Fukui Railway Fukubu Line

The Fukui Railway Fukubu Line (福井鉄道福武線, Fukui Tetsudō Fukubu-sen) is a 21.4 km railway line operated by Fukui Railway in Fukui Prefecture. The line runs from Echizen-Takefu Station in Echizen to Tawaramachi and Fukui-Ekimae stations in Fukui. Although it has its own right-of-way for most of the route, the Fukubu Line runs with traffic as a tram line past Fukui-Shin Station.

Fukui Railway Fukubu Line
Fukutetsu Series 200 (left) and Series 770 trains near Daimyōmachi intersection
Overview
Owner	Fukui Railway
Locale	Fukui Prefecture
Termini	Echizen-Takefu Fukui-Ekimae / Tawaramachi
Stations	23
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Light rail, Interurban
History
Opened	1924
Technical
Line length	21.4 km[1]
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	600 V DC, overhead catenary
Operating speed	65 km/h[1] 40 km/h on street-running sections
Route map Hokuriku Main Line Takefu 0.0 Echizen-Takefu 0.6 Kitago Nanetsu Line 1.7 Sports Kōen 2.4 Iehisa 4.1 Sundome Nishi 5.3 Nishi-Sabae 6.0 Nishiyama-Kōen Seiho Line 7.3 Mizuochi 8.5 Shinmei 9.7 Tobanaka 10.2 Nishi-Tobanaka -1935 10.9 Sanjūhassha 13.0 Asōzu 13.8 Harmony Hall 15.5 Ebata 16.1 Bell-mae 16.9 Hanandō 17.8 Sekijūjimae 18.1 Street-running limit 18.4 Kidayotsutsuji 18.6 Fujishima Jinja-mae -1962 18.9 Kōenguchi 19.0 Keya-machi -1962 Hokuriku Main Line Honchō-dōri -2002 20.1 Fukui-Ekimae 19.6 Shiyakushomae Echizen Railway 20.2 Jin'ai Joshikōkō 20.4 Matsumoto-dōri -1964 20.9 Tawaramachi Mikuni Awara Line

History

Fukui Railway 200 series train original livery.

Fukui Railway F1000 low-floor vehicles at Takefu

The Fukubu Electric Railway (福武電気鉄道, Fukubu Denki Tetsudō) opened the Fukubu Line on 23 February 1924[1] for the purposes of transporting soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army Sabae 36th Regiment between Takefu-Shin and Heiei (兵営) (now Shinmei) stations.

• 23 February 1924: Fukubu Electric Railway opens the Fukubu Line between Takefu-Shin and Heiei (now Shinmei).[1]
• 26 July 1925: Heiei – Fukui-Shin (now Sekijūjimae) section opens.[1]
• 5 June 1927: Sanjūhassha Station opens.[2]
• 5 October 1927: Mizuochi Station opens;[2] former transfer station for the Seiho Electric Railway.
• 13 August 1929: Kami-Sabae (now Sundome Nishi), Shimo-Sabae (now Nishiyama-Kōen) stations open.
• 15 October 1933: Fukui-Shin – Fukui-Ekimae section opens.
• 1 October 1935: Tobanaka Station opens; Nishi-Tobanaka Station (between Heiei and Tobanaka) closes.[2]
• April 1939: Heiei Station is renamed Chūō Station.
• 1 April 1941: Express service begins.
• 1 August 1945: Fukubu Electric Railway merges with Seiho Electric Railway to form Fukui Railway.[1]
• June 1946: Chūō Station renamed Shinmei Station.
• 12 July 1950: Hanandō – Fukui-Shin section double-tracked.
• 27 November 1950: Honmachi-dōri — Fukui-Shin section opens. Daimyōmachi Station is renamed Honmachi-dōri Station.
• 1 April 1962: Keyamachi Station moved and renamed Kōenguchi Station. Fujishima-Jinja-mae Station (between Kidayotsutsuji and Kōenguchi) closes.[2]
• 11 December 1964: Matsumoto-dōri Station (between Saibanshomae and Tawaramachi) closes. Saibanshomae Station moved towards Tawaramachi.
• 1 September 1969: Service between Hanandō, Fukui-Ekimae, and Tawaramachi abolished; all trains run through to Takefu-Shin Station.
• 2 October 1979: Freight services discontinued.[1]
• 10 April 1980: Centralized traffic control (CTC) introduced.[1]
• 1 August 1985: Driver-only operation introduced on morning and evening services.[1]
• 10 April 1987: Shimo-Sabae Station renamed Nishiyama-Kōen Station.
• 1 October 1989: Hanandō-Minami Station opens.
• 20 January 1993: All trains equipped with ATS.[1]
• 15 April 1993: Hanandō-Minami Station renamed Bell-mae Station.
• 20 September 1997: Harmony Hall Station opens.
• 30 November 1998: Daytime service interval changed to 20 minutes.[1]
• 15 July 2002: Honmachi-dōri Station (between Kōenguchi and Shiyakushomae) closed.
• 1 December 2003: Part of Shiyakushomae — Fukui-Ekimae section single-tracked due to construction around Fukui Station.
• 30 September 2004: Semi-express service abolished.
• January–March 2006: All station platforms modified to serve low-floor vehicles.
• 1 April 2006: Low-floor trains enter service. Last departure time brought forward 30 minutes.
• 16 December 2007: Daytime shuttle trains begin service between Fukui-Ekimae and Tawaramachi.

