The , commonly known as the Sangi Hokusei Line, is a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...
railway line owned and operated by
Sangi Railway, a Japanese private railway company. The line runs in
Mie Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, 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 an ...
an connects
Nishi-Kuwana Station in
Kuwana with
Ageki Station in
Inabe. For many years, the line was owned by
Kintetsu, a
major private railway operator, but control was transferred to Sangi in April 2003.
The name ''Hokusei'' (北勢) means "northern Mie". It is a
kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
abbreviation of "north" (北) and "Ise" (伊勢). Ise (as opposed to "Mie") is used in the name because the northern and central parts of present-day Mie Prefecture were called
Ise Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was .
History
The name of Ise appears ...
during the
Edo era
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
before the modern
prefecture system was established.
Services
All services are classified as , stopping at every station, and are
driver-only operations. There are two services per hour during the day, increased to three per hour during morning and evening peaks.
Stations
At
Kuwana Station, a short walk from Nishi-Kuwana Station, passengers can transfer to the
Kansai Main Line
The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compan ...
, the
Nagoya Line, and the
Yōrō Line
was a after ''Reiki (era), Reiki'' and before ''Jinki (era), Jinki.'' This period spanned the years from November 717 through February 724. The reigning empress was .
Change of era
* 717 : The new era name was created to mark an event or seri ...
.
History
The section of the line between (present-day
Nishi-Kuwana Station) and was opened on 5 April 1914 by the Hokusei Railway, with services operated using steam haulage.
The line was extended to on 8 July 1931 and electrified at 600 V DC.
On 11 February 1944, the line became part of ,
and in 1954, the line voltage was increased to 750 V DC.
Kintetsu acquired the line on 1 April 1965, and from 1 April 2003, it was operated by the Sangi Railway.
Narrow gauge
The line uses an especially narrow
track gauge
In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...
. In the early 20th century, many of Japan's local railway lines were built using this gauge, however the vast majority of them were widened in the mid 20th century. Today, only four of these original gauge lines are left operating regular passenger services, of which the Hokusei Line is the longest. This rarity makes the Hokusei Line (as well as the other gauge lines) popular with railway enthusiasts.
The other lines in Japan using this gauge include the
Kurobe Gorge Railway in
Toyama Toyama may refer to:
Places
* Toyama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan located in the Hokuriku region on the main Honshu island
* Toyama (city), the capital city of Toyama Prefecture
* Toyama Station, the main station of Toyama, Toyama
* Toyama Sta ...
, and the
Utsube Line and the
Hachiōji Line operated by
Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway
is a third-sector railway company in Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan. The company is 75% owned by Kintetsu Railway and 25% owned by the city government of Yokkaichi.
The company operates the Utsube Line and the Hachiōji Line in Yokkaichi. Both lines ...
in Mie. Like the Hokusei Line, the Utsube and Hachioji Lines were formerly operated by Kintetsu.
References
This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.
{{Kintetsu Lines
Rail transport in Mie Prefecture
2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Japan
750 V DC railway electrification