What was the Konan Railway Owani Line, which has now been decided to be effectively abolished? [Aomori Prefecture]

Konan Railway , a private railway company in Aomori Prefecture, has announced its intention to suspend train operations on the Owani Line at the end of fiscal year 2027. Although the term "suspension" is used, it is effectively considered a complete closure of the line. What kind of railway line was the Owani Line?

What is the Owani Line?

The Owani Line is a Konan Railway line connecting Owani Station in Owani Town, Aomori Prefecture, to Chuo Hirosaki Station in Hirosaki City. It is a rare railway line in Japan that runs through apple orchards, and has earned the nickname " Apple Orchard Railway ." The line is 13.9 km long and has 14 stations.

konantetsudo.jp

Owani Line: Owani to Chuo Hirosaki | Konan Railway Co., Ltd

https://konantetsudo.jp/station/station-owani/

Chuo-Hirosaki Station is a completely different station from Hirosaki Station on the JR Ou Main Line, and you need to walk about 1.5 km to get from Hirosaki Station to Chuo-Hirosaki Station.
Since Chuo-Hirosaki Station is closer to Hirosaki Castle than Hirosaki Station, it can be inferred that the area around Chuo-Hirosaki Station was originally the center of Hirosaki, as the station name suggests.

The trains on the Ōwani Line use 7000 series trains that were transferred from Tokyu Corporation (formerly Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway), a major private railway company in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Some of the advertisements from the Tokyu era remain inside the trains.
The hand straps inside the trains are designed to resemble apples and Mount Iwaki, and there is one heart-shaped hand strap in each car.

The Owani Line has long been a vital part of passenger transport in the Hirosaki area, used by students commuting to high schools along the line and by tourists. However, Konan Railway has announced that train operations will be suspended at the end of fiscal year 2027 (end of March 2028), approximately three years from now (February 2025). Although the term "suspension" is used, it is almost certain that Konan Railway and the municipalities along the line that support it will not have the financial resources to revive the line in the future, and it is effectively considered a permanent closure

Opened as a line of the Hirosaki Electric Railway

The Owani Line opened in 1952, and it was not operated by Konan Railway, but by a company called " Hirosaki Electric Railway ."

At the time, transportation around Hirosaki was poor, and buses were suspended during the snowy winter months.
Furthermore, the trains running on the Japanese National Railways (now JR) Ou Main Line were mainly freight trains and express trains, covering medium to long distances, with very few local trains.
Therefore, at the suggestion of the then-mayor of Hirosaki, local influential figures and Mitsubishi Electric, which was focusing on railway system development, teamed up to establish Hirosaki Electric Railway in July 1949. The Owani Line was opened in January 1952 by Hirosaki Electric Railway.

The plan called for the first phase of the line to open, running from Owani Station to Chuo-Hirosaki Station, and the second phase to open from Chuo-Hirosaki Station north to Itayanagi Station on the JNR Gono Line. There was
also a plan for the Meya Line, which would branch off from the Owani Line at Nishi-Hirosaki Station (now Hirosaki Gakuin University Station) and connect to Tashiro (Nishimeya Village).
However, only the first phase of the line actually opened, and that remains the case to this day.

Please also see this article for information about the Ou Main Line, which runs parallel to the Owani Line

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

Why are there so many unusual names? Station names on the Ou Main Line [Fukushima, Yamagata, Akita]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/31566

The Ou Main Line is a JR East line that runs from Fukushima Station to Aomori Station, passing through stations such as Yamagata Station and Akita Station. It is one of the main lines that runs north-south through the Tohoku region, and in the past, limited express trains operated all along the line. Even today, some sections of the line are used by trains such as the Yamagata Shinkansen "Tsubasa," the Akita Shinkansen "Komachi," and the limited express "Tsugaru." For some reason, the Ou Main Line is notable for its many stations with unusual names, so we'll introduce some of them here. The Ou Main Line, a major trunk line in the Tohoku region, runs from Fukushima Station in Fukushima Prefecture, passing through Yamagata Station in Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Station in Akita Prefecture, before reaching Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture.

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The Owani Line is a part of the Konan Railway line

Although the Owani Line managed to open, its operation was difficult, perhaps because the entire section from Owani Station to Chuo Hirosaki Station ran parallel to the JNR Ou Main Line between Owani Station (now Owani Onsen Station) and Hirosaki Station.
Furthermore, in 1953, the year after its opening, buses began operating year-round.
The Owani Line never managed to turn a profit since its opening, and was eventually acquired by Konan Railway, a private railway company in the same Aomori Prefecture. This
happened in 1970.
Hirosaki Electric Railway was dissolved, ending its short 20-year run.

