Ōfunato Line

Ōfunato Line
KiHa 100 DMU at Kesennuma Station, October 2006
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Locale	Iwate Prefecture
Termini	Ichinoseki Station Sakari Station
Stations	25
Operation
Operator(s)	JR East
Technical
Line length	105.7 km (65.7 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	Not electrified
Route map

The Ōfunato Line (大船渡線 Ōfunato-sen) is a local rail line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It originally connected Ichinoseki Station in Ichinoseki to Sakari Station in Ōfunato, on the Tohoku coast.

The eastern section of the line was significantly damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. In January 2012, services resumed on the western 62.0 km portion of the route between Ichinoseki and Kesennuma. The eastern section between Kesennuma and Sakari remains closed, and in February 2012, JR East officially proposed that this section of the line be scrapped and the right-of-way used as a bus rapid transit (BRT) route.^[1]

The line connects with the Kesennuma Line at Kesennuma Station and formerly connected with the privately owned Sanriku Railway's Minami-Riasu Line at Sakari Station in Ōfunato.

History

The Ishinoseki - Kesennuma section opened in stages between 1925 and 1929, with the Kesennuma - Sakari section opening between 1932 and 1935.

Freight services ceased in 1983/4.

Following the 2011 disaster, services resumed on the Ishinoseki - Kesennuma section on 1 April, but were suspended again between 7–18 April due to aftershocks.

The first section of the busway replacing the Kesennuma - Sakari section opened in March 2013.

Operations

In April 2005, there were 27 services daily using this line (14 eastbound, 13 westbound).

Following the 2011 disaster, operations were reduced to ten eastbound local trains and one Super Dragon rapid service, with westbound services consisting of nine local trains and one rapid. In March 2013 the rapid services were withdrawn.

On 22 December 2012, a special Pokémon With You train began running on the line.^[2] It now operates one round-trip on weekends from 11 July to 27 September, departing at 11:01am eastbound from Ichinoseki and returning at 15:12 westbound. From 20 July to 14 August it operates every day.^[3]

• 

  KiHa 100 series diesel multiple unit

• 

  Pokemon With You Train

• 

  Hino Blue Ribbon City bus used on BRT services

• 

  Isuzu Erga bus used on BRT services

Station list

Stations in greyed out cells have been closed since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Station name	Japanese	Distance (km) from		Super Dragon (Rapid)	Connections	Location
		previous station	Ichinoseki
Ichinoseki	一ノ関	-	0.0	●	Tōhoku Main Line, Tōhoku Shinkansen	Ichinoseki, Iwate
Mataki	真滝	5.7	5.7	|
Rikuchū-Kanzaki	陸中門崎	8.0	13.7	|
Iwanoshita	岩ノ下	3.8	17.5	|
Rikuchū-Matsukawa	陸中松川	3.8	21.3	|
Geibikei	猊鼻渓	2.0	23.3	●
Shibajyuku	柴宿	2.8	26.1	|
Surisawa	摺沢	4.5	30.6	●
Senmaya	千厩	9.2	39.8	●
Konashi	小梨	3.6	43.4	|
Yagoshi	矢越	4.2	47.6	|
Orikabe	折壁	2.1	49.7	|
Niitsuki	新月	5.6	55.3	|
Kesennuma	気仙沼	6.7	62.0	●	Kesennuma Line	Kesennuma, Miyagi
Shishiori-Karakuwa	鹿折唐桑	2.2	64.2	●
Kami-Shishiori	上鹿折	5.3	69.5	●
Rikuzen-Yahagi	陸前矢作	10.0	79.5	●		Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate
Takekoma	竹駒	3.0	82.5	●
Rikuzen-Takata	陸前高田	2.9	85.4	●
Wakinosawa	脇ノ沢	2.9	88.3	●
Otomo	小友	4.5	92.8	●
Hosoura	細浦	4.3	97.1	●		Ōfunato, Iwate
Shimofunato	下船渡	3.1	100.2	●
Ōfunato	大船渡	2.9	103.1	●
Sakari	盛	2.6	105.7	●	Minami-Riasu Line, Iwate Development Railway

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

1. 被災２路線、廃止しバス専用道提案へ　ＪＲ東、岩手県に [JR East proposes to scrap two lines and convert to bus routes]. The Asahi Shimbun Digital (in Japanese). Japan: The Asahi Shimbun Company. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
2. http://www.jreast.co.jp/pokemon-train/index.html
3. JR East. "JR East Summer Special Train timetable" (PDF) (in Japanese). p. 8. Retrieved 2015-07-29.

External links

• Article on Tohoku railways