What is the Seikan Ferry? 80 years of supporting the flow of people and goods between Honshu and Hokkaido [Aomori Prefecture]

Currently, you can travel between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido by plane or the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which passes through the Seikan Tunnel.
However, in the days before the Seikan Tunnel and airplanes, the only way to get between the two is by boat.
This time, we will introduce one of these boats, the unique Seikan Ferry

What is the Seikan Ferry?

The Seikan Ferry was a rail ferry that operated on
the Seikan Route , connecting Aomori Station in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture, and Hakodate Station in Hakodate City, Hokkaido The route was 61 nautical miles (112.972 km).
In 1988, the Seikan Tunnel, an undersea rail tunnel connecting Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido, was opened, and the Seikan Ferry ceased operation.

Ferries still operate between Aomori Port and Hakodate Port, but there are two main differences between the two

• The ship was operated by "railway operators" such as the Japanese National Railways and JR Hokkaido, and was considered part of the railway line.
• The ship had rail cars on board .

The Seikan Tunnel is a railway tunnel only, and cars cannot pass through it .
Therefore , even now, if you want to travel between Honshu and Hokkaido by car, you have to take your car on a ferry.

Start of operation as a national route

A sea route connecting Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture has existed since the Edo period.
Then, on March 7, 1908 the Hirafu Maru, a ferry connecting Aomori Port and Hakodate Port, began operation under
the Imperial Railway Administration This marked the beginning of the Seikan Ferry.
The journey took about four to five hours.

Abe no
Hirafu , who appears in the Nihon Shoki, which was compiled in 720 AD He was a man who dispatched troops to Hokkaido under the orders of Emperor Saimei, and it is said that this was the first time that a voyage to Hokkaido was recorded in Japanese history.

The Seikan Ferry was a type of
railway ferry A railway ferry is a ship that operates in place of a railway in areas where it is difficult to build a railway due to the presence of seas, lakes, or rivers.

Currently, the only railway ferry operated by JR is one that goes to Miyajima in Hiroshima Prefecture, but in the past, in addition to the Seikan Ferry, there were also ferries that allowed transfers from national railway lines between Honshu and Shikoku, the Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu, Lake Biwa, Hokkaido and Sakhalin, and Shimonoseki and Busan

Just as the Seikan Ferry was started by the Imperial Railway Agency, railway ferries were primarily operated by railway operators. Not only were
fares calculated as if they were part of a railway line (you could even board the ferry with the "Seishun 18 Ticket," which allowed unlimited rides on JNR local trains), but the station platform was directly connected to the pier where you boarded the ferry, so you could transfer from the train that arrived at the station to the ferry without leaving the ticket gate. It was a ferry that you could ride just like a train

Vehicle transportation begins

As the development of Hokkaido got underway in earnest, there was a need to increase the transport capacity of the Seikan Ferry,
and so in 1924 Maru a vehicle ferry capable of directly loading railroad cars such as freight train wagons, was introduced.

Actual shipping of vehicles began the following year, in August 1925.
By being able to load freight cars carried by freight trains directly onto ships, loading time was significantly reduced , and Hokkaido seafood could now be transported to Honshu while maintaining its freshness.
(In the days when the freight was transferred by hand, it was said that cargo sometimes even had to be dropped into the sea.)

war damage

During the war, the Seikan Ferry mainly served to transport coal from Hokkaido to Honshu.
On July 14, 1945, towards the end of the war, 11 of the 12 Seikan Ferries were attacked
by US Navy aircraft 352 people were killed on that day alone.
The next day, the remaining ferry sank, and four passenger ships and six cargo ships were lost.

Air raids were also carried out in August, and the Seikan Ferry was almost completely destroyed.
A monument commemorating the war damage has been erected near the Seikan Ferry "Hakkoda Maru," which is preserved in Aomori Port.

Five ships sunk in the Toya Maru typhoon

Typhoon No. 15 hit Hokkaido on September 26th causing damage by sinking five Seikan Ferries.
One of the five ships the Toya Maru , and the sinking of this ship alone claimed the lives of 1,151 people, and Typhoon No. 15 was later named the "Toya Maru Typhoon."

This maritime disaster, which claimed the lives of 1,430 people aboard the Toya Maru and four other cargo ships, is considered one of the five major postwar accidents of the Japanese National Railways.
The accident led to the realization of plans for the Seikan Tunnel .

Transportation volume begins to decline

, which connected the flow of people and goods between Honshu and Hokkaido throughout the pre-war and post-war periods, saw its cargo volume peak in 1971 and passenger volume in 1973 .

The subsequent decline in transport volume was likely due in large part to the shift from passenger transport to airplanes and freight transport to loading trucks onto ferries. Fewer people were willing to take the train
to Aomori Station and board the Seikan Ferry to Hokkaido, as described in the lyrics of Sayuri Ishikawa's hit song, "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyugeshiki."

