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Tadami Line
Tadami Line
	Tadamigawa Bridge No. 1, November 2020
Overview
Native name	只見線
Status	In operation
Owner	JR East
Locale	Fukushima, Niigata Prefectures
Termini	Aizu-Wakamatsu; Koide;
Stations	36
Service
Type	Heavy rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Rolling stock	KiHa 110 series, KiHa E120, AT-350 series, AT-400 series, AT-500 series, AT-600 series, AT-700 series DMU
History
Opened	1928
Technical
Line length	135.2 km (84.0 mi)
Number of tracks	Entire line single tracked
Character	Rural and scenic
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	None
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph)
Route map
Route map

The Tadami Line (只見線, Tadami-sen) is a 135-kilometre (84 mi) scenic railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aizu-Wakamatsu Station at Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture with Koide Station at Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture.^[1]

The line opened in discontinuous stages between 1928 and 1971. Because of trouble financing rainstorm damage repairs, the line had no rail service between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami station from July 2011 until October 2022.^[2]^[3]^[4] During this time, a replacement bus operated between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami.^[5]^[6] Full service on the line resumed on 1 October 2022.

Services

All trains are local (all-stations) services, with approximately eight to nine trains in each direction per day. Only three round-trips operate over the entire line, and some seasonal trains operate through onto the line from the Ban'etsu West and Jōetsu lines. Due to the many curves on the line trains take over four hours to traverse its 135.2 km (84.0 mi) length.^[7]

Station list

All trains stop at every station.
Trains can pass each other at stations marked "◇", "∨", "∧"; they cannot pass at those marked "｜".

Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers		Location
Station	Japanese	Between stations	Total	Transfers		Location
Aizu-Wakamatsu	会津若松	–	0.0	■Ban'etsu West Line	∨	Aizuwakamatsu	Fukushima
Nanukamachi	七日町	1.3	1.3		｜
Nishi-Wakamatsu	西若松	1.8	3.1	■Aizu Railway Aizu Line^{[* 1]}	◇
Aizu-Hongō	会津本郷	3.4	6.5		｜
Aizu-Takada	会津高田	4.8	11.3		｜	Aizumisato, Ōnuma District
Negishi	根岸	3.5	14.8		｜
Niitsuru	新鶴	2.0	16.8		｜
Wakamiya	若宮	2.1	18.9		｜	Aizubange, Kawanuma District
Aizu-Bange	会津坂下	2.7	21.6		◇
Tōdera	塔寺	4.4	26.0		｜
Aizu-Sakamoto	会津坂本	3.7	29.7		｜
Aizu-Yanaizu	会津柳津	3.6	33.3		｜	Yanaizu, Kawanuma District
Gōdo	郷戸	3.6	36.9		｜
Takiya	滝谷	2.7	39.6		｜
Aizu-Hinohara	会津桧原	1.9	41.5		｜	Mishima, Ōnuma District
Aizu-Nishikata	会津西方	2.2	43.7		｜
Aizu-Miyashita	会津宮下	1.7	45.4		◇
Hayato	早戸	5.8	51.2		｜
Aizu-Mizunuma	会津水沼	3.9	55.1		｜	Kaneyama, Ōnuma District
Aizu-Nakagawa	会津中川	3.2	58.3		｜
Aizu-Kawaguchi	会津川口	2.5	60.8		◇
Honna	本名	2.8	63.6		｜
Aizu-Kosugawa	会津越川	6.4	70.0		｜
Aizu-Yokota	会津横田	3.2	73.2		｜
Aizu-Ōshio	会津大塩	2.2	75.4		｜
Aizu-Shiozawa	会津塩沢	5.5	80.9		｜	Tadami, Minamiaizu District
Aizu-Gamō	会津蒲生	3.0	83.9		｜
Tadami	只見	4.5	88.4		◇
Tagokura	田子仓	6.8	90.7		◇
Ōshirakawa	大白川	19.5	109.2		◇	Uonuma	Niigata
Kakinoki	柿ノ木	3.2	112.4		｜
Irihirose	入広瀬	6.4	115.6		｜
Kamijō	上条	3.1	118.7		｜
Echigo-Suhara	越後須原	4.4	123.1		｜
Uonuma-Tanaka	魚沼田中	3.9	127.0		｜
Echigo-Hirose	越後広瀬	2.5	129.5		｜
Yabukami	藪神	2.1	131.6		｜
Koide	小出	3.6	135.2	■Jōetsu Line	∧

^ All Aizu Line trains run through to Aizu-Wakamatsu Station.

