The disappearing super local line "Nicchu Line" [Fukushima Prefecture]

Yuto Ono
2024.07.16
Last updated: 2025.04.01

table of contents

1 What is the Nicchu Line?
2 The Nicchu Line, which failed to become a line connecting Yonezawa and Kitakata
3 Japan-China Line Memorial Museum
- 3.1 Information <Nicchu Line Memorial Museum>
4 Weeping cherry blossoms on the Nicchu Line Memorial Cycling and Pedestrian Path
- 4.1 Google Map
5 summary

Kitakata City in the west of Fukushima Prefecture, famous for its Kitakata ramen, is served
Ban'etsu West The Ban'etsu West Line runs from Koriyama Station in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, through Aizuwakamatsu Station in Aizuwakamatsu City, and on to Niitsu Station in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture. The line
connects the Nakadori region of Fukushima Prefecture with Aizu and Niigata City, and on holidays, the steam locomotive " SL Ban'etsu Monogatari " runs between Niitsu Station and Aizuwakamatsu Station, and the tourist train " Aizu SATONO " runs between Koriyama Station and Kitakata Station.

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

A great ride through Fukushima and Yamagata prefectures! New tourist train "SATONO"

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/32193

There is a sightseeing train called ``SATONO'' that just debuted in the Tohoku region in April 2024. In this article, we will introduce the operating sections and days of this new sightseeing train, how to ride it, and sightseeing spots along the line. What is "SATONO"? "SATONO" is the nickname of the JR East sightseeing train that just debuted in April 2024. The origin of the nickname comes from the desire to enjoy the scenery, scents, and culture of the ``hometown'' from the train. As of June 2024, SATONO is scheduled to be used on two types of trains. One is the Aizu SATO, which operates between Koriyama Station and Kitakata Station on the Banetsu West Line in Fukushima Prefecture.

Kitakata Station, the central station of Kitakata City, is currently the only station that serves trains on the Ban'etsu West Line, but until 1984, when JR was still the predecessor of Japan National Railways, another line also ran through the station.
This line was called the Nichichu Line .

What is the Nicchu Line?

The Nicchu Line was an 11.6km long Japanese National Railways line that connected Kitakata Atsushio Station in Atsushio-Kano (Atsushio-Kano Village became Kitakata City in 2006).
There were three stations along the line, named Aizu-Muramatsu, Kami-Sannomiya, and Aizu-Kano, respectively, from Kitakata Station.
The name Nicchu Line comes from Nicchu Onsen

Although the Nicchu Line is a line that has already been discontinued, it is often talked about an extremely quiet local line and a line that conveys the image of railways from the old days .

When the Nicchu Line first opened in 1938, it is said that there were six round trips per day.
However, the number of trains gradually decreased, and by around 1958 it had settled down to
just three round trips per day It is surprising that such a low number of trains was already in operation at a time when the explosive growth of private cars had yet to occur.

was discontinued on April 1, 1984, with only three round trips per day.
The oldest timetable I have is from September 1964, so no matter which timetable I look at, there are three round trips per day, and the train times haven't changed much.
For example, the timetable from November 1982 lists the following six trains.

Train 621: Departs Aizu-Wakamatsu at 5:17, arrives Kitakata at 5:40, departs Kitakata at 6:12, arrives Atsushio at 6:41
(This train is the only one that departs from Aizu-Wakamatsu Station and transfers from the Ban'etsu West Line to the Nichiu Line at Kitakata Station.)
Train 623: Departs Kitakata at 16:10 and arrives at Atsushio at 16:38
Train 625 leaves Kitakata at 18:25 and arrives at Atsushio at 18:53
Train 622 leaves Atsushio at 7:06 and arrives in Kitakata at 7:35
Train 624: Departs Atsushio at 17:01 and arrives Kitakata at 17:37
Train 626: Departs Atsushio at 19:08 and arrives Kitakata at 19:36

As you can see from the timetable, trains arriving at Atsushio Station would turn around in about 20 minutes and return to Kitakata Station, repeating this three times a day: in the morning, evening, and night, making for a very straightforward operation.
Despite its name, the Nicchu Line, it is legendary that no trains ran during the day. The Nicchu
Line's users were mainly local high school students, and it is said that the number of users per kilometer per day was around 260

Additionally, Atsushiokano Village was once a site of gypsum, silver, and copper ore, and until October 1983, freight transport was also carried out on the Nicchu Line.
On this line, which has a low volume of traffic, passenger cars are coupled with freight cars, and the trains are pulled together by a locomotive.
This type of train is called a mixed train.
Each Nicchu Line train takes nearly 30 minutes to cover the 11.6 km route, which gives the impression of being quite leisurely, but this is due to the trains' slow operating speeds and the time allowed for loading and unloading of freight along the way.

