The is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aizu-Wakamatsu Station at Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture with Koide Station at Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture.
The line opened in discontinuous stages between 1928 and 1971. Because of trouble financing rainstorm damage repairs, the line had no rail service between and station from July 2011 until October 2022. During this time, a replacement bus operated between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami. Full service on the line resumed on 1 October 2022.
Services
All trains are local (all-stations) services, with approximately eight to nine trains in each direction per day. Only three round-trips operate over the entire line, and some seasonal trains operate through onto the line from the Ban'etsu West and Jōetsu lines. Due to the many curves on the line trains take over four hours to traverse its 135.2 km (84.0 mi) length.JR Timetable, December 2010 issue
Station list All trains stop at every station. Trains can pass each other at stations marked "◇", "∨", "∧"; they cannot pass at those marked "｜".
StationJapaneseDistance (km)Transfers LocationBetweenstationsTotal会津若松 –0.0 Ban'etsu West Line∨AizuwakamatsuFukushima七日町1.31.3 ｜西若松1.83.1 Aizu Railway Aizu LineAll Aizu Line trains run through to Aizu-Wakamatsu Station.◇会津本郷3.46.5 ｜会津高田4.811.3 ｜Aizumisato, Ōnuma District根岸3.514.8 ｜新鶴2.016.8 ｜若宮2.118.9 ｜Aizubange, Kawanuma District会津坂下2.721.6 ◇塔寺4.426.0 ｜会津坂本3.729.7 ｜会津柳津3.633.3 ｜Yanaizu, Kawanuma District郷戸3.636.9 ｜滝谷2.739.6 ｜会津桧原1.941.5 ｜Mishima, Ōnuma District会津西方2.243.7 ｜会津宮下1.745.4 ◇早戸5.851.2 ｜会津水沼3.955.1 ｜Kaneyama, Ōnuma District会津中川3.258.3 ｜会津川口2.560.8 ◇本名2.863.6 ｜会津越川6.470.0 ｜会津横田3.273.2 ｜会津大塩2.275.4 ｜会津塩沢5.580.9 ｜Tadami, Minamiaizu District会津蒲生3.083.9 ｜只見4.588.4 ◇()(田子倉) 6.890.7 Station Closed 16 March 2013◇大白川19.5109.2 ◇UonumaNiigata()(柿ノ木)3.2112.4 Station Closed 14 March 2015｜入広瀬6.4115.6 ｜上条3.1118.7 ｜越後須原4.4123.1 ｜魚沼田中3.9127.0 ｜越後広瀬2.5129.5 ｜藪神2.1131.6 ｜小出3.6135.2 Jōetsu Line∧
History Openings The eastern section of the line from to opened in 1928. The eastern section was extended to in 1941 and to in 1956. At that time, the Tagokura Dam was under construction and a light railway was built to link Aizu-Kawaguchi with the construction site in order to transport construction material. In 1963, after the dam was completed, the construction railway was upgraded and opened to as part of the eastern section.
In the meantime, the western section of the line, from to , had opened in 1942. In 1971, the two sections were connected with the opening of the passenger only line between Oshirakawa and Tadami.
Closures Freight services ceased between 1980 and 1982.
Damage from heavy rain storms in July 2011 forced the section of the line between and to be closed. The section between and Ōshirakawa was reopened on 1 October 2012, but the restoration of the remaining section between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami proved more problematic. Eventually, JR East reached an agreement with Fukushima Prefecture under which the prefecture would buy the rail infrastructure and land while hiring out its operation to JR East. After 11 years with a replacement bus service, the closed section resumed operations on 1 October 2022.
Tagokura Station, located between Ōshirakawa and , was closed in 2013. Kakinoki Station, between and , was closed in 2015. Both of these station closures were due to very low usage.
Rolling stock KiHa E120 - Since March 2020 KiHa 110 series - Since July 2020
Former KiHa 40 series - Until July 2020 KiHa 58 series
Gallery
References
External links
Travel Pamphlet "Travel by Tadami Line" (Tadami River Power Source Region Promotion Association) Video "Travel around Oku Aizu" (YouTube) JR Tadami Line (Tadami Town Tourism Institute Planning Society) Oku-Aizu Bu-Ra-Ri Journey (Aizu Bus)
Timetable Timetable of Tadami Line, as of April 2020 (Tadami Line Portal Website) Timetable of bus-operated section (Aizu-Kawaguchi - Tadami) (Kaneyama Town Government)
Station list Stations of the Tadami Line (JR East)