ( 夕 張 線 , Yūbari-sen ) between Oiwake and Yūbari . It served primarily to transport the coal mined in the Yūbari mining area to the port of Muroran (via the subsequent Muroran main line ). With the exception of the destination, the area was almost uninhabited, and further train stations along the route were only added in the course of the following years. On October 1, 1906, the Hokkaidō Tankō Tetsudō was nationalized. The now responsible Railway Authority (later the Railway Ministry ) opened a short branch line from Momojiyama to Kaede on May 16, 1907. This initially only served goods traffic, on July 1, 1909, passenger traffic also began. Finally, the branch line reached the terminus Noborikawa on July 11, 1916.

The Yūbari line was gradually expanded to double track to increase the capacity of the coal transports: 1912 between Yūbari and Shimizusawa, 1915 between Shimizusawa and Takinoue, 1917 between Oiwake and Kawabata and 1920 between Kawabata and Takinoue. The opening of the competing Yūbari railway line by a private company in 1926 led to a marked decrease in traffic, so that the Ministry of Railways removed the entire length of the second track in November 1932. The second tunnel north of Shimizusawa and parts of the route can still be seen today . The last freight train from Yūbari to Oiwake pulled by a steam locomotive ran on December 24, 1975.

A disadvantage of the Yūbari Line has always been that the route was oriented towards the ports on the Pacific coast, but there was no direct connection to the rapidly growing metropolis of Sapporo . On the other hand, the east of the island could only be reached from Sapporo with a long detour via Takikawa and the Nemuro main line . In the mid-1970s, the decision was made to connect the Yūbari Line in the west to the Chitose Line and to build a new route through the Hidaka Mountains in the east . The short branch line to Noborikawa was closed on July 1, 1981. Three months later, on October 1, 1981, the Yūbari Line was converted into the Sekishō Line: On this day, the sections between Minami-Chitose and Oiwake and between Shin-Yūbari and the Kami-Ochiai junction were opened. On the other hand, the section between Shin-Yūbari and Yūbari now functioned as a branch line.

On October 13, 1985, the Yūbari branch line was shortened by 1.3 km. As part of the state railway privatization , the Sekishō line came into the possession of JR Hokkaido on April 1, 1987 . This shortened the Yūbari branch line on December 26, 1990 by a further 0.8 km. A Super Ōzora express train had to brake on May 27, 2011 at 9:55 pm in the 1st Niniu tunnel near Shimukappu after two of the six cars had derailed. The train caught fire and all 240 people on board had to be evacuated. 39 people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation or minor burns. The burnt-out train was removed from the tunnel after two days. In November 2016, JR Hokkaido announced that the barely used and high-loss branch line between Shin-Yūbari and Yūbari would be closed and replaced by a bus line. This measure was completed on April 1, 2019.

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  Tomamu train station

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  Regional train at Kawabata

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  Bridge over the Yūbari-gawa

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  Freight locomotive in Shin-Yūbari

List of train stations

Surname		km	Connecting lines	location	place
Sekishō line
H14	Minami chitose ( 南 千 歳 )	000.0	Chitose line	Coord.	Chitose
K15	Oiwake ( 追 分 )	017.6	Muroran main line	Coord.	Abira
K16	Higashi-Oiwake ( 東 追 分 )	021.6		Coord.
K17	Kawabata ( 川端 )	027.0		Coord.	Yuni
K18	Takinoue ( 滝 ノ 上 )	035.8		Coord.	Yūbari
K19	Tomisato ( 十三 里 )	040.2		Coord.
K20	Shin-Yūbari ( 新 夕 張 )	043.0	Yūbari branch line	Coord.
K21	Shimukappu ( 占 冠 )	077.3		Coord.	Shimukappu
K22	Tomamu ( ト マ ム )	098.6		Coord.
K23	Shintoku ( 新 得 )	132.4	Nemuro main line	Coord.	Shintoku
Yūbari branch line (closed in 2019)
	Shin-Yūbari ( 新 夕 張 )	000.0			Yūbari
	Numanosawa ( 沼 ノ 沢 )	002.7		Coord.
	Minami-Shimizusawa ( 南 清水 沢 )	006.7		Coord.
	Shimizusawa ( 清水 沢 )	008.2		Coord.
	Shikanotani ( 鹿 ノ 谷 )	014.8		Coord.
	Yūbari ( 夕 張 )	016.1		Coord.

Web links

Commons : Sekishō line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} 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. 82-83 .
2. ↑ 北海道 鉄 道 百年 史 (100 years of railway history on Hokkaidō) . tape 1 . Japanese State Railways , General Directorate Hokkaidō, Sapporo 1981, p. 67-68 .
3. ↑ 石 勝 線 き ょ う 開業 (Sekishō Line opened today). Hokkaidō Shimbun, October 1, 1981.
4. ↑ 脱 線 火災 の 特急 ス ー パ ー お お ぞ ら 、 ト ン ネ ル 外 に ＪＲ 石 勝 線 (Derailed Super Ōzora removed from tunnel). Hokkaidō Shimbun, May 29, 2011.
5. ↑ JR Hokkaido says it can't maintain half of its railways. The Japan Times , November 19, 2016, accessed January 16, 2017 . 
6. ↑ 石 勝 線 （新 夕 張 ・ 夕 張 間） の 鉄 道 事業 廃 止 に つ い て. JR Hokkaido, March 23, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019 (Japanese). 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap