Hisatsu Orange Railway

Hisatsu Orange Railway Line
Hisatsu Orange Railway Line
	Hisatsu Orange Railway 100 series train
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	Tanoura-
	Otachimisaki-Kōen
	↑ 1,416 m
	↓ 1,348 m
	Kagoshima
	Main Line
	Kyūshū
	Shinkansen
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

Hisatsu Orange Railway Co., Ltd. (肥薩おれんじ鉄道株式会社, Hisatsu Orenji Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a third-sector railway company which operates Hisatsu Orange Railway Line in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. The line follows the former part of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line that connected Yatsushiro and Sendai in Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures, known historically as Higo and Satsuma Provinces. The length of the line is 116.9 km.

Hisatsu Orange Railway went into service on March 13, 2004, when ownership was transferred from JR and the high speed Kyushu Shinkansen service began. The Hisatsu Orange Railway runs close to the Yatsushiro Sea and East China Sea and connects to the Kagoshima Main Line on both ends. The route is indirect and winding, but connects several cities along the coast.

Although the line is electrified and used by electric freight trains, due to budgetary limitations passenger service is provided by diesel railcars.

Shareholders in the railway include prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima, cities of Yatsushiro, Minamata, Izumi, Akune and Satsumasendai, towns of Tsunagi and Ashikita, and the Japan Freight Railway Company.

History

The Sendai–Yatsushiro section was built by the (then) Japanese Imperial Railway and opened between 1922 and 1927, at which time this route replaced the Hisatsu Line to become the southern part of the Kagoshima Main Line.

The Yunoura–Tsunagi section was duplicated between 1966 and 1968. CTC signalling was commissioned from Yatsushiro–Sendai in 1969/70, and the line was electrified in 1970.

In 2004, following the opening of the Kagoshima–Shin Yatsushiro section of the Kyushu Shinkansen, operation of the section was transferred under the Third Sector arrangements.

Former connecting lines

Minamata Station: The first section of the Yamano line was opened from Kurino (on the Hisatsu Line) 24 km to Yamano in 1921. The 14 km Minamata–Kugino section opened in 1934, and the 10 km Yamato–Satsuma section the following year. In 1937 the 8 km Kugino–Satsuma section, including the Okawa spiral opened. Freight services ceased in 1986, and the line closed in 1988.