Itō Line

Itō Line

Izu Kyuko Railway 2100 series "Resort21" train at Izu-Taga Station, March 2010
Overview
Type Passenger
Termini Atami
Itō
Operation
Opened 1935
Operator(s) JR East
Technical
Line length 16.9 km
Track gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Itō Line
Legend
Tōkaidō Main Line
 Tokyo Station
 Tōkaidō Main Line
Tōkaidō Shinkansen

0.0 Atami Station
1.2 Kinomiya Station
Fudō Tunnel 1795m
 6.0 Izu-Taga Station
8.7 Ajiro Station
 Shin-Usami Tunnel 2941m
 13.0 Usami Station

 16.9 Itō Station
 ↓Izu Kyūkō Line
 Izukyū Shimoda Station

The Itō Line (伊東線 Itō-sen) is a railway line owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) which connects Atami and Itō Stations, along the east coast of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. From Itō, the line continues south to Shimoda under the privately owned and operated Izu Kyūkō Line.

Station list

Name Japanese Distance from
Atami (km)		 Transfers Location
(Through service for Tokyo via Tokaido Main Line)
Atami 熱海 0 Tokaido Shinkansen
Tokaido Main Line		 Atami Shizuoka
Kinomiya 来宮 1.2
Izu-Taga 伊豆多賀 6.0
Ajiro 網代 8.7
Usami 宇佐美 13.0 Itō
Itō 伊東 16.9 Izukyu Izu Kyūkō Line (through service)
(Through service for Izukyū Shimoda via Izu Kyūkō Line)

Rolling stock

A rebuilt four-car 651 series resort train set named Izu Craile (伊豆クレイル) is scheduled to enter service on the Ito Line from summer 2016. The name is a portmanteau formed from "Cresciuto" (Italian for "mature"), "train", and the suffix "-ile". Car 1 will have window-facing counter seats on the seaward side, car 2 will have a bar counter and lounge, car 3 will have semi-open compartments, and car 4 will have conventional unidirectional 2+2-abreast seating.[1]

History

Initial plans called for the Japanese National Railways (JNR) to build a spur line linking Atami on the Tokaido Main Line with Shimoda. However, funding was limited in the 1930s due to a combination of a tight fiscal policy under Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi during the Great Depression, and a number of technical issues. The projected route of the Itō line along the mountainous east coast of the Izu Peninsula required numerous tunnels and bridges. Workers digging a tunnel near Usami encountered problems with underground hot springs, similar to that experienced in the construction of the Tanna Tunnel, which had recently been completed years later than originally projected and far over budget.

On March 30, 1935, the initial 8.7 km section of the Itō Line linking Atami with Ajiro was opened. The second (8.3 km) section from Ajiro to Itō was opened on December 15, 1938. Both sections were electrified at 1,500 V DC when opened. Further work was delayed, and then canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

CTC signalling was commissioned in 1958, and the Atami to Kinomiya section was duplicated in 1968. The entire line was originally designed to be built as double track, and earthworks were undertaken on this basis, including tunneling, but to date only the first 1.2 km of the line has been duplicated.

Construction south of Itō resumed in 1961, when the private-sector Tokyu Corporation acquired the rights to complete the line to Shimoda and established the Izukyu Corporation to manage construction and operations of this section.

References

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

  1. ↑ 651系改造のリゾート列車　2016年夏デビュー [Rebuilt 651 series resort train to debut in summer 2016]. Tetsudo Hobidas (in Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.