The is a railway line in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

operated by the

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...

(JR Central). It connects

Fuji Station is an interchange railway station in the city of Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tōkai). Lines Fuji Station is served by the JR Tōkai Tōkaidō Main Line, and is located 146.2 kilometers from t ...

Fuji, Shizuoka is a city in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 245,015 in 106,087 households, and a population density of 1,000 people per km2. The total area of the city is . Fuji is the third largest city in terms of ...

to Kōfu Station in Kōfu, Yamanashi, and the

Tōkaidō Main Line The Tōkaidō Main Line () is one of the most important railway corridors in Japan, connecting the major cities of Tokyo and Kobe via Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. The line, with termini at Tokyo Station, Tokyo and Kōbe St ...

with the

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

trunk railroads.

History

The opened a line from Suzukawa (present ) on the

to Ōmiya (present

Fujinomiya is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 132,507 in 56,655 households, and a population density of 340 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . History The city name comes from t ...

) (the southern end of the current route) in 1890. The purchased the tramway in 1912, and converted it to a steam railway the following year, gradually extending the line to , a distance of by 1920. In 1927, the line was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

, and in 1928 extended to on the

completing the line with a distance of . In 1938 the Minobu line was leased by the government, and nationalized in 1941. The alignment at Fuji was changed in 1968 to allow through trains to operate from Tokyo without requiring a reversal of direction, and the Fuji - Fujinomiya section was double-tracked between 1969 and 1974. CTC signalling was commissioned in 1982, and freight services ceased in 1987, the year that

(JR Central) took over operations of the Minobu Line following privatization of the Japanese National Railways.

Former connecting lines

* Fujinomiya station - The Fuji Horse Tramway operated a 20 km 610mm gauge line to Kami-ide between 1909 and 1939.

Operation

The '' Fujikawa'' limited express service operates between Kōfu and via Fuji using JR Central 373 series

EMU The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

trains. Other trains are all-stations "Local" services, with higher frequencies on the Fuji - Nishi-Fujinomiya and - Kōfu sections compared to the section in between. 313 series and

211 series The is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type introduced in 1985 by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). The trains are still being used by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). They were formerly used by the West Japan Railwa ...

EMUs are used on local services.

Stations

Stations marked with "｜" only local services stop. Stations marked with "●" local and Fujikawa limited express services stop.

References

External links