Hachinohe Line

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Hachinohe Line
KiHa E130-500 series DMU running on Hachinohe Line
Overview
Other name(s)	Umineko Rail Hachinohe-Shinai Line
Native name	八戸線
Status	In operation
Owner	JR East
Locale	Aomori, Iwate prefectures
Termini	Hachinohe Kuji
Stations	25
Service
Type	Heavy rail
Operator(s)	JR East
Rolling stock	KiHa E130 series DMU
History
Opened	1894
Technical
Line length	64.9 km (40.3 mi)
Number of tracks	Entire line single tracked
Character	Rural
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	None
Operating speed	85 km/h (53 mph)
Route map Legend Nanbu Railway (defunct) Tōhoku Shinkansen ←Aoimori Railway Line 0.0 Hachinohe Aoimori Railway Line→ 1.7 Hachinohe Freight Terminal Hachinohe Rinkai Railway Line 2.7 Kita-Hachinohe Signal 3.4 Naganawashiro Mabechi River Hon-Hachinohe Freight Depot 5.5 0.0 Hon-Hachinohe 7.3 Konakano   2.7 Minato Station (defunct) 9.0 Mutsu-Minato Hachinohe Cement 10.3 Shirogane 11.8 Same 16.2 Purepai Shirahama Station (defunct) 17.5 Mutsu-Shirahama 19.6 Tanesashi-Kaigan 21.8 Ōkuki 24.8 Kanehama 25.8 Ōja 27.5 Hashikami Aomori-Iwate border 29.5 Kadonohama 32.1 Hiranai 34.2 Taneichi 38.1 Tamagawa 40.0 Shukunohe 43.1 Rikuchū-Yagi 45.8 Uge 48.4 Rikuchū-Nakano 54.4 Samuraihama 61.7 Rikuchū-Natsui 64.9 Kuji Sanriku Railway Kita Riasu Line

The Hachinohe Line (八戸線, Hachinohe-sen) is a railway line in the Tohoku Region of Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It links Hachinohe Station in Hachinohe, Aomori with Kuji Station in Kuji, Iwate. The line stretches 64.9 km along the Pacific Ocean coast with a total of 25 stations. The section between Hachinohe and Same stations is also known as the Umineko Rail Hachinohe-Shinai Line (うみねこレール八戸市内線).

Legend

◇, ∨, ∧ - Trains can pass each other at this station

｜ - Trains cannot pass

New KiHa E130-500 series diesel multiple unit trains were introduced on the Hachinohe Line from 2 December 2017, displacing the ageing KiHa 40 series DMUs.^[1] All services on the line will be operated by KiHa E130-500 series DMUs from the start of the revised timetable on 17 March 2018.^[1]

The fleet consists of six two-car units and six single-car units.^[2]

In 1894, a spur line connecting Shiriuchi (now Hachinohe) on the Tohoku Main Line with Hachinohe (now Hon-Hachinohe was completed. This line was soon extended south to the now-defunct Minato Station. After the nationalization of the Nippon Railway in 1907, the spur line was renamed the Hachinohe Line in 1909. From 1924, the line's name was written with its current characters, and the southern terminus of the line was extended to Taneichi in Iwate Prefecture. The following year it reached Rikuchū-Yagi, and in 1930 it reached its present southern terminus of Kuji where it connected to the Sanriku Railway Kita-Rias Line, which links Kuji with Miyako in southern Iwate. Freight operations were phased out at most stations between 1982 and 1986.^{[citation needed]}

With the privatization of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987, the Hachinohe Line came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), with remaining freight operations transferred to the Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) at Hachinohe Freight Terminal.

The line was damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and services were suspended on the section between Taneichi and Kuji, with a number of vehicles trapped at Kuji Station. Services over the entire line resumed on March 17, 2012.^[3]

• List of railway lines in Japan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hachinohe Line.

• JR East website (in Japanese)