Konan Railway was established in March 1926, at the end of the Taisho era. In 1927, it opened the section between Hirosaki Station and Tsugaru-Onoe Station, and after the war, in 1950, it extended the line to Kuroishi Station, completing the entire Konan Line. It is said that
Konan Railway, a private company, took over the management of the Owani Line, which had been operating at a loss since its opening, because the president at the time considered that the Owani Line was still necessary for the benefit of passengers and regional development.

Furthermore, Konan Railway also acquired the JNR Kuroishi Line (Kawabe Station to Kuroishi Station), which had been designated as a specific local railway line (a line with poor ridership that should be abolished), from JNR in 1984.
This was also in response to requests from local municipalities to Konan Railway to keep the Kuroishi Line running. There are few examples of
JNR's specific local railway lines, which are easily foreseeable to be operating at a loss, being converted to private railway lines rather than to third-sector companies (companies jointly funded by the government, local municipalities, and private companies).
However, even after the transfer to Konan Railway, the Kuroishi Line continued to struggle financially and was abolished in 1998.

First abolition announcement

In 1974, the Owani Line had approximately 3.9 million users annually . However, due to factors such as the rise of car ownership, population decline along the line, a decrease in the number of schools along the line, and reductions in student enrollment, the number of users has been decreasing. Furthermore, although there are several schools along the line, some schools operate school buses, and some students commute by car driven by their families, so not all students use the Owani Line. By 2012, the number of annual users had fallen to approximately 580,000

Therefore, at its shareholders' meeting in June 2013, Konan Railway announced its intention to discontinue the Owani Line in March 2017.
Konan Railway had already been receiving support from Aomori Prefecture and the municipalities along the line since fiscal year 2004, and it seems the president felt it would be difficult to impose any further burden on the municipalities.
Although the decision to discontinue the line was withdrawn a month later, it is clear that further support from the municipalities along the line is essential for Konan Railway to keep the Owani Line running.
In August, a survival strategy council was formed by the municipalities along the line, economic organizations, and users, and meetings were held to discuss management improvement measures and support plans.

Abandonment of continued operation

Since then, the Konan Railway has continued to struggle financially, and in fiscal 2017 the Konan Line also fell into the red, meaning that the management strategy of making up for the losses of the Owani Line with profits from the Konan Line has reached its limits

An incident that symbolizes the company's financial difficulties was the derailment accident that occurred on the Owani Line in August 2023.
The cause of the derailment was determined to be rail wear caused by friction with the wheels, forcing a suspension of service for approximately three weeks.
Then, in September, abnormalities were found in the rails again, resulting in a two-month suspension of service.
This suggests that the company lacks the funds and personnel to maintain the rails.

Furthermore, the suspension of service for a total of two and a half months led to a decrease in passengers, with the annual ridership for fiscal year 2023 falling to a mere 270,000 . This is less than one-tenth of the peak number, and the fact that the number of passengers is less than 1,000 per day indicates that maintaining the railway is extremely difficult. In addition to this situation, the declining population along the line, rising electricity and labor costs, and the difficulty in securing the personnel necessary to ensure safe transportation have made it impossible to foresee any improvement in management. As a result, in November 2024, Konan Railway requested the suspension of service on the Owani Line , and the municipalities along the line also showed understanding for the suspension. In effect, Konan Railway has finally given up on keeping the Owani Line running, and the municipalities along the line have also given up on providing support.

Legally, notification of railway line closure must be submitted at least one year before the planned closure date.
Therefore, if Konan Railway wanted to, it could close the Owani Line in a little over a year from now, for example, at the end of March 2026.
However, Konan Railway has proposed a three-year grace period, proposing to suspend service at the end of fiscal year 2027 (end of March 2028).
This is explained as an attempt to continue operating the Owani Line until the students who will be entering high school or other higher education institutions this spring graduate. This can be seen as a
demonstration of the sense of responsibility of Konan Railway, which has been responsible for public transportation for many years since its establishment in the Taisho era.
The municipalities along the line have also agreed to support Konan Railway until the end of fiscal year 2027, so it is expected that train operations will continue for another three years.

The future of the Owani Line and Konan Railway

After the Owani Line is suspended and effectively abolished, it is expected that buses will be operated to replace the Owani Line trains, but since it is necessary to secure vehicles and crew members to operate the buses, plans for replacement buses will likely need to be made quickly

Furthermore, after suspending the Owani Line, which had been chronically unprofitable, Konan Railway will invest personnel and funds into the Konan Line to revitalize its operations. While
the closure of the Owani Line is regrettable, I sincerely hope that the Konan Line and the bus routes that replace it will continue to operate for many years to come.

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