Steam locomotives were used to pull the train until 1974, and it was
the last steam locomotive to pull When the steam locomotives ceased operation, many railway fans flocked to the train.
One of the locomotives that ran as the last steam locomotive on Honshu is preserved in the Nicchu Line Memorial Bicycle and Pedestrian Path, which uses the abandoned Nicchu Line track, which will be described later.

C11 steam locomotive No. 63 preserved on the Nicchu Line Memorial Bicycle and Pedestrian Path

Even after steam locomotives ceased operation, trains on the Nicchu Line continued to be pulled by DE10 diesel locomotives.
Diesel railcars (self-propelled passenger cars that run on diesel) were never introduced.

The Nichiu Line is often discussed among railway enthusiasts, but there was no way such a deserted local line could survive the final days of the JNR era.
Under the 1980 Special Act for Promoting the Reconstruction of the Japanese National Railways (commonly known as the JNR Reconstruction Act), the Nichiu Line was designated as a first-stage designated local line.
Designated local lines are JNR lines with low ridership and suitable for conversion to buses.
Designation was carried out over three stages the first stage's criteria (significantly more lenient than the second and third stages) of "a dead-end route with an operating distance of less than 30 km and fewer than 2,000 passengers per kilometer per day" and was mercilessly targeted for closure .
Its final day was March 31, 1984, and it was abolished the following April 1.
While route buses began operating in place of the Nichiu Line, even those were discontinued in 2012. Nowadays, public transportation requires on-demand taxis.

The Nicchu Line, which failed to become a line connecting Yonezawa and Kitakata

The Nicchu Line was not destined to be a quiet, short local line from the moment it was planned. The
prewar plan was a railway from Yonezawa in Yamagata Prefecture to Kitakata in Fukushima Prefecture , and the Nicchu Line opened in 1938 as part of that project.

There was even a plan to connect the railway between Yonezawa and Kitakata with lines equivalent to the current Yagan Railway Aizu-Kinugawa Line and Aizu Railway Aizu Line, running from Imaichi Station on the current JR Nikko Line in Tochigi Prefecture to Yonezawa via Aizu-Wakamatsu.
If the plan had been realized, there might have been express and limited express trains that left Ueno Station in Tokyo, passing through stations such as Utsunomiya, Imaichi, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Kitakata, Yonezawa, Yamagata, and Shinjo, before reaching Akita Station.
The Nicchu Line (or a line equivalent) could have served as a bypass for the Tohoku Main Line, which runs through the Tohoku region.

Also, from a Japanese historical perspective, it may be interesting to note that Aizuwakamatsu and Yonezawa are connected by a short distance.
Both places were once ruled by the famous Uesugi Kagekatsu.
Tenchijin broadcast in 2009 , featured Naoe Kanetsugu, who served Uesugi Kagekatsu, as the main character, so that year, a special train related to the drama may have been operated between Aizuwakamatsu Station and Yonezawa Station.

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

Three Sengoku warlords from Yamagata Prefecture! Mogami Yoshimitsu, Naoe Kanetsu, Shimura Mitsuyasu

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/10204

During the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, a major battle known as the Keicho Dewa War took place in Yamagata Prefecture. The battle between the Mogami forces of the Eastern Army, based at Yamagata Castle, and the Uesugi forces of Aizu and Yonezawa, who sided with the Western Army, was a fierce battle that has been passed down through generations. What was the other Sekigahara, the "Keicho Dewa War"? After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, on July 24th, while Tokugawa Ieyasu was marching to conquer Uesugi Kagekatsu in Aizu, Ishida Mitsunari raised an army at Osaka Castle, declaring his intention to overthrow Ieyasu. Ieyasu, who was in Shimotsuke (Tochigi Prefecture), returned to Edo, and the Tohoku generals who had gathered for the Aizu campaign also returned to their castles. Ieyasu and Hidetada split up and marched along the Tokaido and Nakasendo roads, setting out for Edo...

