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There is a railway line that runs along the Pacific coast of Iwate Prefecture. It is called the " Rias Line " of the " Sanriku Railway . " The Sanriku Railway was the last railway to open along the Sanriku coast, and even after being damaged by the great disaster, it rose again and continues to run today, carrying the hopes and dreams of local people and tourists alike.
What is the Sanriku Railway Rias Line?
Sanriku Railway is a company established as a third-sector company, with investments from public institutions such as Iwate Prefecture and Miyako City, as well as private companies such as Iwate Bank. It is commonly known as Santetsu . It operates the " Rias Line ," which connects Sakari Station in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture, to Kuji Station in Kuji City, via Kamaishi Station in Kamaishi City and Miyako Station in Miyako City
Sanriku Railway trains
The Rias Line stretches for 163km, making it the longest railway line owned by a third-sector railway company in Japan. However, due to historical reasons, the section between Mori Station and Kamaishi Station is officially called the "South Rias Line," the section between Kamaishi Station and Miyako Station is called the "Rias Line," and the section between Miyako Station and Kuji Station is called the "North Rias Line." The "Kotatsu Train," which runs on winter holidays and allows passengers to enjoy seafood bento boxes while sitting in a heated table (kotatsu), is a famous feature of the Sanriku Railway.
Currently, no passenger railways other than the Sanriku Railway run through Mori Station, the starting point of the line. However, there is a freight-only railway called the Iwate Development Railway that runs through it. For more details, please see this article.
The Sanriku Transcontinental Railway, connecting the regions along the Sanriku coast, had been conceived since the end of the 19th century. Starting with the Sendai Station to Ishinomaki Station section of the Miyagi Electric Railway (now the JR Senseki Line), which opened in 1928, lines such as the Hachinohe Line, the Ofunato Line (the section running along the Sanriku coast has since been discontinued), the Kesennuma Line (same), and the Yamada Line (the section running along the Sanriku coast between Kamaishi Station and Miyako Station was transferred to the Sanriku Railway in 2019) were subsequently opened. For more information on the Senseki Line, please see this article.
Furthermore, in 1972, the " Miyako Line " opened, connecting Miyako Station to Taro Station. This is part of the current Kita-Rias Line. In 1973, the section between Mori Station and Yoshihama Station opened and was named the " Mori Line ," which later became part of the Minami-Rias Line. In 1975, the " Kuji Line " opened , running from Kuji Station to Fudai Station in Fudai Village, Shimohei District , and this also later became part of the Kita-Rias Line.
In 1977, the Kesennuma Line, connecting Maeyachi Station in Miyagi Prefecture and Kesennuma Station, was completed, bringing the Sanriku Longitudinal Railway to near completion. Specifically, only the section from Yoshihama Station to Kamaishi Station (the part between the Mori Line and the Yamada Line) and the section from Taro Station to Fudai Station (the part between the Miyako Line and the Kuji Line) remained to open. However, just as the Sanriku Longitudinal Railway was nearing completion, it faced a major difficulty: the deterioration of the Japanese National Railways' management.
Opening of the Minami-Rias Line and Kita-Rias Line
The Japanese National Railways (JNR), which operated the current JR lines, was already burdened with massive debt around 1980 and was in need of management improvements. Therefore , it was decided to freeze construction on lines that were not yet in operation at the time
The three lines already in operation—the Mori Line, the Miyako Line, and the Kuji Line—were alsodesignated as the first-generation designated local railway lines in 1981, andit was decided that they would be abolished as Japanese National Railways (JNR) lines. Designated local railway lines are local lines that were deemed suitable to be converted to bus routes or other means in order to improve the management of JNR (it is often misunderstood, but this was not a measure aimed at privatizing JNR and turning it into JR). The Sanriku Transcontinental Railway, which had been under construction for 90 years from its conception, came to a halt just before completion.
