The Temiya Line (手宮線, ''Temiya-sen'') was a local freight

narrow gauge railroad 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 tighter curv ...

Otaru, Hokkaidō is a city and port in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tour ...

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 ...

, connecting Minami-Otaru Station and Temiya Station. The line was a state-owned enterprise, originally established in the late 19th century to transport coal and marine products, and closed in 1985.

History

The line was originally constructed as a part of the Horonai Railway, the first railway in

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, and began operations in 1880. Like many other

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

railroad enterprises, the line uses gauge track over its 2.8 km route, in order to lower the cost of the original project. Though it was originally intended to extend from the seashore to the

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...

at Temari-mura Kayanuma, this was deemed inefficient, as ships could do the same work. The Horonai Railway was sold to the

Hokkaidō Colliery and Railway Company was a company engaged in coal mining, railway operation and shipping in Hokkaidō, Japan. The company was established in 1889 when the state-owned and Horonai Railway were sold to the company. The company developed coal mines and transported coa ...

in 1889, and by 1906 the Temiya Line had come under government control, officially inaugurated under that name three years later. It carried both cargo and passengers, for nearly a century. Elements of service in the area, on the Temiya Line and other related lines, were discontinued in 1962, and the line formally closed in 1985. Today, parts of the line still remain, along with signage in some places. The local Otaru Memorial Museum is caretaker of the remains.

References

{{Hokkaidō transit Closed railway lines in Japan 1985 disestablishments in Japan Railway lines opened in 1880 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Hokkaido Heritage