The is a rural, regional

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

line of Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) in

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture ...

, Japan, connecting Matsusaka station in Matsusaka and Ise-Okitsu station in Tsu. The line takes its name from the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subse ...

characters of the cities of and . Although this line was planned to connect them, the section from Ise-Okitsu to Nabari was never built, due to the prior completion of the present Kintetsu

Osaka Line is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2 ...

History

The section between Matsusaka and Ieki opened in stages between 1929 and 1931, and was extended to Ise-Okitsu in 1935. Freight services ceased in 1965.

Former connecting lines

* Ise-Kawaguchi station - The Dainippon Railway Co. operated a gauge line to Hisai on the Kintetsu Nagoya Line between 1925 and 1943.

Service disruptions

Damage from

Typhoon Vera Typhoon Vera, also known as the , was an exceptionally intense tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959, becoming the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall on the country as a Category 5 equivalent storm. Th ...

closed the line between Ise-Takehara and Ise-Okitsu for two months in 1959. The entire line was closed for nine months in 1982–83 due to damage caused by Typhoon Bess. In October 2009, Typhoon Melor struck the area, resulting in over 40 washouts on the section between Ieki and Ise-Okitsu, and the section remained closed for six years after. A rail replacement bus served the section during its closure. The section reopened in March 2016. During the summer in 2016, some of the KiHa 11 units, used on the line were unavailable due to inspections so

KiHa 25 The is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) on local and rapid services in Japan, since March 2011. Following electrification of the Taketoyo Line in 2015, they replaced KiHa 40 se ...

series DMUs were deployed to temporarily replace them, until they returned to service.

Basic data

*Operators, distances: ** Central Japan Railway Company (Services and tracks) ***Matsusaka — Ise-Okitsu: 43.5 km (27.0 mi) *Stations: 15 *Track: Entire line single-tracked *Electrification: None *

Railway signalling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enor ...

: **Matsusaka — Ieki: Card signalling **Ieki — Ise-Okitsu: Staff signalling

Service

The Meishō Line is a rural line in the inland of Mie Prefecture. There are eight return workings daily. All trains are Local driver-only services. All trains stop at every station. There are no limited-stop services such as rapids. Services are nearly always formed of single-car KiHa 11 series DMUs. Very occasionally, two cars may be used during events or busy seasons.

Stations

All stations are located in

References

Lines of Central Japan Railway Company Rail transport in Mie Prefecture 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan {{Japan-rail-line-stub