Tobu Kinugawa Line

Tobu Kinugawa Line
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Locale	Tochigi Prefecture
Termini	Shimo-Imaichi Shin-Fujiwara
Operation
Owner	Tobu Railway
Technical
Line length	16.2 km (10.1 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead catenary

The Tobu Kinugawa Line (東武鬼怒川線 Tōbu Kinugawa-sen) is a 16.2 km long Japanese railway line from Shimo-Imaichi Station to Shin-Fujiwara Station in Nikkō, Tochigi. It is owned and operated by the private railway operator Tobu Railway.^[1] Its name was taken after Kinugawa Onsen hot spring resort area the line serves.

At Shimo-Imaichi Station it connects with the Tobu Nikko Line. At Shin-Fujiwara Station it connects with the Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line. Some trains goes beyond the Aizu Kinugawa Line terminus at Aizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station onto the Aizu Railway Aizu Line.

The line runs surcharged, reserved-seat limited express services from and to Asakusa and Shinjuku in Tokyo.

The whole line is electrified at 1,500 V DC, but it is single tracked except for a 0.8 km double-tracked section at Kinugawa-Onsen Station.

Stations

Station		Distance (km)		Transfers	Location
		Between stations	Total
Shimo-Imaichi	下今市	-	0.0	Tobu Nikko Line	Nikkō, Tochigi
Daiya-Mukō	大谷向	0.8	0.8
Ōkuwa	大桑	4.0	4.8
Shin-Takatoku	新高徳	2.5	7.3
Kosagoe	小佐越	2.6	9.9
Kinugawa-Onsen	鬼怒川温泉	2.5	12.4
Kinugawa-Kōen	鬼怒川公園	2.1	14.5
Shin-Fujiwara	新藤原	1.7	16.2	Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line

Route map of the Kinugawa Line

History

• 1915: Fujiwara Tramway (藤原軌道株式会社 Fujiwara Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha) was licensed to build a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) gauge steam-hauled tramway. It was renamed Shimotsuke Tramway (下野軌道株式会社 Shimotsuke Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha) in the same year.
• 2 January 1917: A 3.6-mile (5.8 km) section from Daiya-gawa Hokugan Station to Kinugawa Nangan Station was opened. The line was extended a further 2.5 miles (4.0 km) the same year.
• March 1919: Ōhara Station to Shimotaki Station section was opened.
• October 1919: Daiya Mukō Imaichi Station to Shin-Imaichi Station section was opened.
• 1 January 1920: Shimotaki Station to Fujiwara Station section was open to complete the whole 10.9-mile (17.5 km) line.
• 6 June 1921: The company name was renamed Shimotsuke Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (下野電気鉄道株式会社 Shimotsuke Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha).
• 9 March 1922: The whole line was electrified at 600 V DC.
• April 1927: The corporate headquarters was relocated to the Tobu Railway headquarters in Tokyo.
• 22 October 1929: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge operation began on all the line.
• 1931: The voltage was raised to 1,500 V.
• 1 May 1943: Shimotsuke Electric Railway was bought out by Tobu Railway. The line became Tobu Kinugawa Line.
• 9 October 1986: Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line through service began.
• 12 October 1990: Aizu Railway Aizu Line through service to Aizu Tajima Station began.
• 18 March 2006: New Kinugawa services to/from Shinjuku commence.^[2]

From 17 March 2012, station numbering was introduced on all Tobu lines, with Tobu Kinugawa Line stations adopting the prefix "TN" in orange.^[3]

Former connecting lines

• Shin-Takatoku station - The Tobu Yaita Line operated between 1924 and 1959.

Future developments

C11 207 in service with JR Hokkaido in September 2014

Tobu plans to borrow former JNR Class C11 steam locomotive C11 207 from JR Hokkaido for use on the 12.4 km section of the Kinugawa Line between Shimo-Imaichi and Kinugawa-Onsen stations from fiscal 2017.^[4]

See also

• List of railway lines in Japan

References

1. Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 4-87366-874-3.
2. ＪＲ新幹線＆特急列車ファイル [JR Shinkansen & Limited Express Train File]. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. 2008. p. 76. ISBN 978-4-330-00608-6.
3. 「東武スカイツリーライン」誕生！ あわせて駅ナンバリングを導入し、よりわかりやすくご案内します [Tobu Sky Tree Line created! Station numbering to be introduced at same time] (pdf). Tobu News (in Japanese). Tobu Railway. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
4. 東武鉄道、1966年以来のＳＬ復活　日光市で17年度めど [Tobu Railway to revive steam train for first time since 1966: Aiming for fiscal 2017 in Nikko]. Nikkei Shimbun (in Japanese). Japan: Nikkei Inc. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.