Hakone Tozan Line

The Hakone Tozan Line (箱根登山鉄道線, Hakone Tozan Tetsudō-sen, lit. Hakone Mountain-Climbing Railroad Line) is a mountain railway in Japan operated by the Hakone Tozan Railway. This company belongs to the Odakyu Group, and also owns the Hakone Tozan Cable Car.

Hakone Tozan Line
Hakone Tozan Railway 1000 series trainset "Bernina" at Gōra Station
Overview
Native name箱根登山鉄道線
OwnerOdakyu Group
LocaleKanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Stations11
Service
Operator(s)Hakone Tozan Railway
Depot(s)Iriuda
Technical
Line length15.0 km (9.3 mi)
Number of tracks1
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Highest elevation553 m (1,814 ft)
Hakone Tozan Railway 2000 series trainset "St. Moritz" at Odawara Station in 2006

The section of the line from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station started operations in 1919, with current terminus Gōra reached in 1930. Since 2006, only Odakyū Odawara Line trains run on the section from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station, as that section was converted from dual-gauge (standard and narrow) to just narrow-gauge. From Gora, visitors can continue up the mountain on the Hakone Tozan Cable Car.

The railway is capable of climbing one meter vertically for every 12.5 meters of horizontal distance, a maximum gradient of 8%. The line traverses Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, so the line was carefully designed to limit the impact on scenery. Due to the difficult conditions, the line has three switchbacks used to ascend particularly steep sections.

The section of the line between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora was suspended in October 2019 due to heavy damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis.[1] On July 9th 2020, after repairs had been completed, test trains began running over the line with the expectation that the whole service would be restored and resumed on July 23rd.[2]

Description
A 3000 series car on the 8% gradient near Hakone-Yumoto Station
Dual-gauge section at Iriuda Station
  • Length: 15.0 km (9.3 mi)
  • Gauge:
    • Odawara - Iriuda: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
    • Iriuda - Hakone-Yumoto: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (dual gauge)
    • Hakone-Yumoto - Gōra: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
  • Stations: 11 (including termini)
  • Track: single
  • Power:
  • Block system: Automatic (cab signal/digital) (CTC)

Stations
  • Trains: "S" = All stop, "|" = All pass.
No. Stations/
Signal Stations		 Japanese Distance
(km)		 Elevation
(m)		 Stops Location
(in Kanagawa)
Limited
Express		 Local Local
OH-47 Odawara 小田原   0.0 26 S S   Odawara
OH-48 Hakone-Itabashi 箱根板橋 1.7 1.7 27 | S
OH-49 Kazamatsuri 風祭 1.5 3.2 48 | S
OH-50 Iriuda 入生田 1.0 4.2 66 | S (terminus)
OH-51 Hakone-Yumoto 箱根湯本 1.9 6.1 108 S S S Hakone,
Ashigarashimo
District
OH-52 Tōnosawa 塔ノ沢 1.0 7.1 165 (terminus,
from/to
Shinjuku
(some from/to
Kita-Senju))		 (terminus,
from/to
Shin-Matsuda)		 S
– Deyama Switchback 出山信号場 1.2 8.3 234 No passengers
OH-53 Ōhiradai 大平台 1.6 9.9 349 S
– Kami-Ōhiradai Switchback 上大平台信号場 0.5 10.4 359 No passengers
– Sennindai Signal Stop 仙人台信号場 0.8 11.2 410 No passengers
OH-54 Miyanoshita 宮ノ下 0.9 12.1 448 S
OH-55 Kowakidani 小涌谷 1.3 13.4 535 S
OH-56 Chōkoku-no-Mori 彫刻の森 0.9 14.3 551 S
OH-57 Gōra 強羅 0.7 15.0 553 S
  • Transfers:
  • Hakone-Yumoto Station is the terminus for all Hakone Tozan Line trains.
  • On the Odawara - Hakone-Yumoto section, Limited Express "Romancecar" and Local trains run through to and from the Odakyu Odawara Line.
  • Section between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra is operated by local trains only, using Hakone Tozan 2/3-car EMUs.
    • Trains stop at three signal stops which have no passenger platforms.
    • There are three switchbacks: Deyama, Ōhiradai, and Kami-Ōhiradai.
  • Journey time between Odawara - Hakone-Yumoto is approximately 15 minutes, Hakone-Yumoto - Gōra is approximately 40 minutes, Shinjuku - Hakone-Yumoto is approximately an hour and 25–35 minutes by limited express.

