Uchiko Line


The Uchiko Line is the name of a short section of railway line that was originally a branch line before a section of it was upgraded and became part of the Yosan Line. It connects in Uchiko, Kita District to in Ōzu, entirely in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Japan, and operated by the Shikoku Railway Company. The line is operationally part of the Yosan Line, and retains it separate name due to the Japanese naming convention which requires a formal change of name, which has not occurred in this case.

Services

The line is served by Limited Express trains between Okayama, Takamatsu or Matsuyama and Uwajima, and Local trains between Matsuyama or Iyoshi and Iyo-Ōzu, Yawatahama or Uwajima.

Stations

History

The line was originally built by the Ehime Railway as a light railway line from Wakamiya Junction, near Nagahama-machi to Uchiko, opening on May 1, 1920.
On October 1, 1933, the line was nationalised and the name Ehime Line was assigned to both lines. Both lines were regauged to, the national standard, on October 6, 1935, the same day when the Ehime Line was incorporated into the Yosan Main Line, which reached Iyo-Nagahama from Matsuyama. That day, the line from Gorō to Uchiko gained its own identity as the Uchiko Line, while the Yosan line was extended onwards from a junction at Gorō in stages to Uwajima between 19 September 1936 and 20 June 1945.
Freight operations ceased on December 1, 1971.
On November 25, 1985, the line was closed and the passenger service was replaced by buses to allow heavier rails to be laid, the railbed to be strengthened, and curves to be relaxed. The next year, on March 3, the upgraded line between Uchiko and a point 2.5 km west of Niiya, together with new sections of the Yosan Main Line from Mukaibara to Uchiko and the point 2.5 km west of Niiya to a new junction 2.5 km east of Iyo-Ōzu, with Centralised Traffic Control along all sections, opened as a shortcut route between Matsuyama and Uwajima. The curve section from the point 2.5 km west of Niiya to the junction at Gorō was closed.
In 1987 JNR was regionalised and privatised, and the Uchiko Line came under the control of Shikoku Railway Company, with Japan Freight Railway Company operating services on the line. JR Freight subsequently ceased to run services on the line on April 1, 2006.