The is a railway company in

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

in northern Japan. The company and its lines are also known as . The company was founded in 1981, as the first " third-sector" (half

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

, half

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

) railway line in the country, excluding special cases such as freight railways in seaports. Its lines are former

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 pre ...

(JNR) lines, that were going to be closed. Santetsu acquired these lines in 1984. The company also operates a travel agency and other businesses.

Lines

* Rias Line ( リアス線) (163.0 km, - )

Rias Line

Station list

History

Kita-Rias Line

The

(JNR) opened the Miyako to Taro section in 1972 and the Kuji to Fudai section in 1975. It constructed the Taro to Fudai section, and transferred the entire line to Sanriku on the day it opened in 1984. The line features 42 tunnels, including the Masaki (6,532 m) and Omoto (5,174 m) tunnels, both opened in 1984.

Minami-Rias Line

JNR opened the Sakari to Ryori section in 1970, extending the line to Yoshihama in 1973. It constructed the section to Kamaishi and transferred the entire line to Sanriku on the day it opened in 1984. The line features 20 tunnels.

2011 earthquake and tsunami damage

Both lines were heavily damaged by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

. The two lines suffered damage at ~300 locations, including damage to station buildings and bridges. The tsunami washed away 5.8 km of railway tracks on the lines. Full restoration of service on the lines was completed in April 2014. Diesel railcars damaged by the earthquake and tsunami were replaced by three new diesel railcars funded by

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. The new cars were introduced in January 2014. The two sections of the Sanriku Railway were for a long time separated by a destroyed segment of the Yamada Line. On 23 March 2019, the Yamada Line section from Miyako to Kamaishi was reopened and transferred to Sanriku Railway. This joined up with the Kita-Rias Line on one side and the Minami-Rias Line on the other, which together constitutes the entire Rias Line restored. The result is a resumption of continuous rail service between Kuji and Sakari Station where it links with the

Ōfunato Line The is a local railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It originally connected Ichinoseki Station in Ichinoseki to Sakari Station in Ōfunato, Iwate, Ōfunato, on the Tohoku coast. The eas ...

Typhoon Hagibis damage

Following the

Typhoon Hagibis Typhoon Hagibis, known in Japan as Typhoon No.19 or , was a large and costly tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction in Japan. The thirty-eighth depression, nineteenth tropical storm, ninth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 201 ...

in 2019 which caused further damage to the railway, the operator Sanriku Railway Co,.Ltd. have received around ¥40 million in donations to help with repairs.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.

External links

* (in English) ''(Note: As of September 3, 2024, site is geoblocked for some countries including Australia: "Reason: Blocked country: Australia The connection was denied because this country is blocked in the Geolocation settings").'' * ''(Note: As of September 3, 2024, site is geoblocked for some countries including Australia: "Reason: Blocked country: Australia The connection was denied because this country is blocked in the Geolocation settings").'' {{Authority control Railway companies of Japan Rail transport in Iwate Prefecture Railway companies established in 1981 Companies based in Iwate Prefecture Japanese third-sector railway lines