Type Regional rail Opened 1891 Owner Aomori Prefecture | Stations 26 Rolling stock 701 series EMUs | |
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Locale Aomori Prefecture, Japan Operator(s) Aoimori Railway Company Terminis Metoki Station, Aomori Station | ||
The Aoimori Railway Line (青い森鉄道線, Aoimori Tetsudō-sen) is a rail line in Japan. It connects Metoki Station in the town of Sannohe to Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture.
Contents
Organization
The Aoimori Railway Line is operated by the Aoimori Railway Company, a "third sector" publicly and privately owned company. The railway facilities and tracks are owned by the local prefectural government as a "Category 3 Railway Business" under the Railway Business Act of Japan. The Aoimori Railway Company leases these facilities from the government and is responsible for operation of passenger trains on the tracks. This scheme is intended to mitigate the company's burden as an owner of fixed assets and is known as "track/service separation" (上下分離方式, jōge bunri hōshiki).
JR East overnight sleeping car limited express services continue to use the line on services between Tokyo and Hokkaido. Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight), the nationwide freight train operator, also uses the line for freight services.
For maintenance work, the line relies on the services of the Hachinohe Rinkai Railway Line.
Rolling stock
The Aoimori Railway operates a fleet of 701 series 2-car electric multiple units (EMUs). One set was built from new in September 2002, while eight more were transferred from JR East.
Two new two-car Aoimori 703 series EMUs were delivered in November 2013 and introduced from the start of the 15 March 2014 timetable revision.
History
The Aoimori Railway Line was completed as the Metoki – Shiriuchi portion of the Nippon Railway on September 1, 1891. When the Nippon Railway was nationalized on November 1, 1906, it became part of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) system and was designated part of the Tōhoku Main Line on October 12, 1909. With the privatization and dissolution of JNR on April 1, 1987, the line came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). On December 1, 2002, with the opening of the Tohoku Shinkansen, the portion of the Tōhoku Main Line located in Iwate Prefecture became the Iwate Ginga Line, and the portion in Aomori Prefecture from the Iwate border to Hachinohe Station became the Aoimori Railway Line.
With the opening of the Tōhoku Shinkansen extension to Shin-Aomori on 4 December 2010, the Tōhoku Main Line tracks between Hachinohe and Aomori were transferred to Aoimori Railway ownership.