Tōbu Kinugawa Line

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The Tōbu Kinugawa Line (東武鬼怒川線, Tōbu Kinugawa-sen^?) is a 16.2-kilometre long Japanese railway line from Shimo-Imaichi Station in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture and Shin-Fujiwara Station in the same local government.

It is owned and operated by Tobu Railway. Its name was taken after Kinugawa hot spring resort area the line serves.

At Shimo-Imaichi Station it connects with Tōbu Nikkō Line. At Shin-Fujiwara Station it connects with Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line (YRAKL) Some trains goes beyond the YRAKL terminus Aizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station onto Aizu Railway Aizu Line (ARAL).

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

The whole line is electrified (1500 volts DC) but it is single tracked except a 0.8 km double-tracked section at Kinugawa-Onsen Station.

[edit] Stations

(From the south to the north) Shimo-Imaichi Station (origin), Daiya-Mukō Station, Ōkuwa Station, Shin-Takatoku Station, Kosagoe Station, Kinugawa-Onsen Station, Kinugawa-Kōen Station, Shin-Fujiwara Station (terminus).

[edit] History

1915: Fujiwara Trackroad Co.,Ltd. (藤原軌道株式会社, Fujiwara Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) was licensed to lay 762 millimetre-gauge steam powered trackroad. It was renamed Shimotsuke Trackroad Co.,Ltd. (下野軌道株式会社, Shimotsuke Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) in the same year.

2 January 1917: A 3.6-mile (4.9 km) section from Daiya-gawa Hokugan Station to Kinugawa Nangan Station was opened. Another 2.5 mile (4.0 km) was added in 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 (16.2 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^?, SER).

9 March 1922: The whole line was electrified 600 volt DC.

April 1927: The corporate headquarters was relocated to the Tobu Railway headquarters in Tokyo.

22 October 1929: The 1067-millimetre (3 ft 6 in) gauge operation began on all the line.

1931: The voltage was elevated to 1500 volts.

1 May 1943: SER was bought out by Tobu Railway. The line became Tōbu Kinugawa Line.

9 October 1986: YRAKL through service began.

12 October 1990: ARAL through service to Aizu Tajima Station began.

[edit] References

Excerpts from ja:東武鬼怒川線 as of 2007-06-29T17:21:25.