IR Ishikawa Railway
IR Ishikawa Railway[] is a Japanese third-sector railway company established on 28 August 2012 to operate passenger railway services on the portion of the JR West Hokuriku Main Line within Ishikawa Prefecture. Services were transferred to IR Ishikawa Railway in two parts, corresponding with successive extensions of the Hokuriku Shinkansen. The company headquarters are in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.
On 14 March 2015, the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from to opened and the Hokuriku Main Line between and Kanazawa was separated from the JR West network, with IR Ishikawa Railway acquiring the section between Kanazawa and.
On 16 March 2024, the Kanazawa to extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened, with IR Ishikawa Railway acquiring the to Kanazawa section of the Hokuriku Main Line.
Shareholders
Shares in the company are owned by Ishikawa Prefecture, the cities of Kanazawa and Komatsu, the town of Tsubata, and private-sector businesses.IR Ishikawa Railway Line
From 14 March 2015, IR Ishikawa Railway took over control of local passenger operations on the section JR West Hokuriku Main Line between and, with five stations. An additional section west to Daishoji with 14 stations was acquired from 16 March 2024.Service outline
Train services are generally operated in two sections:Through services are operated at both ends of the line.
At the western end of the line at Daishoji, most trains operate through service to/from Fukui on the Hapi-Line Fukui Line.
At the eastern end of the line, all trains operate through service either:
- At Tsubata: to/from Nanao on the [Nanao Line|JR West Nanao Station|Nanao Line]; OR
- At Kurikara: to/from Toyama & Ichiburi on the Toyama Railway Line
Limited Express Noto Kagaribi services also operate over the section of the line between Kanazawa and Tsubata, with two of the Kanazawa-bound services stopping at Tsubata.
''See #Limited Express trains for details of previously operated Limited Express trains.''
Stations
All stations are in Ishikawa Prefecture.Legend
● - All Rapid or Ainokaze liner trains stop| - All Rapid or Ainokaze liner trains pass
Rolling stock
Some content in this section is translated and summarised from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at ja:京都市営地下鉄; see its history for attribution., the company operates a fleet of 24 two-car 521 series EMU trainsets numbered IR01-IR24. Trains were manufactured by Kinki Sharyo and Kawasaki Heavy Industries and are normally operated as two- or four-car formations.
| Set Numbers | Series | Entered service | No. of sets |
| IR01-IR05 | 521-0 | 14 March 2015 | 5 |
| IR06-IR08 | 521-100 | 3 December 2020 | 3 |
| IR09-IR24 | 521-0 | 16 March 2024 | 16 |
| Total: | 24 |
History
From 14 March 2015 (opening of Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa)
For operation of the Kanazawa to Kurikawa section from 14 March 2015, five two-car 521 series trainsets - three second-batch sets were transferred from JR West, and two third-batch sets were newly built. The two new sets were initially delivered in February 2015 in standard JR West livery but were repainted into the IR Ishikawa Railway livery before entering service., the 521 series fleet is as follows.
From 3 December 2020
Three newly built 2-car 521 series trains were acquired in conjunction with JR West introducing 521 series trains on the Nanao Line, as the Nanao Line operates a through service on the IR Ishikawa Railway Line to/from Kanazawa.These sets were built for JR West but delivered to IR Ishikawa Railway and became set numbers IR06-IR08.
From 16 March 2024 (opening of Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga)
For operation of the Daishōji to Kanazawa section, 16 two-car 521 series trains were transferred from JR West. These were numbered IR09-IR24.Limited Express trains
From 14 March 2015 (opening of Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa)
Thunderbird Limited Express services from prior to this date ran as far as & on the Hokuriku Main Line and on the Nanao Line. From this date Thunderbird services were truncated to only operate between Osaka and Kanazawa, except for one daily round trip to Wakuraonsen.Noto Kagaribi Limited Express services between Kanazawa and commenced operation on this date to compensate for removal of all but one of the Thunderbird services to Wakuraonsen. These operate over the section of the line between Kanazawa and Tsubata, with two of the Kanazawa-bound services stopping at Tsubata. On 12 March 2022, one round trip was removed reducing the number of round trips per day from five to four.
From 16 March 2024 (opening of Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga)
All Thunderbird services from this date were truncated to operate between Osaka and Tsuruga only.Noto Kagaribi Limited Express services between Kanazawa and Wakuraonsen continue to operate on the IR Ishikawa Railway Line and have been increased from four to five daily round trips in lieu of the removed Thunderbird round trip to Wakuraonsen.
History
The line eastward from Kanazawa was opened on 1 November 1898 on the Hokuriku Main Line. With the privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, the line came under the control of JR West.The new third-sector operating company was founded on 28 August 2012 and was renamed IR Ishikawa Railway from 1 August 2013. The company was formally granted a railway operating license by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on 28 February 2014.
Effective the timetable revision that took place on 16 March 2024, the section of the Hokuriku Main Line from Kanazawa Station to Daishoji Station was transferred from JR West to IR Ishikawa Railway. The line has been running between Daishoji and Kurikara effective the same date.