Ban'etsu West Line

Banetsu West Line
719 series EMU at Kōriyama Station, March 2008
Overview
Type	Regional rail
Locale	Fukushima, Niigata prefectures
Termini	Kōriyama Niitsu
Stations	44
Operation
Opening	1898
Operator(s)	JR East
Technical
Line length	175.6 km (109.1 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	20 kV AC, 50 Hz overhead catenary (Kōriyama – Kitakata)
Operating speed	100 km/h (60 mph)
Route map

Ban'etsu line map

The Banetsu West Line (磐越西線, Ban'etsu-sai-sen) is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs between Kōriyama Station in Kōriyama, Fukushima and Niitsu Station in Niigata, Niigata. The name "Banetsu" is taken from the first characters of the names of the ancient provinces of Iwaki (磐城) and Echigo (越後), which the Banetsu East and Banetsu West lines connect. "Sai" (西) means "west" in Japanese.

The line's nickname is the Mori to Mizu to Roman no Tetsudō (森と水とロマンの鉄道, lit. "the water, forest, and nostalgia railway").

Station list

• Local trains generally stop at all stations, but some trains skip stations marked "▽".
• The column marked "* refers to the unnamed rapid service between Kōriyama and Aizu-Wakamatsu/Kitakata using 719 series EMUs.
• Trains can pass one another at stations marked "◇", "∨", or "∧"; stations marked "◆" are switchback stations. Trains cannot pass at stations marked "｜".

Rolling stock

485 series Aizu Liner rapid service at Koriyama Station, March 2012

Current

As of February 2009, the following rolling stock is used on the Banetsu West Line.

• 719 series EMUs (since June 2007)
• 485 series EMUs (Aizu Liner rapid services)
• KiHa 47 DMUs
• KiHa 52 DMUs
• KiHa 58 DMUs
• KiHa 110 series DMUs
• KiHa E120 DMUs (since November 2008)^[1]

Past

• 455 series EMUs (from 1967 until March 2008)

History

The Ban'etsu West Line was planned under the Railway Construction Act in 1892, and the private Gan'etsu Railway opened the initial section from Kōriyama to Nakayamajuku on July 26, 1898. In 1906, when the line was extended to Kitakata, the Japanese Government Railways under the nationalized the Gan'etsu Railway and renamed the line the Gan'etsu Line. The remaining sections were constructed in 1914, and the line was renamed the Ban'etsu West Line in 1917.

Japan National Railways (JNR) started to modernize the line in the 1960s, introducing the line's first limited express service (as a part of the Yamagata-bound Yamabata) in 1965 between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Aizu-Wakamatsu via the Tōhoku Main Line. In 1968 the train was renamed Aizu Yamabata, but from 1993 onward it was renamed Viva Aizu and ran only between Koriyama and Aizu-Wakamatsu. The train was finally discontinued as a limited express service in 2003, though it remains in use as a rapid service train.

In 1967, JNR electrified the section between Kōriyama and Kitakata. The non-electrified portion of the line between Kitakata and Niitsu is served by diesel multiple units and steam locomotives.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ban'etsu West Line.

v t e JR East lines Shinkansen Hokuriku Jōetsu Nagano Tōhoku Akita Yamagata Main Chūō Ōu Shin'etsu Sōbu Tōhoku Tōkaidō Uetsu Local Agatsuma Aterazawa Ban'etsu East Ban'etsu West Echigo Gonō Hachikō Hachinohe Hakushin Hanawa Iiyama Ishinomaki Itō Itsukaichi Jōban Jōetsu Kamaishi Karasuyama Kashima Kawagoe Keiyō Kesennuma Kitakami Koumi Kururi Mito Musashino Nambu Narita Negishi Nikkō Ōfunato Oga Ōito Ōme Ōminato Rikuu East Rikuu West Ryōmō Sagami Senseki Senzan Shinonoi Sotobō Suigun Tadami Takasaki Tazawako Tōgane Tsugaru Tsurumi Uchibō Utsunomiya Yahiko Yamada Yamanote Yokohama Yokosuka Yonesaka Others Chūō Rapid Chūō-Sōbu Gala-Yuzawa Keihin-Tōhoku Saikyō (incl. Akabane) Shōnan-Shinjuku Sōbu Rapid (Ueno-Tokyo - under construction) Past Aizu Ashio Iwaizumi Kihara Marumori Mōka Nagai Shin'etsu Main (Shinano) Tōhoku Main (Aoimori / Iwate Galaxy)