Jōsō Line
Railway line in Japan
The Jōsō Line (常総線, Jōsō-sen) is a railway line in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Kantō Railway. It is a non-electrified line which connects Toride to Shimodate.
The Jōsō Line connects with the Tsukuba Express line, which opened in 2005, at Moriya Station, the only interchange other than at its two termini.
In fiscal 1999, the Jōsō Line carried an annual total of 14.16 million passengers (38,000 per day), making it the busiest non-electrified private line in Japan.
01Services
Almost all services on the Line are Local trains, stopping at every station. Approximately 5 services in each direction each day operate as Rapid trains, only stopping at major stations.
Travel from Toride to stations north of Mitsukaido generally requires a change of train at Mitsukaido, though connection times are short.
Toride to Mitsukaido
Services operate approximately every 10-15 minutes during morning & evening peak hours (every 15 minutes on weekends & holidays) and every 20 minutes at other times. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes.
Mitsukaido to Shimodate
Services operate approximately every 30-60 minutes, with some extra services between Mitsukaido and Shimotsuma. Travel time is approximately 50-60 minutes.
02Stations
| Name | Japanese | Between stations (km) | Distance (km) | Track | Rapid | Transfers | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toride | 取手 | - | 0.0 | Double | ● | Jōban Line | Toride | Ibaraki |
| Nishi-Toride | 西取手 | 1.6 | 1.6 | ● | ||||
| Terahara | 寺原 | 0.5 | 2.1 | ● | ||||
| Shin-Toride | 新取手 | 1.3 | 3.4 | ● | ||||
| Yumemino | ゆめみ野 | 0.8 | 4.2 | ● | ||||
| Inatoi | 稲戸井 | 1.2 | 5.4 | ● | ||||
| Togashira | 戸頭 | 0.9 | 6.3 | ● | ||||
| Minami-Moriya | 南守谷 | 1.1 | 7.4 | ● | Moriya | |||
| Moriya | 守谷 | 2.2 | 9.6 | ● | Tsukuba Express | |||
| Shin-Moriya | 新守谷 | 1.8 | 11.4 | ｜ | ||||
| Kokinu | 小絹 | 1.6 | 13.0 | ｜ | Tsukubamirai | |||
| Mitsukaidō | 水海道 | 4.5 | 17.5 | ● | Jōsō | |||
| Single | ||||||||
| Kita-Mitsukaidō | 北水海道 | 1.8 | 19.3 | ｜ | ||||
| Nakatsuma | 中妻 | 1.6 | 20.9 | ｜ | ||||
| Mitsuma | 三妻 | 3.0 | 23.9 | ｜ | ||||
| Minami-Ishige | 南石下 | 3.3 | 27.2 | ｜ | ||||
| Ishige | 石下 | 1.6 | 28.8 | ● | ||||
| Tamamura | 玉村 | 2.2 | 31.0 | ｜ | ||||
| Sōdō | 宗道 | 2.0 | 33.0 | ｜ | Shimotsuma | |||
| Shimotsuma | 下妻 | 3.1 | 36.1 | ● | ||||
| Daihō | 大宝 | 2.6 | 38.7 | ｜ | ||||
| Tobanoe | 騰波ノ江 | 2.3 | 41.0 | ｜ | ||||
| Kurogo | 黒子 | 2.6 | 43.6 | ｜ | Chikusei | |||
| Ōtagō | 大田郷 | 3.7 | 47.3 | ｜ | ||||
| Shimodate | 下館 | 3.8 | 51.1 | ● | ■ Mito Line ■ Mooka Railway Mooka Line | |||
03Rolling stock
- KiHa 0 series (ex-JNR KiHa 20)
- KiHa 100 series (driver-only-operation version of KiHa 300)
- KiHa 300 series (ex-JNR KiHa 30)
- KiHa 310 series (ex-JNR KiHa 16/17)
- KiHa 350 series (ex-JNR KiHa 30/35/36) (1987, 2012)
- KiHa 2100 series (introduced 1993)
- KiHa 2200 series (introduced 1997)
- KiHa 2300 series (introduced 2000)
- KiHa 2400 series (introduced 2004)
- KiHa 5000 series (introduced 2009)
- KiHa 5010 series (from February 2017)
04History
The Jōsō Railway opened the line on 1 November 1913. In 1945, the company merged with the Tsukuba Railway to form the Jōsō Tsukuba Railway, which merged with the Kanto Railway in 1965.
Originally all single-track, 17.5 kilometres (11 mi) of the line was doubled between Toride and Mitsukaidō by 15 November 1984. However, due to the limitations brought by the Kakioka Magnetic Observatory located in Ishioka, this line is still not electrified.
The KiHa 310 vehicles are scheduled for withdrawal in July 2023.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jōsō Line”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Kanto Railway 2304 Moriya Station 20080713.jpg by Chabata_k, CC BY-SA 3.0
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