Returning to reality, construction work from Atsushio to Yonezawa was halted due to the effects of the war.
Even after the war, construction over the O-Toge Pass, which straddles the border between Fukushima and Yamagata prefectures, was expected to be difficult, and construction of the railway was never resumed. As
a result, the transportation network connecting Kitakata and Yonezawa currently exists in the form of a section of National Route 121, but the bus route on this road was never busy with passengers.
Earlier, I imagined the Nicchu Line as a bypass for the Tohoku Main Line, but its importance as a bypass route would likely have been lost either with the opening of the Tohoku Shinkansen in 1982 or the Yamagata Shinkansen in 1992.
If that had happened, it would almost certainly have become sparsely populated by the railway over the O-Toge Pass, just like the bus route in real life. It
may have been discontinued due to declining usage, or even if it had continued, its abolition may have been under discussion by now.

Japan-China Line Memorial Museum

The Atsushio Station building, which was the terminus of the Nicchu Line, was a nostalgic structure that had been in use since the line opened in 1938, but as the line was nearing closure, it fell into a pitiful state of disrepair despite still being an active station.
However, after the line was closed, the building was beautifully restored and preserved as
the Nicchu Line Memorial Museum Inside the museum, materials related to the Nicchu Line are on display.

Outside the station building, a snowplow and passenger cars are preserved. There are also
remains of a turntable that was used to change the direction of steam locomotives
(however, in reality, the turntable was rarely used, and steam locomotives usually operated in reverse one way).

Information <Nicchu Line Memorial Museum>

Name: Nicchu Line Memorial Museum
Address: 602-2 Maedacho, Atsushio, Atsushio-Kanocho, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture
Opening hours: 9:00-16:00 (exterior viewing is always available)
Closed on Mondays, December 29th to January 3rd of the following year (exterior tours are always available)
Inquiry number: 0241-24-5323 (Kitakata City Cultural Affairs Division)
Introducing facilities under the jurisdiction of the Web

Google Map

Weeping cherry blossoms on the Nicchu Line Memorial Cycling and Pedestrian Path

The abandoned tracks of the Nicchu Line in the former city of Kitakata have been developed into
a cycling road called the "Nicchu Line Memorial Bicycle and Pedestrian Path." Approximately 1,000 weeping cherry trees have been planted along the road from Kitakata Station to the neighboring Aizu-Muramatsu Station.
The best time to see the weeping cherry trees is usually mid- to late April, and the Nicchu Line weeping cherry trees have become one of Fukushima Prefecture's leading cherry blossom viewing spots.
A parking lot is open nearby during the cherry blossom viewing season, but it is also quite charming to get off the train at Kitakata Station and walk there.

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

[Fukushima Prefecture] Let's take a relaxing walk in spring! 5 recommended spots for a walk full of flowers

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/29573

Spring has finally arrived! It's the perfect season for a stroll. Warm, sunny days invite strolling around, admiring the colorful flowers. Fukushima Prefecture, rich in nature, is home to many famous flower spots. Here, we'll introduce some recommended flower-filled spots for spring strolls. Use this as a reference for your next outing. [Hanamiyama Park] A spring paradise known as Shangri-La (Fukushima City) "There is a Shangri-La in Fukushima." These are the words of Shotaro Akiyama, one of Japan's leading photographers. Akiyama loved Hanamiyama Park and would visit it whenever the flowers were in full bloom during his lifetime. Hanamiyama Park...

summary

The Nicchu Line opened before World War II, but remained largely unchanged in terms of the number of trains and operation format until it was abolished at the end of the Showa era.
For 46 years, it maintained (for better or worse) the appearance of a railway from the prewar era, when rail was the main form of land transportation.
As mentioned above, fortunately, a few remains remain, conveying the appearance of a railway from the Showa era to the present day .
If you are traveling to the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, why not add Kitakata and the remains of the Nicchu Line to your itinerary?

For more information on sightseeing in Kitakata, please also refer to the article below

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT