Wakasa Line

Wakasa Line
Wakasa Line
	Wakasa Railway "Sakura 1" train
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Wakasa Railway Company
Locale	Tottori Prefecture
Termini	Kōge; Wakasa;
Stations	9
Website	https://wakatetsu.co.jp/
Service
Operator(s)	Wakasa Railway Company
History
Opened	20 January 1930
Technical
Track length	19.2 km (11.9 mi)
Number of tracks	Entire line single tracked
Character	Rural
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Minimum radius	300 m
Electrification	None
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph)

The Wakasa Line (若桜線, Wakasa-sen) is a Japanese railway line in Tottori Prefecture operated by the third-sector operating company Wakasa Railway (若桜鉄道, Wakasa Tetsudō). The line connects Kōge Station in Yazu with Wakasa Station in Wakasa. It is the only railway line operated by the Wakasa Railway. The third-sector company took over operations of the former West Japan Railway Company (JR West) line in 1987.

Owners and operator

Wakasa Railway head office

The line is operated by Wakasa Railway Co., Ltd. Although the company originally owned the railway line, on April 1, 2009, the ownership was transferred to the municipalities (towns) where the line exists and the company became a pure operator of the railway as a Category 2 Railway Operator. The town of Yazu owns 16.5 km of track and the town of Wakasa owns 2.7 km of track as Category 3 Railway Operators.^[1]

Stations

Some trains operate through from the JR West Inbi Line (Tottori - Kōge).

Name	Japanese	Distance (km)	Transfers	Location
Through service to Tottori on the Inbi Line
Kōge	郡家	0.0	Inbi Line	Yazu	Tottori
Yazu-Kōkō-mae	八頭高校前	0.9
Inaba-Funaoka	因幡船岡	2.4
Hayabusa	隼	4.4
Abe	安部	7.1
Hattō	八東	9.8
Tokumaru	徳丸	11.6
Tampi	丹比	13.5
Wakasa	若桜	19.2		Wakasa

Rolling stock

Diesel railcars

From the start of third-sector operations in 1987, the line was operated using a fleet of four WT2500 series diesel cars. Three of these were subsequently refurbished, becoming WT3000 series, and a new stainless steel WT3300 series diesel car, WT3301, was also added to the fleet.

WT3000 series car 3003 Sakura 3 in August 2009
WT3300 series car 3301 in August 2009

Locomotives

The railway owns a former JNR Class DD16 diesel locomotive, number DD16 7, previously used at the Railway Technical Research Institute in Kokubunji, Tokyo, and former JNR Class C12 2-6-2T steam locomotive number C12 167.^[2]

Class DD16 diesel locomotive DD16 7 in April 2013
Class C12 steam locomotive C12 167 in April 2013

History

The line opened on 20 January 1930 as the 4.5 km Wakasa Line from Kōge to Hayabusa. The entire line to Wakasa opened on 1 December 1930.^[3] The original plan was to extend the line beyond Wakasa to the Sanin Main Line, near Yōka Station, but this was never realized.^[3]

Freight services were discontinued from 1 October 1974.^[4]

With the privatization of JNR in April 1987, the Wakasa Line was transferred to the ownership of West Japan Railway Company (JR West). However, JR West ceased operations on the line on 13 October 1987, with operations taken over by the third-sector Wakasa Railway Company from 14 October.^[3]

References

^ Tetsudō Kyoku, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2009). Tetsudō Yōran (Heisei 21 Nendo) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Denkisha Kenkyūkai. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-4-88548-113-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Sasada, Masahiro (September 2012). 国鉄&JR保存車大全 [JNR & JR Preserved Rolling Stock Complete Guide] (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Ikaros Publications Ltd. pp. 127, 132. ISBN 978-4863206175.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ikeguchi, Eiji (July 2015). 若桜鉄道「SL走行社会実験」を振り返って [Looking back on Wakasa Railway's "steam train operation social experiment"]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 44, no. 375. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. pp. 12–19.
^ Terada, Hirokazu (19 January 2013). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways] (in Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 162. ISBN 978-4-7770-1336-4.

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

[1] Tetsudō Kyoku, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2009). Tetsudō Yōran (Heisei 21 Nendo) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Denkisha Kenkyūkai. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-4-88548-113-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[sasada2012-2] Sasada, Masahiro (September 2012). 国鉄&JR保存車大全 [JNR & JR Preserved Rolling Stock Complete Guide] (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Ikaros Publications Ltd. pp. 127, 132. ISBN 978-4863206175.

[dj375-3] Ikeguchi, Eiji (July 2015). 若桜鉄道「SL走行社会実験」を振り返って [Looking back on Wakasa Railway's "steam train operation social experiment"]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 44, no. 375. Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun. pp. 12–19.

[terada2013-4] Terada, Hirokazu (19 January 2013). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways] (in Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 162. ISBN 978-4-7770-1336-4.

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