Sangi Railway Sangi Line

The Sangi Line (三岐線, Sangi-sen) is a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway line owned and operated by Sangi Railway, a Japanese private railway company. The line runs in Mie Prefecture and connects Nishi-Fujiwara Station in Inabe with Tomida and Kintetsu-Tomida Station in Yokkaichi. The section between Tomita Station and Sangi-asake Signal Station is exclusively for freight trains, with passenger trains providing through service to Kintetsu-Tomita Station via the Kintetsu Line. All trains depart from and arrive at Kintetsu-Tomita Station.

Sangi Line
A Sangi Line 801 series train bound for Kintetsu-Tomida Station, with Mount Fujiwara visible in the background
Overview
Locale	Mie Prefecture
Termini	Kintetsu-Tomida) Nishi-Fujiwara
Stations	15 on the Sangi Line, 1 on the Kintetsu Line
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	Sangi Railway
History
Opened	23 July, 1931
Technical
Line length	26.5 km (16.5 mi)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	Overhead, 1,500 V DC
Operating speed	70 km/h (43 mph)

The name Sangi (三岐) is a combination of the first characters from Mie (三重) and Gifu (岐阜) as, in 1928, it was originally envisioned to connect the city of Yokkaichi in Mie to Sekigahara via Kamiishizu in Ōgaki, Gifu Prefecture.

The Sangi Line is an electrified, single-track line. Freight services also operate on the line, and it is used to carry mainly cement.

Services

All services are classified as "Local" (普通, futsū), stopping at every station, and are driver-only operations. There are 1–2 services per hour during the day, increased to 3–4 per hour during the morning peak.

Stations

Station		Distance (km)	Transfers	Location
Tomida (freight only)	富田	–		Yokkaichi	Mie Prefecture
Kintetsu-Tomida	近鉄富田	0.0	Kintetsu Nagoya Line
Sangi-asake Signal Station	三岐朝明信号場	1.1
Ōyachi	大矢知	2.5
Heizu	平津	4.1
Akatsuki Gakuenmae	暁学園前	5.3
Yamajō	山城	7.0
Hobo	保々	9.5
Hokusei Chūō Kōenguchi	北勢中央公園口	11.2
Umedoi	梅戸井	13.1		Inabe
Daian	大安	15.3
Misato	三里	17.1
Nyūgawa	丹生川	19.6
Ise-Hatta	伊勢治田	20.8
Higashi-Fujiwara	東藤原	23.1
Nishi-Nojiri	西野尻	25.3
Nishi-Fujiwara	西藤原	26.5

History

• 1928:

• 9 March: Subsidies for railway licenses to Fujiwara Railway (Yokkaichi City-Sekigahara Town, Fuwa District, Yokkaichi City-Shiohama Village, Mie District, Onaga Village, Inabe District-Tomita Town, Mie District, Mie Village, Mie District-Kawashima Village, Mie District) were issued.
• 20 September: Sangi Railway was established

• 1931:

• 23 July: Section from Tomida Station (now operated by JR) to Higashi Fujiwara was opened.
• 23 December: Section from Higashi Fujiwara to Nishi Fujiwara was opened.

• 1937

• 2 December: Railway license expired (Nishifujiwara-mura, Inabe-gun-Sekigahara-cho, Fuwa-gun designated deadline Mateni construction work approval application)

• 1950

• 30 October: Sangi Asaki station opened in between Tomida and Oyachima stations.

• 1952

• 1 December: Direct passenger train operation started from Tomida Station to Yokkaichi Station on the Japanese National Railways

• 1954

• 29 March: All lines are electrified and electric locomotives are used for freight trains

• 1964

• 1 October: Direct passenger train operation from Tomida Station to Yokkaichi Station was cut.

• 1965

• 1 July: Tomida Nishiguchi station opened
• 21 August: Kayou Station was renamed to Akatsuki Gakuenmae station

• 1968

• Misato Station was renamed to Ugakeiguchi Station

• 1970

• 25 June: The section from Kintetsu-Tomida to Sangi Asaki

• 1974

• The section from Tomida/Kintetsu-Tomida - Higashi Fujiwara becomes CTC compatible

• 1985

• 14 March: Sanuki Asaki and Tomida Nishiguchi stations closed
• 16 May: Driverless operation began for freight services.

• 1986

• 25 March: Ōida station was relocated and renamed to Dainan station. Ugakeiguchi station was renamed back to Misato station

• 1988

• 7 January: Driverless operation began for passenger services.

• 1989

• 1 April: Sangi Asaki station became Sangi Asaki signal box. The morning express service that was operated was cut.

• 1994

• 3 December: The line speed was increased from 60 km/h (37 mph) to 70 km/h (43 mph)

• 1994

• 1 April: Ōchō station was relocated and renamed to Hokusei Chūō Kōenguchi

• 2011

• 4 September: Typhoon 12 struck and the entire line was closed due to the Asake River flowing over its banks.
• 6 September: Kintetsu-Tomida to Yamajo and Misato to Nishi-Fujiwara were reopened following the Typhoon.
• 7 September: Yamajo to Hodo reopened.
• 8 September: Umedoi to Misato reopened.
• 11 October: Hodo to Umedoi reopened, thus reopening the entire line.

• 2012

• 8 February: A derailment of an electric train occurred at Higashi-Fujiwara, and as a result, all services between Ise Hatta and Nishi Fujiwara were suspended.
• 30 June: The section between Ise Hatta and Nishi Fujiwara reopened following the derailment 4 months prior.
• 8 November: A 3 car passenger train derailed at Misato station, and as a result, the section from Umedoi to Nishi Fujiwara was suspended.
• 11 November: Umedoi to Higashi Fujiwara reopened. Rail replacement buses ran from Higashi Fujiwara to Nishi Fujiwara

• 2013

• 12 January: Higashi Fujiwara to Nishi Fujiwara section reopened following the derailment in November 2012.

Gallery

• 
  A train between Misato and Nyūgawa Stations

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.