For more information about the "night train departing from Ueno (bound for Aomori)" that appears at the beginning of the song, please see this article

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

It was once a song lyric… Night trains from Ueno to Aomori [Aomori Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/32485

Many people are familiar with the opening line of Sayuri Ishikawa's single "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyugeshiki" (Tsugaru Strait Winter Scenery), released in 1977. It's a classic song, capturing the image of travel in its short lyrics. However, the "night train from Ueno to Aomori" mentioned in the song no longer exists, and the Seikan Ferry, which traveled from Aomori to Hakodate, Hokkaido, ceased operation before the Aomori-bound night train. This time, we'll focus on what kind of train this "night train from Ueno to Aomori" actually was. The role played by the Ueno-bound night train: the Akebono sleeper express, which connected Ueno and Aomori...

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The decline in freight volume continued unabated, and with construction of the Seikan Tunnel already underway, the fate of the Seikan Ferry was clear

Nevertheless, in order to improve the image of the Seikan Ferry, the Japanese National Railways (JNR) tried to improve the ferry by installing a coffee shop, an entertainment room and luxurious seats in 1978. It is said that this was the most luxurious vehicle in the JNR fleet

The role will be taken over by the Seikan Tunnel

At the time of the last timetable revision of the Japanese National Railways in November 1986, the Seikan Ferry operated seven round trips per day, with the journey time between Aomori and Hakodate being 3 hours 50 minutes or 3 hours 55 minutes

In 1987, the Japanese National Railways was split up and privatized, and the operation of the Seikan Ferry was taken over by JR Hokkaido.
The following year, 1988 , the Seikan Tunnel opened, and the Seikan Ferry was discontinued. With this,
came to an end after 80 years of service, having carried 161 million passengers and 247 million tons of cargo .

The Kaikyo rapid train, which began operating at the same time as the Seikan Tunnel opened, connects Aomori Station and Hakodate Station in around two and a half to two hours and 50 minutes, making
it possible to travel between the two stations in less time than the Seikan Ferry.In addition to the Kaikyo, other trains such as the luxury sleeper express Hokutosei (Ueno to Sapporo), the sleeper express Nihonkai (Osaka to Hakodate), the overnight express Hamanasu (Aomori to Sapporo), and the express Hatsukari (Morioka to Hakodate) began to use the Seikan Tunnel to connect cities on Honshu and Hokkaido.

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

The history of the Tohoku region's first express train, "Hatsukari"

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/28372

When people living in the Tokyo metropolitan area visit the Tohoku region by public transportation, they often use bullet trains such as the Tohoku Shinkansen. However, the Tohoku Shinkansen only opened in 1982, about 40 years ago. Before then, what did people travel to the Tohoku region by? One option was the Hatsukari, the first limited express train to run through the Tohoku region. The Appearance of the Tohoku Region's First Limited Express Train: In the prewar and immediate postwar period, the limited express trains of the Japanese National Railways (the predecessor of today's JR) were truly special trains, as their official name "limited express train" suggests, and express trains were the main mode of long-distance travel.

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These trains were all discontinued by the time the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened in March 2016, and now the Hokkaido Shinkansen's Hayabusa and Hayate trains pass through the Seikan Tunnel.

In addition, freight transport has become less susceptible to weather as the route has changed from sea to undersea tunnel.
the stabilization of logistics in Hokkaido is the greatest benefit of the opening of the Seikan Tunnel.

Hakkoda Maru and Mashu Maru

The Seikan Ferry has been discontinued, but the Hakkoda Maru, which operated as a ferry, is preserved as the "Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru," a five-minute walk from Aomori Station .

You can go inside (for a fee) and, of course, walk on the deck, but you can also touch the rudder and communication equipment in the wheelhouse, which passengers were not allowed to enter when the ship was in operation, and view the rail cars on board .
However, please note that the observation plaza and chimney observation deck are closed during bad weather and in winter.

The Mashu Maru, another Seikan Ferry, is preserved near Hakodate Station, and you can also tour the interior of the ship.
37 years have passed since the Seikan Ferry was discontinued, but the history of the ferry is still being passed down in both Aomori and Hakodate .

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

The Hakkoda Maru, a ferry from the Seikan region, is brought back to life! Experience the timeless history aboard the ship [Aomori Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/3994

The Hakkoda Maru, a ferryboat, comes into view about a five-minute walk from Aomori Station. This was the last ship on the Seikan-Hakodate route, departing from Aomori and arriving in Hakodate, and its beautiful lemon yellow hull. The entire ship has now been converted into a museum, known as Japan's first railway ferry museum. The history of the Hakkoda Maru's representative ferryboat: The distance from Aomori to Hakodate is approximately 113 km. The Seikan Ferry covered this distance in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Its history dates back to 1908 (Meiji 41). By the time of its retirement in 1988 (Showa 63), it had carried 160 million passengers and traveled 80 million km...

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Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru <Information>

• Name: Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru
• Address: 112-15 Yanagawa 1-chome, Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture
• TEL 017-735-8150
• Opening hours: Summer 9:00-19:00, admission until 18:00 (April 1st to October 31st)
  Winter 9:00-17:00, admission until 16:30 (November 1st to March 31st)
• Closed: December 31st, January 1st, and Monday through Friday of the second week of March
• Official website: Seikan Ferry Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru

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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