The is a railway line in Japan which connects
Matsumoto Station in
Nagano Prefecture with
Itoigawa Station
is a railway station in Itoigawa, Niigata, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and the third-sector railway operator Echigo Tokimeki Railway. It is also a freight terminal for the Japan Freight Railway Company.
Lines
Itoig ...
in
Niigata Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and ...
. There are two operators on the line:
East Japan Railway Company (JR East) operates the section north of
Minami-Otari Station in
Otari, Nagano Prefecture, and
West Japan Railway Company
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
(JR West) operates the remaining section. Minami-Otari is the boundary for the two companies. The section of the line, operated by JR East, between Minami-Otari and Matsumoto is electrified and trains are fairly regular along this section. The JR West section from Minami-Otari to Itoigawa, however, is not electrified and is used very little, compared to the electrified JR East section. Trains run far less regularly along this part.
Route data
*Operators, services:
**
East Japan Railway Company (Services and tracks)
***Matsumoto — Minami-Otari: 70.1 km
**
West Japan Railway Company
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
(Services and tracks)
***Minami-Otari — Itoigawa: 35.3 km
*Stations:
**JR East: 34
**JR West: 8 including Itoigawa, excluding Minami-Otari
*Double-tracked section: None
*Electrification: Matsumoto - Minami-Otari (1,500 V DC)
Minami-Otari - Itoigawa (None)
*
Railway signalling:
**Matsumoto — Itoigawa: Automatic Train Stop, S-type
Services
JR East section
;Limited express, Rapid
, the following services are operated.
;Local
:Matsumoto – Shinano-Ōmachi: every 30-60 minutes
:Shinano-Ōmachi – Minami-Otari: every 60-180 minutes
JR West section
;Local
:Minami-Otari - Itoigawa: every 120-180 minutes
No limited-stop services like rapids operate on the JR West section. All trains are local services, which stop at every station.
Rolling stock
JR East section
*
E127-100 series EMU
*
211 series
The is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type introduced in 1985 by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). It is operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It was formerly operated ...
EMU
*
E353 series EMU - ''Azusa''
JR West section
*
KiHa 120 series DMU
Stations
JR East section
All stations are within
Nagano Prefecture.
:A: Limited Express ''Azusa''
:R: Rapid
:Trains stop at stations marked "O", skip at stations marked "
, ".
Closed Stations
Yanabaskijōmae Station closed on 16 March 2019
JR West section
History
The section between Matsumoto and was built between 1915 and 1916 by the , which electrified the line in 1926. The company was nationalised in 1937 and was not the same entity as the present
Shinano Railway
The is a Japanese third-sector railway operating company established in 1996 to operate passenger railway services on the section of the JR East Shinetsu Main Line within Nagano Prefecture when it is separated from the JR East network in Octob ...
.
The rest of the line was built by the
Japanese Government Railways
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Ra ...
(JGR) and the
Japanese National Railways
The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987.
Network Railways
As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...
(JNR) between 1929 and 1957. The Shinano-Ōmachi to Minami Otari section was electrified between 1959 and 1967. CTC signalling was commissioned in 1983, and freight services ceased in 1987.
Following privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, the line was divided and assigned to JR East and JR West.
Station numbering was introduced on the line by JR East from 12 December 2016, with stations numbered in sequence from 9 (Minami-Otari) to 42 (Matsumoto).
See also
*
List of railway lines in Japan
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oito Line
Lines of East Japan Railway Company
Lines of West Japan Railway Company
Railway lines in Nagano Prefecture
Rail transport in Niigata Prefecture
Railway lines opened in 1915
1067 mm gauge railways in Japan