Yōrō Railway Yōrō Line

The Yōrō Line (養老線, Yōrō-sen) is a railway line of a Japanese private railway operator Yōrō Railway (養老鉄道, Yōrō Tetsudō). The line traverses the northeastern side of the Yōrō Mountains and connects Kuwana Station in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture and Ibi Station in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture.

Yōrō Line
A Local train, 7700 series
Service
Operator(s)Yōrō Railway Co., Ltd.
Technical
Line length57.5 km (35.7 mi)
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Minimum radius160 m (520 ft)
Electrification1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed65 km/h (40 mph)
Maximum incline25 ‰
Yōrō Line
km
JR Central Kansai Main Line
Kintetsu Railway Nagoya Line
Sangi Railway Hokusei Line
0.0
 Nishi-Kuwana│Kuwana
Sangi Railway Hokusei Line
JR Central Kansai Main Line
Kintetsu Railway Nagoya Line
0.7
Higashikata truck
conversion facility
1.6
 Harima
4.0
 Shimo-Fukaya
6.6
 Shimo-Noshiro
8.6
 Tado
11.9
 Mino-Matsuyama
14.2
 Ishizu
16.2
 Mino-Yamazaki
19.8
 Komano
24.5
 Mino-Tsuya
28.8
 Yōrō
31.8
 Mino-Takada
34.5
 Karasue
Makita River Bridge
over Makita River
36.0
 Ōtoba
37.4
 Tomoe
39.4
 Mino-Yanagi
JR Central Tōkaidō Shinkansen
41.2
 Nishi-Ōgaki│
Ogaki Depot
Shin-Muro
43.0
 Ōgaki
JR Central Tōkaidō Main Line
Tarumi Railway Tarumi Line
44.1
 Muro
44.5
 Shiken-ya
JR Central Tōkaidō Main Line
45.4
 Kita-Ōgaki
 Gama
closed 1974
47.5
 Higashi-Akasaka
50.3
 Hiro-Gōdo
51.9
 Kita-Gōdo
53.5
 Ikeno
54.4
 Kita-Ikeno
55.2
 Mino-Hongō
57.5
 Ibi
km

The northern portion of the Ōgaki section is locally and unofficially called Ibi Line (揖斐線, Ibi-sen), as Ōgaki is a reversing station.

Kintetsu Railway, one of largest private railway companies in Japan, owns the tracks and rolling stocks of the line whereon Yōrō Railway (II), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kintetsu operates trains as of October 1, 2007.

Descriptions
  • Company: Yōrō Railway (Category-2), Kintetsu Railway (Category-3)
  • Length: 57.5 km (35.7 mi)
  • Gauge: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  • Power: Electric 1500 V DC
  • No. of stations: 27 incl. both ends
  • Track: single
  • Maximum speed: 65 km/h (40 mph)
  • Operation: All Local trains

History

Initially steam powered, the line was constructed by Yōrō Railway (I) and opened in 1913 between Yōrō - Ōgaki - Ikeno, in 1919 present line was completed with extensions of Yōrō - Kuwana and Ikeno - Ibi. In 1922 Yōrō Railway merged with Ibi River Electric (揖斐川電気, Ibigawa Denki) and the following year the line was electrified (1500 V DC). In 1928 its railway was transferred to Yōrō Electric Railway (養老電気鉄道, Yōrō Denki Tetsudō). Since then the operator has changed several times, namely in 1929 the Ise Electric Railway (伊勢電気鉄道, Ise Denki Tetsudō), in 1936 Yōrō Dentetsu (養老電鉄), in 1940 Sangu Kyūkō Railway (参宮急行電鉄, Sangū Kyūkō Dentetsu), in 1941 Kansai Kyūkō Railway (関西急行鉄道, Kansai Kyūkō Tetsudō), finally in 1944 Kinki Nippon railway (近畿日本鉄道, Kinki Nippon Tetsudō) which is the present Kintetsu.

Following typhoon damage in 1959, the Kintetsu Nagoya Line was regauged to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), the Kintetsu standard which enables through trains to Osaka, but the Yōrō Line remained 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) partly due to through freight trains to the then Japanese National Railways (JNR) at Ōgaki and Kuwana, because the line is shorter between these stations than JNR lines and used as the shortcut.

With accumulating deficit, Kintetsu Corporation decided to split off the operation of the Yōrō Line in 2007. Local governments along the line made an agreement of financial aid to the Yōrō Railway until 2010.

Stations
Name Japanese Distance (km) Transfers Location
Between stations Total
Kuwana 桑名 - 0.0 Kansai Main Line (CJ07)
Kintetsu Nagoya Line (E13)
Sangi Railway Hokusei Line (Nishi-Kuwana)		 Kuwana Mie
Harima 播磨 0.9 1.6
Shimo-Fukaya 下深谷 2.4 4.0
Shimo-Noshiro 下野代 2.6 6.6
Tado 多度 2.0 8.6
Mino-Matsuyama 美濃松山 3.3 11.9 Kaizu Gifu
Ishizu 石津 2.3 14.2
Mino-Yamazaki 美濃山崎 2.0 16.2
Komano 駒野 3.6 19.8
Mino-Tsuya 美濃津屋 4.7 24.5
Yōrō 養老 4.3 28.8 Yōrō,
Yōrō District
Mino-Takada 美濃高田 3.0 31.8
Karasue 烏江 2.7 34.5
Ōtoba 大外羽 1.5 36.0 Ōgaki
Tomoe 友江 1.4 37.4
Mino-Yanagi 美濃青柳 2.0 39.4
Nishi-Ōgaki 西大垣 1.8 41.2
Ōgaki 大垣 1.8 43.0 Tōkaidō Main Line (CA77)
■ Tarumi Railway Tarumi Line (TR01)
Muro 室 1.1 44.1
Kita-Ōgaki 北大垣 1.3 45.4
Higashi-Akasaka 東赤坂 2.1 47.5 Gōdo,
Anpachi District
Hiro-Gōdo 広神戸 2.8 50.3
Kita-Gōdo 北神戸 1.6 51.9
Ikeno 池野 1.6 53.5 Ikeda,
Ibi District
Kita-Ikeno 北池野 0.9 54.4
Mino-Hongō 美濃本郷 0.8 55.2
Ibi 揖斐 2.3 57.5 Ibigawa, Ibi District

Connections

At Kuwana

At Ōgaki

References

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

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