Signal stops

There are three signal stops on the Hakone Tozan Line in addition to the regular passenger stations. All of them have a siding track and two of them have switchbacks.

Deyama Switchback

Signal stop with a switchback. 234 m AMSL. 35°13′57″N 139°05′14″E

Kami-Ōhiradai Switchback

Signal stop with a switchback near Ōhiradai station which also has a switchback. 359 m AMSL. 35°14′08″N 139°04′32″E

Sennindai Signal Stop

Signal stop without a switchback. 410 m AMSL. 35°14′18″N 139°04′09″E

  • Deyama switchback
  • Kami-Ōhiradai switchback
  • Sennindai signal stop

Rolling stock

Hakone Tozan Railway (Hakone-Yumoto - Gōra)
  • MoHa 1
  • MoHa 2
  • 1000 series ("Bernina", named after the Rhätische Bahn Line in Switzerland)
  • 2000 series ("St. Moritz")
  • 3000 series (since November 2014)[3]
  • 3100 series two-car EMU (since May 2017)[4]
  • MoNi 1 (non-revenue car)

All trains are based at Iriuda Depot.

Former

Romancecar EMUs

Commuter EMUs

History
Map of the Hakone Tozan Railway
  • October 1, 1888: Odawara Horse-drawn Railway opens from Kōzu Station via Odawara Station, to Hakone-Yumoto Station.
  • October 31, 1896: Operating company name is changed to Odawara Electric Railway.
  • March 21, 1900: Line is electrified (as a tram, 600 V DC).
  • June 1, 1919: Line opens between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra as an electrified (600 V DC) funicular railway.
  • December 16, 1920: Tram line closes between Kōzu - Odawara, and connected with the JGR (now JR) Tōkaidō Main Line at Odawara.
  • August 16, 1928: Hakone Tozan Railway is founded.
  • October 1, 1935: Mainline railway is extended from Hakone-Yumoto to Odawara. Tram line remains between Odawara - Hakone-Itabashi, and is renamed the "Odawara Town Line".
  • December 20, 1940: Tram section is renamed "Odawara City Line".
  • June 1, 1948: Hakone Tozan Railway becomes part of the Odakyu Group.
  • August 1, 1950: Odakyu Electric Railway begins operating Limited Express and Express trains from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto. The line voltage is changed to 1,500 V DC for the dual gauge section between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto.
  • June 1, 1956: Odawara City Line (tram) is abandoned.
  • July 14, 1993: Hakone-Yumoto - Gōra section is uprated from 600 to 750 V DC. Operations start using 3-car EMUs.
  • March 18, 2006: Hakone Tozan Railway discontinues operation using its own units between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto. Dual-gauge section reduced to Iriuda - Hakone-Yumoto.
  • March 15, 2008: New Odakyu "Romancecar" through service starts from Kita-Senju Station.
  • October 12, 2019: The section between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora closed due to severe damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis. The heavy rains caused landslides over the tracks and washed away ballast.[1] In November 2019, the railway announced that repairs would keep the line closed until the fall of 2020.[5]
  • On July 9th 2020, test trains began running on the fixed line with services scheduled to begin on July 23rd.[2]

Microsoft Train Simulator

This route appears in Microsoft Train Simulator complete with scenarios simulating prototypical operation (Only from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto).

References
  1. Kinoshita, Shotaro (18 October 2019). "Famous Japan mountain railway to take months to recover after Typhoon Hagibis: operator". mainichi.jp. The Mainichi. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  2. Murano, Eiichi (9 July 2020). "Test runs begin to resume trains along Hakone mountain route". asahi.com. The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. 箱根登山鉄道3000形を導入 [Hakone Tozan Railway to introduce 3000 series]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 6 June 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  4. 箱根登山鉄道，3100形を導入 [Hakone Tozan Railway to introduce 3100 series]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 6 December 2016. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  5. "箱根湯本駅－強羅駅間の運転再開の見込みについて" [Expected Resumption of Operation between Hakone-Yumoto Station and Gora Station] (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). Hakone Tozan Railway. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.