Tobu Kinugawa Line


The Tobu Kinugawa Line is a long Japanese railway line from Shimo-Imaichi Station to Shin-Fujiwara Station in Nikkō, Tochigi. It is owned and operated by the private railway operator Tobu Railway.
At Shimo-Imaichi Station it connects with the Tobu Nikko Line. At Shin-Fujiwara Station it connects with the Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line. Some trains go beyond the Aizu Kinugawa Line terminus at Aizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station onto the Aizu Railway Aizu Line.
The line runs surcharged, reserved-seat limited express services from and to Asakusa and Shinjuku in Tokyo.
The whole line is electrified at 1,500 V DC, but it is single tracked except for a double-tracked section at Kinugawa-Onsen Station.
WWW Official Site

Stations

All stations are located within Nikkō, Tochigi.

History

  • 1915: Fujiwara Tramway was licensed to build a gauge steam-hauled tramway. It was renamed Shimotsuke Tramway in the same year.
  • 2 January 1917: A section from Daiya-gawa Hokugan Station to Kinugawa Nangan Station was opened. The line was extended a further the same year.
  • March 1919: Ōhara Station to Shimotaki Station section was opened.
  • October 1919: Daiya Mukō Imaichi Station to Shin-Imaichi Station section was opened.
  • 1 January 1920: Shimotaki Station to Fujiwara Station section was open to complete the whole line.
  • 6 June 1921: The company name was renamed Shimotsuke Electric Railway Co., Ltd..
  • 9 March 1922: The whole line was electrified at 600 V DC.
  • April 1927: The corporate headquarters was relocated to the Tobu Railway headquarters in Tokyo.
  • 22 October 1929: gauge operation began on all the line.
  • 1931: The voltage was raised to 1,500 V.
  • 1 May 1943: Shimotsuke Electric Railway was bought out by Tobu Railway. The line became Tobu Kinugawa Line.
  • 9 October 1986: Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line through service began.
  • 12 October 1990: Aizu Railway Aizu Line through service to Aizu Tajima Station began.
  • 18 March 2006: New Kinugawa services to/from commence.
From 17 March 2012, station numbering was introduced on all Tobu lines, with Tobu Kinugawa Line stations adopting the prefix "TN" in orange.
A new station, called Tobu World Square Station, opened between and on 22 July 2017 to serve the nearby Tobu World Square theme park. From this date, Tobu World Square Station was numbered "TN-55", and the station numbers for to were adjusted on 21 April 2017, ahead of the opening.

Future developments

Steam-hauled services

Tobu has leased former JNR Class C11 steam locomotive C11 207 from JR Hokkaido for use on the 12.4 km section of the Kinugawa Line between and stations from 10 August 2017. Turntables will also be installed at and to turn the locomotive in service. A two-stall engine shed is also being constructed for the steam loco at Shimo-Imaichi.