Native name 仙石線 System JR East Opened June 5, 1925 Locale Miyagi Prefecture | Type Heavy rail Status Operating Rolling stock 205 series Stations 31 | |
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Owner East Japan Railway Company Terminis Ishinomaki Station, Aoba-dōri Station Operators East Japan Railway Company, Japan Freight Railway Company | ||
Restored senseki line
The Senseki Line (仙石線, Senseki-sen) is a railway line in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aoba-dōri Station in Sendai to Ishinomaki Station in Ishinomaki, and provides access to the central coast areas of Miyagi Prefecture, significantly the Matsushima area. It connects with the Sendai Subway Nanboku Line at Aoba-dōri Station; the Tōhoku Shinkansen, the Tōhoku Main Line and the Senzan Line at Sendai Station; and the Ishinomaki Line in Ishinomaki. The name Senseki (仙石) comes from the combination of the first kanji of Sendai (仙台) and Ishinomaki (石巻), the two cities that the Senseki Line connects.
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Senseki line 2010 05 01
Basic data
Services
Prior to the partial suspension of services by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, all trains originated from Aoba-dōri Station, with most running to Tagajō or Higashi-Shiogama. Local trains and rapid service trains that ran the entire length of the line operated at 30-minute intervals. When the line was fully recovered in 2015, rapid services were switched to the route via the Senseki-Tōhoku Line. Therefore, under the 2015 timetable, the section between Aoba-dōri and Takagimachi is served only by local trains.
At Sendai Station, the line crosses under the Tōhoku Main Line and its platforms, similar to the situation with the Keiyō Line in Tokyo and the Chikuhi Line in Hakata (which connects via the Fukuoka Airport Subway Line).
The segment from Aoba-dōri to Higashi-Shiogama is a key part of Sendai's transportation system, and becomes very crowded during peak periods, and headways are as short as 4 minutes. During non-peak times 3-5 trains run per hour. Between Higashi-Shiogama and Ishinomaki two trains run per hour.
In addition to all-stations "local" trains, there are limited-stop "rapid" and "special rapid" services on the Senseki Line section between Takagimachi and Ishinomaki. Between Sendai and Takagimachi, the "rapid" and "special rapid" services operate on the Senseki-Tōhoku Line. The special rapid services make only stop at Yamoto in the Senseki Line section, while the rapid services also stop at Nobiru, Rikuzen-Ono, Rikuzen-Akai, Hebita and Rikuzen-Yamashita.
A "Mangattan Train" operates on the Senseki Line, with a livery featuring Ishinomori Manga characters.
Disaster and reconstruction, 2011—2015
Service was halted since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, as several trains, stations, and sections of the line were destroyed, heavily damaged, or flooded. Service for the first 16 miles of the line from Sendai was expected to be restored by the end of May 2011. By mid-July, the Sendai – Matsushima-Kaigan and Yamoto – Ishinomaki sections had service restored, although the latter segment was with diesel trains due to the loss of the power substation. The remainder of the line between Matsushima-Kaigan and Yamoto was obliterated by the tsunami.
From March October 2012, services resumed on all but the Takagimachi to Rikuzen-Ono section, with services on that section restored on 30 May 2015, and a new 400m link is also due to be constructed from between Shiogama Station and Matsushima Station on the Tohoku Main Line to a point between Matsushima-Kaigan Station and Takagimachi Station on the Senseki Line. Costing approximately 2 billion yen to build, the new link will allow through-running services from the Tohoku Main Line to the Senseki Line, and cut approximately 10 minutes off the journey time between Sendai and Ishinomaki. On 26 March 2016, a new station located between Rikuzen-Akai Station and Hebita Station, called Ishinomakiayumino Station was opened.
Stations
The distances shown above are as of May 30, 2015 following the rerouting of the section between Rikuzen-Ōtsuka and Rikuzen-Ono, by which the section was shorten by 1.2 kilometers.
Rolling stock
New HB-E210 series 2-car hybrid diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains are scheduled to be introduced on the line from 30 May 2015 between Takagimachi and Ishinomaki following the start of new Senseki-Tohoku Line services using a newly built link connecting with the Tohoku Main Line at Shiogama.
History
The Miyagi Electric Railway opened the line in sections between 1925 and 1928. Individual opening dates are given in the timeline section below. The Rikuzen-Haranomachi to Nishi-Shiogama section was double-tracked between 1968 and 1969, and extended to Higashi-Shiogama in 1981.
In 2000, the surface section between Rikuzen-Haranomachi and Sendai was replaced by a double-track underground line, with a new section to Aoba-dori to connect to the Sendai subway.
Parts of the line were extensively damaged by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and whilst service was restored on the majority of the line by March 2012, the Takagimachi - Rikuzen-Ono section was returned to service on 30 May 2015.