Heisei Chikuhō Railway

Heisei Chikuho Railway 400 Series train

Heisei Chikuho Railway 200 Series train

The Heisei Chikuho Railway Co. Ltd. (平成筑豊鉄道株式会社) is a third sector operator of four railway lines in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Its headquarters are in the town of Fukuchi, Tagawa District. The railway's nickname is Heichiku.

Principal investors

Fukuoka Prefecture holds 27.5% of the stock in the railway. The cities of Tagawa, Nōgata, and Yukuhashi hold 14.8%, 6.6%, and 6.6% each.

History

The company was founded on April 26, 1989. On October 1, 1989 it assumed the operations of its three lines, which were formerly part of the JR Kyushu network.

On April 26, 2009 the company started the operation of the Mojikō Retro Kankō Line, a short railway for tourists in Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū.

Lines

• Ita Line (16.1 km) - The Nogata - Kaneda section opened in 1893, and the Kaneda - Tagawaita section in 1899. The line was duplicated in 1911, and freight services ceased in 2004.
• Itoda Line (6.8 km) - The Tagawagotoji - Itoda section opened in 1897 to haul coal and the Itoda - Kaneda section opened in 1929 to service a cement plant. Freight traffic began to diminish in the 1960s.
• Tagawa Line (26.3 km) - The entire Tagawaita - Yukuhashi line opened in 1895.
• Mojikō Retro Kankō Line (2.1 km) - The Mojiko - Moji Harbour line opened in 1929, and freight services ceased in 2004. Despite a significant landslide in 2006, the line was reopened as a tourist line in 2009.

The Mojikō Retro Kankō Line is classified as a "specific purpose railway business" (特定目的鉄道事業, tokutei mokuteki tetsudō jigyō) under the Railway Business Act of Japan as it does not purport to transport daily passengers or freight. Heisei Chikuhō Railway operates trains as Category 2 operator (as defined in the Act, see "Rail transport in Japan" for details) on the track owned by the city of Kitakyūshū as Category 3 operator.

See also

• List of railway lines in Japan

References

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

External links

• Heichiku Net (in Japanese)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heisei Chikuho Railway.

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