The is a railway line in

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

, Japan, operated by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

(JR East). It connects Kisarazu Station in

Kisarazu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 136,023 in 63,431 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kisarazu is loca ...

to Kazusa-Kameyama Station in

Kimitsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,058 in 39,138 households and a population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview The area along Tokyo ...

. The railway route extends through three cities, Kimitsu, Kisarazu, and Sodegaura. It has no double-track section, and trains can pass at only two stations, Yokota Station and Kururi Station. The line runs mostly through rural area and operates at a huge loss. JR East has announced consultations are to be held concerning the potential replacement of the last section from Kururi to Kazusa-Kamegama (around ) with a bus service due to a ~75% decline in patronage since 1987.

Stations

Rolling stock

Kururi Line services KiHa E130-100 DMU series in amount of 10 cars. These trains have a

one-man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to driver-controlled operation, is operation of a train, bus, ...

system, so there is no conductor needed to operate these trains. Also, these trains can be doubled or even tripled during rush periods. KiHa 130–100 series trains started their operation from 1 December 2012. *

Former rolling stock

* KiHa 30 DMU * KiHa 37 DMU * KiHa 38 DMU

History

The Chiba Prefectural Government opened the

gauge Gauge ( ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, especia ...

section from Kisarazu to Kururi as a light railway on 28 December 1912. In 1922, the Railway Construction Act was amended by the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

, and a new rail line connecting Kisarazu Station to Ōhara Station on the

Sotobō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, on the eastern (i.e., outer) side of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Chiba Station in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Sta ...

via Kururi and Ōtaki, to transect the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

, appeared on the list as compensation for the underdeveloped network of roads in the area at that time. On 1 September 1923, the Kisarazu to Kururi Line was nationalised, and the line was named the Kururi Line under the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(JGR) system. On 20 August 1930, the track gauge was widened to , and on 25 March 1936, the line was extended to Kazusa-Kameyama Station. The private Kihara Line from Ōhara Station was extended to Kazusa-Nakano Station in 1934, and it was planned that the Kururi Line and the Kihara Line would be connected to form a single route across the Bōsō Peninsula (which would have been named the Kihara Line). However, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the plan was abandoned, and Kururi Line was never to be extended into the most mountainous area of the peninsula. Services on the section from Kururi Station to Kazusa-Kameyama Station were suspended from 1944 to 1947. New KiHa E130-100 series DMU trains were introduced from 1 December 2012, replacing the ageing KiHa 30/37/38 DMUs.

Problems

The Kururi Line suffers from a small number of passengers and operates at deficit that requires JR East to give it subsidies. In 2020, fare revenue covered only 0.6% of operation costs for the section between Kururi and Kazusa-Kameyama stations.

References

{{East Japan Railway Company Lines Lines of East Japan Railway Company Railway lines in Chiba Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1912 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Japan 1912 establishments in Japan