However, the freezing of construction work and the designation as a specific local railway line only meant that construction would be frozen and the line would be abandoned as a Japanese National Railways (JNR) line. It was understood that there would be no problem if a company other than JNR took responsibility for managing the line. Therefore, on November 10, 1981, Iwate Prefecture and the municipalities along the line established a company as a third-sector company. This was Sanriku Railway Co. , Ltd. Sanriku Railway then took over the operation of the JNR's Mori Line, Miyako Line, Kuji Line, and the uncompleted sections.
Under these circumstances, on April 1, 1984, the 36.6km section between Mori Station and Kamaishi Station opened as the "South Rias Line," and the 71.0km section between Miyako Station and Kuji Station opened as the "North Rias Line." This marked the beginning of the Sanriku Railway and the completion of the Sanriku Transcontinental Railway.
Osawa Bridge between Shirai-Kaigan Station and Horiuchi Station on the Rias Line (Kita-Rias Line)
At the same time, it became the first instance of converting a designated local railway line of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) into a third-sector railway, pioneering the establishment of third-sector railways throughout Japan. In the Tohoku region, the Yuri Kogen Railway and Akita Nairiku Jukan Railway in Akita Prefecture, the Abukuma Express spanning Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, the Aizu Railway in Fukushima Prefecture, and the Yamagata Railway in Yamagata Prefecture are all third-sector companies established to take over designated local railway lines, similar to the Sanriku Railway.
Sanriku Railway had maintained profitable operations for about 10 years after its opening, but at a board meeting in May 1994, it was reported that the company had fallen into the red for the first time. The reasons cited for this included the rise of car ownership, a decrease in the number of commuters due to the declining birthrate, and the relocation of the prefectural hospital that was located near Miyako Station.
Amidst increasingly difficult business conditions, Sanriku Railway launched "Sanriku Railway Deficit Rice Crackers" in 2006. These are a signature confection of Sanriku Railway, born from the idea of "eating up the deficit and turning it into a profit." While the concept and appearance might suggest the crackers are spicy, they feature a sweet dough topped with seaweed and sesame seeds, creating an addictive deliciousness.
In 2009, the Railway Business Restructuring Project Implementation Plan was approved, and it was decided that management support would be provided, including the transfer of land on which the railway runs to the municipalities along the line, which would then lease it to the Sanriku Railway free of charge, and the municipalities along the line and Iwate Prefecture bearing the costs of updating and repairing the Sanriku Railway's facilities. The Sanriku Railway had been working hard to maintain the lives of its users, mainly local high school students, but in 2011, it was struck by further hardship.
Great East Japan Earthquake
The Great East Japan Earthquake (Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake) that occurred on March 11, 2011, caused immense damage to both the Sanriku Railway's South Rias Line and North Rias Line, rendering train operations impossible on all sections. However, despite the situation threatening the very survival of the Sanriku Railway company,train operations resumed on March 16, just five days after, where the damage was relatively minor. These trains were operated free of charge throughout March as disaster recovery support trains. There were opinions within the Sanriku Railway company questioning why trains had to run so quickly amidst such extensive damage, but ultimately, the then-president's conviction that "if wedon't run the trains now, the Sanriku Railway is finished" led to the early resumption of operations. By the end of March, the North Rias Line had resumed operations on all sections except for the section between Omoto (now Iwaizumi-Omoto) Station and Rikuchu-Noda Station.
Sanriku Railway had been working diligently to resume operations, including on the Minami-Rias Line, but faced the formidable obstacle of an estimated 10.8 billion yen in restoration costs. However, with the prospect of funding from Iwate Prefecture and the national government, restoration work has been able to proceed. In the first half of 2013, the NHK serial drama "Amachan" featured the "Kita-Sanriku Railway," modeled after the Kita-Rias Line, which brought it into the spotlight.
Horiuchi Station on the Sanriku Railway, which appears as Sodegahama Station in "Amachan"
Incidentally, the trains used by the Sanriku Railway are diesel railcars, which run on diesel fuel. They are not electric trains. There is a scene in the drama "Amachan" where a driver of the Kita-Sanriku Railway makes this point.
