Abolished after just one year!? The unusual express train "Akita Relay" [Iwate Prefecture and Akita Prefecture]

Currently, the Akita Shinkansen "Komachi" operates between Tokyo Station and Akita Station.
The Akita Shinkansen opened in March 1997, so before its opening, a different limited express train provided access to Akita. This was the
conventional line limited express train "Tazawa," which connected Morioka Station and Akita Station (some trains went via Akita Station to Aomori Station).
And for just one year, while access to Akita was being handed over from "Tazawa" to "Komachi," there was a limited express train that operated.
which we will introduce hereAkita Relay.

What is the Akita Shinkansen?

the "Akita Shinkansen"Komachi," is a JR East train that primarily connects Tokyo Station and Akita Station.
From Tokyo Station to Morioka Station, the "Komachi" travels on the Tohoku Shinkansen tracks at a maximum speed of 320 km/h.
From Morioka Station, it then runs on the conventional Tazawako Line to Omagari Station.
At Omagari Station, it reverses direction and travels on the Ou Main Line to Akita Station.

The Tazawako Line and the Ou Main Line (*) on which the "Komachi" runs have had the distance between the two rails widened from the original 1,067 mm to 1,435 mm to match the width of the Shinkansen wheels, but otherwise, they are conventional lines that have not undergone any major changes.
For this reason, even though it is called the "Akita Shinkansen," it cannot operate at high speeds, and the maximum speed is limited to 130 km/h. The
"Akita Shinkansen" is a general term (or a common term referring only to the latter) for the Tohoku Shinkansen section between Tokyo Station and Morioka Station and the Tazawako Line and Ou Main Line between Morioka Station and Akita Station, and is also the name of the Shinkansen train (currently only the "Komachi") that operates directly between Tokyo Station and Akita Station.

*The Ou Main Line between Omagari Station and Akita Station was a double track with two tracks, so one of the tracks was widened

It wasn't until March 1997, the following year, that construction to widen the rail spacing on the Tazawako Line and the Ou Main Line was completed, allowing the "Komachi" train to begin operation.
So, what kind of trains ran on the Tazawako Line and the Ou Main Line (between Morioka Station and Akita Station) before the construction took place?

The limited express "Tazawa" runs between Morioka Station and Akita and Aomori stations

Until March 1996, the limited express train "Tazawa" operated between Morioka Station and Akita Station (some trains ran between Morioka Station, Akita Station, and Aomori Station).
Since it departed from and arrived at Morioka Station, where the Tohoku Shinkansen also stops, many people likely traveled to Akita by transferring between the Tohoku Shinkansen and the "Tazawa"
(the Akita Shinkansen "Komachi" was created primarily to eliminate the need to transfer between the Tohoku Shinkansen and the "Tazawa").
The train cars were the 485 series electric train, which had been in service since the days of the Japanese National Railways (JNR), the predecessor of JR, and could be considered a representative example of limited express train cars at the time.

In the spring of 1996, construction began to widen the rail spacing on the Tazawako Line in order to operate the Akita Shinkansen.
Naturally, with the rail spacing widened, the existing 485 series trains could no longer operate.
As a result, the "Tazawa" train service was limited to the section between Akita Station and Aomori Station.
It no longer passed near Lake Tazawa, from which the train got its name, but the train name remained the same.

This meant there would be no express trains providing access from Tohoku Shinkansen stations to Akita Station
(at the time, the Morioka-Shin-Aomori section of the Tohoku Shinkansen was not yet open).
Therefore, the "Akita Relay" express train was established to replace the "Tazawa" as a train providing access from Tohoku Shinkansen stations towards Akita Station.

The Akita Relay express train runs between Kitakami Station and Akita Station via the Kitakami Line

From March 30, 1996, all trains on the Tazawako Line were suspended for a year due to construction work, so the limited express "Akita Relay" was established to take over the role of the former "Tazawako" train.
This train started and ended at Kitakami Station in Iwate Prefecture, a station also served by Tohoku Shinkansen trains.
From Kitakami Station, it traveled along the Kitakami Line to Yokote Station in Akita Prefecture, and from Yokote Station it headed north on the Ou Main Line to Akita Station.

The Kitakami Line (between Kitakami Station and Yokote Station) is a non-electrified line that lacks the facilities to supply electricity to its trains. Therefore, the 485 series electric trains could not be used, and instead, the KiHa 110 series 300 subtype, a diesel railcar that runs on light oil, was newly manufactured and introduced.
Since the company's founding in 1987, diesel railcars had never been used on JR East's daily express trains (regular express trains).
This was the first instance of diesel railcars being used on a regular express train, and it remains the only instance as of 2024.

The shortest trains consisted of three cars, but the longer ones had seven cars, and even then they would sometimes get crowded

The Kitakami Line has a track layout that allows for high-speed travel for a local line, and thanks to the high performance of the KiHa 110 series diesel railcars and the small number of stops, the "Akita Relay" was a remarkably fast train for a conventional line express. It
covered the approximately 140km from Kitakami Station to Akita Station in about two hours, resulting in an average speed (including stopping time) of approximately 70km/h.

Discontinued with the opening of the Akita Shinkansen

Construction for the Akita Shinkansen proceeded smoothly, and the line opened on March 22, 1997. Consequently, the "Akita Relay" service was discontinued.
Although it only ran for a year, its discontinuation was planned from the beginning.
At the same time, the "Tazawa" service, which ran between Akita Station and Aomori Station, was renamed "Kamoshika."
The limited express trains running on the same route were further renamed and are now known as "Tsugaru" and "Super Tsugaru."

The KiHa 110 series 300-series trains, which were used for the "Akita Relay," were modified from express train specifications to local train specifications and incorporated into the KiHa 110 series 200-series, and are still in service today.
Originally, they were only intended to be used as express trains for one year, so their specifications were designed with conversion into other trains in mind.
Some of these trains have been further converted into the "Oikotto" tourist train that runs in Niigata and Nagano prefectures.

The "Akita Relay" was an extremely unusual train in several ways: it only ran for one year, it was JR East's only regularly scheduled diesel railcar express train, and it was one of the few express trains to run on the Kitakami Line since the establishment of JR.
Because it only ran for one year, it naturally has low name recognition,but it seems to have a certain popularity among those who know of its existence, and the KiHa 110 series 300 subtype has even been produced as an N gauge model train.

GM Communications

New product: JR Kiha 110 Series 300 "Akita Relay"

https://www.gm-store.co.jp/blog/gmstore-staff/archives/48417

Here are details about the contents of the newly announced JR Kiha 110 Series 300 "Akita Relay" set. This train ran for just one year, from March 1996 to March 1997, just before the Akita Shinkansen opened. Greenmax has completed the project..

Please take the time to remember this train, which fulfilled its role well, albeit for a short period of time

Yuto Ono

A former railway engineer and current freelance writer who has loved trains since childhood, his dream is to make train travel his career