On March 25, 2010, Sports-Kōen Station was established between the Nishi-Takefu and Iehisa stations. At the same time, five stations were renamed: Takefu-Shin to Echizen-Takefu; Nishi-Takefu to Kitago; Kami-Sabae to Sundome-Nishi; Fukui-Shin to Sekijūjimae; and Saibanshomae to Jin'ai-Joshikōkō.[3][4]

Station list

• All stations are located in Fukui Prefecture.
• Express (急行) trains stop at stations marked "●", pass those marked "｜", and only a few stop at those marked "○". Most local trains stop at all stations but some pass those marked "○".
• Staff:
  • ◎ - Present all day
  • ○ - Present except early mornings and late nights
  • ◇ - Present during peak hours only
  • △ - Present during holidays only
  • × - Unstaffed
  • ※ - Present during events only

Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Express	Staff	Transfers	Location
		Between Stations	Total
Echizen-Takefu	越前武生	-	0.0	●	◎	West Japan Railway Company (JR West): Hokuriku Main Line (Takefu)	Echizen
Kitago	北府	0.6	0.6	●	×
Sports Kōen	スポーツ公園	1.1	1.7	｜	×
Iehisa	家久	0.7	2.4	●	×
Sundome Nishi	サンドーム西	1.7	4.1	｜	×		Sabae
Nishi-Sabae	西鯖江	1.2	5.3	●	○
Nishiyama-Kōen	西山公園	0.7	6.0	｜	※
Mizuochi	水落	1.3	7.3	●	×
Shinmei	神明	1.2	8.5	●	○
Tobanaka	鳥羽中	1.2	9.7	｜	×
Sanjūhassha	三十八社	1.2	10.9	｜	×		Fukui
Taichō no Sato	泰澄の里	1.3	12.2	｜	×
Asōzu	浅水	0.8	13.0	●	○
Harmony Hall	ハーモニーホール	0.8	13.8	｜	×
Seimei	清明	1.1	14.9	｜	×
Ebata	江端	0.6	15.5	｜	×
Bell-mae	ベル前	0.6	16.1	●	△
Hanandō	花堂	0.8	16.9	｜	×
Sekijūjimae	赤十字前	0.9	17.8	●	○
Shokokaigishomae	商工会議所前	0.6	18.4	●	×
Asuwayamakoenguchi	足羽山公園口	0.5	18.9	●	×
Fukui Castle Ruins-daimyomachi	福井城址大名町	0.7	19.6	●	◇
Fukui-eki	福井駅	0.5	20.1	○	×	JR West: Hokuriku Main Line (Fukui) Echizen Railway: Katsuyama Eiheiji Line (Fukui)
Jin'ai Joshikōkō	仁愛女子高校	0.6*	20.2	●	×
Tawaramachi	田原町	0.7	20.9	●	×	Echizen Railway: Mikuni Awara Line (Some through to Washizuka-Haribara)

• Note that distances for Jin'ai Joshikōkō and Tawaramachi Stations are measured from Shiyakushomae Station.[1]

References

1. Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄 (Databook: Japan's Private Railways). Japan: Neko Publishing. ISBN 4-87366-874-3.
2. 今井恵介監修『日本鉄道旅行地図 6号 北信越』新潮社、2008年、p.25
3. 福武線に新駅「スポーツ公園駅」　来月２５日開業－－今年３月　／福井 Archived 2010-02-21 at the Wayback Machine Fukui Shimbun, February 19, 2010. (in Japanese)
4. 平成22年3月25日 ダイヤ改正！ Fukui Railway. (in Japanese)

External links

• Fukui Railway (in Japanese)