The fact that the train is a diesel railcar is an important feature in emergencies like the Great East Japan Earthquake. Unlike electric trains, which easily lose power if electricity is not supplied from an external source, diesel railcars have fuel on board, so as long as the diesel fuel does not run out, there will be no power outage. Electrical equipment and heating can be used inside the train, so after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the inside of a diesel railcar parked at Miyako Station was used as a headquarters.
On April 3, 2013, train service resumed on the Minami-Rias Line between Mori Station and Yoshihama Station. Then, on April 5, 2014, train service resumed on the entire Minami-Rias Line, and on April 6, on the entire Kita-Rias Line, meaning that trains were running on the entire Sanriku Railway line for the first time in three years since the earthquake. The efforts of those involved in the restoration work, who had set out with the motto of being ready in time for the high school entrance ceremonies three years after the earthquake, finally bore fruit.
JR Yamada Line will be transferred to Sanriku Railway Rias Line
While the Sanriku Railway line of the Sanriku Transcontinental Railway resumed operations three years after the earthquake, in contrast, some JR East lines were discontinued. The Sanriku Transcontinental Railway, a long-cherished dream of the people of the Sanriku region, was effectively cut off on March 11, 2011, and formally cut off on April 1, 2020.
Specifically, lines such as the Senseki Line and the Hachinohe Line gradually resumed operations, but the majority of the Kesennuma Line, from Yanaiizu Station to Kesennuma Station, and the coastal section of the Ofunato Line, from Kesennuma Station to Mori Station, were discontinued. These lines were temporarily restored using a system called "BRT" (Bus Rapid Transit), where buses run on dedicated lanes (mainly roads created by removing railway tracks), which later became the permanent restoration. In 2020, railway operations on these lines were officially abolished (naturally, no trains had run since the 2011 earthquake). The BRT system has advantages such as significantly lower construction and operating costs compared to railways, less susceptibility to road congestion due to the use of dedicated lanes, and the ability to flexibly set routes. It is a clear fact that it has become more convenient than railways in some ways.
Regarding the 55.4km stretch of the Yamada Line between Kamaishi Station and Miyako Station along the coast, JR initially proposed a temporary restoration plan using a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. However, this was rejected by the municipalities along the line due to the limited advantages of the BRT system. Negotiations regarding the restoration of the Yamada Line dragged on until the beginning of 2015, but ultimately,JR East decided to restore the Yamada Line and then transfer it to the Sanriku Railway,resuming train operations. Restoration work began in 2015, and four years later, on March 23, 2019, train operations began again as the "Sanriku Railway Rias Line." This marked the first time in eight years since the earthquake that commercial trains ran on this section of the line. For more information on the JR Yamada Line, please see this article.
What separated the fates of the Ofunato Line and Kesennuma Line, which were converted to BRT and abolished, and the former Yamada Line, which continued to exist as a railway despite changing operating companies? There are several factors, but one of them is that "the former Yamada Line had a local third-sector company, Sanriku Railway, that could take it over ." Along the Sanriku coast of Miyagi Prefecture, where the abolished sections of the Ofunato Line and Kesennuma Line mainly ran, there was no company like Sanriku Railway that was willing to take over these lines, even if it meant operating at a certain level of deficit.
Conversely, what would have happened if the Sanriku Railway had never been created? In other words, if the JNR's Mori Line, Miyako Line, and Kuji Line had remained as JNR/JR lines, and if the unopened sections had been opened as planned? I believe there is a strong possibility that these lines, as well as the Yamada Line, would have been abandoned following the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake . Regardless of the debate about whether the "Specific Local Railway Lines" initiative, which essentially abandons local lines, is good or bad, it can be argued that by being abandoned at the end of the JNR era, the railways along the Sanriku coast of Iwate Prefecture ultimately became "local railways" and were thus preserved.
summary
The Sanriku Railway opened in the final years of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) by taking over lines that had been separated from JNR. It has also recovered from the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and has taken over the damaged JR Yamada Line, and continues to operate today. I hope this helps you understand just how miraculous it is that there is still a railway along the Sanriku coast of Iwate Prefecture.
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