Maizuru Line

L  Maizuru Line
A Maizuru limited express services at Higashi-Maizuru Station, July 2005
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Locale	Kyoto Prefecture
Termini	Ayabe Higashi-Maizuru
Stations	6
Operation
Opened	1904
Owner	JR West
Technical
Line length	26.4 km (16.4 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead wire

The Maizuru Line (舞鶴線, Maizuru-sen) is a 26.4 km (16.4 mi) railway line in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Ayabe and Higashi-Maizuru, the line beyond there being called the Obama Line connecting to Tsuruga.

Stations

• Local trains stop at every station and rapid ones at the stations merked "S".

Name	Japanese	Distance (km)	Rapid	Transfers	Location
Ayabe	綾部	0.0	S	Sanin Main Line	Ayabe	Kyoto Prefecture
Fuchigaki	淵垣	5.3	S
Umezako	梅迫	8.2	S
Magura	真倉	15.5	|		Maizuru
Nishi-Maizuru	西舞鶴	19.5	S	Kyoto Tango Railway Miyamai Line
Higashi-Maizuru	東舞鶴	26.4	S	Obama Line

History

The line opened in the autumn of 1904 to transport troops and materiel to the naval base and Maizuru-Higashi Port during the Russo-Japanese War, which commenced in February of that year. Although built by the Japanese Government, it was initially leased to the Bantsuru Railway Co, which opened the Ayabe - Fukuchiyama section of what is now the Sanin Main Line the same year.

The company was nationalised in 1907, the year the 2 km Maizurukō Line (舞鶴港線) from Nishi-Maizuru to Maizuru Port opened. Passenger services operated on that branch between 1913 and 1924, and it closed in 1985.

Nishi- Maizuru was also the junction for the 4 km Naka-Maizuru Line (中舞鶴線) to Naka-Maizuru which operated between 1919 and 1972.

The line was electrified in 1999.

References

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