History

Openings

The eastern section of the line from Aizu-Wakamatsu to Aizu-Yanaizu opened in 1928. The eastern section was extended to Aizu-Miyashita in 1941 and to Aizu-Kawaguchi in 1956. At that time, the Tagokura Dam was under construction and a light railway was built to link Aizu-Kawaguchi with the construction site in order to transport construction material. In 1963, after the dam was completed, the construction railway was upgraded and opened to Tadami as part of the eastern section.^[5]

In the meantime, the western section of the line, from Koide to Oshirakawa, had opened in 1942. In 1971, the two sections were connected with the opening of the passenger only line between Oshirakawa and Tadami.^[5]

Closures

Freight services ceased between 1980 and 1982.^{[citation needed]}

Damage from heavy rain storms in July 2011 forced the section of the line between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Ōshirakawa to be closed. The section between Tadami and Ōshirakawa was reopened on 1 October 2012, but the restoration of the remaining section between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami proved more problematic.^[8] Eventually, JR East reached an agreement with Fukushima Prefecture under which the prefecture would buy the rail infrastructure and land while hiring out its operation to JR East.^[9] After 11 years with a replacement bus service, the closed section resumed operations on 1 October 2022.^[6]

In 2013, Tagokura Station, between Ōshirakawa and Tadami, was closed.^[10] And in 2015, Kakinoki Station, between Irihirose and Ōshirakawa, was also closed.^[11] Both of these closures were due to very low usage.

Rolling stock

KiHa E120 - Since March 2020
KiHa 110 series - Since July 2020^[12]

Former

KiHa 40 series - Until July 2020^[12]
KiHa 58 series

Gallery

C11 289 between Aizu-Nishikata and Aizu-Hibara, November 1973
C11 289 between Aizu-Miyashita and Aizu-Nishikata, November 1973
KiHa E120, Aizu-Bange Station - Wakamiya Station, in March 2020
KiHa 40, Aizu-Takada Station - Negishi Station, in May 2018
KiHa 47 and 40, Oshirakawa Station, September 2012
Minibus departure from Tadami Station, June 2014
Tadamigawa Bridge No. 3
Tadamigawa Bridge No. 4
Tadamigawa Bridge No. 5
Tadamigawa Bridge No. 8
Tadamigawa Bridge No. 1 in winter

References

^ "Tadami Line". Japan Travel Planner. ANA. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
^ "只見線全線運転再開について" [Regarding the resumption of operation of the entire Tadami Line] (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). East Japan Railway Company. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
^ Kushida, Izumi (1 October 2022). "JR只見線｢11年ぶり｣復活､地元住民たちの執念" [JR Tadami Line reopens after 11 years]. Toyo Keizai Online (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 October 2022.
^ "Scenic Tadami Line reopens after storm damage". Railway Gazette International. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Tadami Line User Manual" (PDF). Union Workshop. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
^ ^a ^b "只見線、2022年10月1日全線運転再開へ" [Tadami Line to resume operation on October 1, 2022]. tetsudo.ch (in Japanese). 18 May 2022. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
^ JR Timetable, December 2010 issue
^ ＪＲ只見線全線早期再開は困難 [JR Tadami Line: Early reopening of the entire line difficult]. MSN Sankei News (in Japanese). Japan: The Sankei Shimbun & Sankei Digital. 13 September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
^ Aukema, Justin (24 February 2022). "Japan's local rail lines become the latest pandemic victim". Global Voices. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
^ 只見線田子倉駅廃止について [Closure of Tagokura Station on the Tadami Line] (PDF). Press release (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company - Sendai Branch. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
^ ありがとう、柿ノ木駅１４日に廃止、市民団体が集い [Thank you, Kakinoki Station, closing on 14th]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). Japan: The Mainichi Newspapers. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "秘境の旅路彩り40年最後の勇姿魚沼只見線キハ40系引退" [Tadami Line KiHa 40 series retired after 40 years] (in Japanese). Niigata Nippo. 14 July 2020. Archived from the original on 17 July 2020.