Yōrō Railway Yōrō Line

The nihongo|Yōrō Line|養老線|Yōrō-sen is a railway line of a Japanese private railway operator Nihongo|Yōrō Railway|養老鉄道|Yōrō Tetsudō. The line connects Kuwana Station in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture and Ibi Station in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture.

Northern portion of ja-stalink|Ōgaki is locally and unofficially called Nihongo|Ibi Line|揖斐線|Ibi-sen, because of no trains operated through the station.

Kintetsu Corporation, one of largest private railway companies in Japan, owns the tracks and rolling stocks of the line whereon Yōrō Railway (II), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kintetsu operates trains as of October 1, 2007.

Descriptions

*Company: Yōrō Railway (Category-2), Kintetsu Railway (Category-3)
*Length: 57.5km
*Gauge: 1067mm
*Power: Electric 1500V DC
*No. of stations: 27 incl. both ends
*Track: single
*Maximum speed: 65km/h
*Operation: All Local trains

History

Initially steam powered, the line was constructed by Yōrō Railway (I) and opened in 1913 between ja-stalink|Yōrō - ja-stalink|Ōgaki - ja-stalink|Ikeno, in 1919 present stretch completed with extensions of Yōrō - ja-stalink|Kuwana and Ikeno - ja-stalink|Ibi. Yōrō Railway merged with Nihongo|Ibi River Electric|揖斐川電気|Ibigawa Denki and in the following year 1923 the line was electrified (1500V DC). In 1928 its railway was transferred to Nihongo|Yōrō Electric Railway|養老電気鉄道|Yōrō Denki Tetsudō. Since then operator has changed several times, namely in 1929 the Nihongo|Ise Electric Railway|伊勢電気鉄道|Ise Denki Tetsudō, in 1936 Nihongo|Yōrō Dentetsu|養老電鉄, in 1940 Nihongo|Sangu Kyūkō Railway|参宮急行電鉄|Sangū Kyūkō Dentetsu, in 1941 Nihongo|Kansai Kyūkō Railway|関西急行鉄道|Kansai Kyūkō Tetsudō, finally in 1944 Nihongo|Kinki Nippon railway|近畿日本鉄道|Kinki Nippon Tetsudō which is the present Kintetsu.

On the typhoon strike in 1959, Nagoya Line was regauged to 1435mm, the Kintetsu standard which enables through trains to Osaka, but Yōrō Line remained 1067mm partly due to through freight trains to the then Japanese National Railways (JNR) at Ōgaki and Kuwana, because the line is shorter between these stations than JNR lines and used as the shortcut.

With accumulating deficit, Kintetsu Corporation decided to split off the operation of the Yōrō Line in 2007. Local governments along the line made an agreement of financial aid to the Yōrō Railway until 2010.

tations

Connections

At ja-stalink|Kuwana
*Kintetsu: Nagoya Line
*Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Kansai Main LineAt ja-stalink|Ōgaki
*JR Central: Tōkaidō Main Line (the main line and the "Mino-Akasaka branch line")
*Tarumi Railway: Tarumi Line

External links

* [http://www.yororailway.co.jp/ Official website]