Toyohashi Railroad Atsumi Line

The Toyohashi Railroad Atsumi Line (豊橋鉄道渥美線, Toyohashi Tetsudō Atsumi-sen) is a railway line in eastern Aichi Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Toyohashi Railroad ("Toyotetsu"). The line runs from the centre of Toyohashi, traversing the centre of the Atsumi Peninsula, a largely rural district noted also for its hot spring resorts and marine sports as part of Mikawa Wan Quasi-National Park. The line is entirely within the cities of Toyohashi and Tahara.

Toyohashi Railroad Atsumi Line
A 1800 series EMU at Toshima Station in February 2007
Overview
Native name	豊橋鉄道渥美線
Locale	Aichi Prefecture
Termini	Shin-Toyohashi Mikawa Tahara
Stations	16
Website	www.toyotetsu.com
Service
Type	Heavy rail
Operator(s)	Toyohashi Railroad
Rolling stock	1800 series EMUs
History
Opened	January 22, 1924 (1924-01-22)
Technical
Line length	18.0 km (11.2 mi)
Number of tracks	single
Track gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead
Operating speed	70 km/h (45 mph)
Train protection system	ATS-PT (compatible with Meitetsu)
Route map Legend Tōkaidō Shinkansen to Nagoya Tōkaidō Main Line to Nagoya Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line to Meitetsu Gifu Iida Line to Iida Toyohashi Station Toyohashi Azumada Main Line (tram) 0.0 Shin-Toyohashi (新豊橋) 1.0 Yagyu-bashi (柳生橋) Yagyu River Tōkaidō Main Line to Tokyo Tōkaidō Shinkansen to Tokyo 1.7 Koike (小池) National Route 259 2.5 Aichidaigakumae (愛知大学前) 3.2 Minami-Sakae (南栄) 4.3 Takashi (高師) 5.3 Ashihara (芦原) Umeda River Nishino River 6.3 Ueta (植田) 7.1 Mukougaoka (向ヶ丘) National Route 23 8.5 Ōshimizu (大清水) 10.7 Oitsu (老津) Kamita River 12.7 Sugiyama (杉山) 14.0 Yagumadai (やぐま台) Shijimi River 15.6 Toshima (豊島) 17.1 Kambe (神戸) Shio River 18.0 Mikawa Tahara (三河田原)

Operation

The northern terminal station for the Atsumi Line is located at Shin-Toyohashi Station. Most trains run to the southern terminus at Mikawa Tahara Station at approximately 15 minute intervals, with the exception of the last train departing Shin-Toyohashi Station. There are no express trains on the line.^[1]

History

Plans to construct a railway going across the Atsumi Peninsula have been planned since the 15th Division was stationed in Toyohashi.^[2] 12 people with the financial help of Keijiro Amemiya planned building a light railway in 1909, but the railway wasn't constructed, and the permit expired. The Amami Light Railway was established in 1918 by locals, but was split on whether the railway should be operated by the government or not, and the privately owned Atsumi Electric Railway (渥美電鉄, Atsumi Dentetsu) was established in 1919 as a result.^[3] The company began operations on January 22, 1924 between Takashi and Toshima, electrified at 600 V DC. The line was extended to Kambe in March and to Mikawa Tahara by June 10 of the same year.^[4] In the opposite direction, the line was extended to Shin-Toyohashi by May 1925. On April 10, 1926, the now-defunct section of track from Mikawa Tahara to Kurokawahara was completed. Construction of a proposed extension to Mikawa Fukue commenced in 1939, but was later abandoned due to World War II.^[5]

On September 1, 1940, the Atsumi Electric Railway was merged into Nagoya Railway. The section between Mikawa Tahara and Kurokawahara and many stations were suspended on June 5, 1944, as an austerity measure. On October 1, 1954, the Toyohashi Railway was spun out from the Nagoya Railway as an independently operating subsidiary. The suspended section from 1944 was permanently closed November of that year.^[6][7] Three P-51 Mustang aircraft attacked a train heading to Toyotashi on August 14, 1945, killing 15 people and injuring an additional 16.^[8]

Express train operations began in October 1, 1965. All freight operations were discontinued from February 1, 1984 and express train operations were discontinued from September 1, 1985. On July 2, 1997 the electrification system was upgraded to 1,500 V DC.^[9]

Rolling stock

1800 series set 1808 in 2014

As of April 2015^[update], the line is operated using a fleet of ten three-car 1800 series electric multiple unit (EMU) trains.^[10] These trains were modified from former Tokyu 7200 series EMUs.^[11] All trains are configured for one-man operation.

Since 2013, the trains are each painted a different colour and carry the names of flowers, as follows.^[11]

Set No.	Flower name	Colour
1801	Rose (ばら, Bara)	Red
1802	Hibiscus (はまぼう, Hamabou)	Brown
1803	Rhododendron (つつじ, Tsutsuji)	Red
1804	Sunflower (ひまわり, Himawari)	Blue
1805	Sweet flag (菖蒲, Shoubu)	Purple
1806	Magnolia (しでこぶし, Shidekobushi)	Light green
1807	Rape blossom (菜の花, Nanohana)	Yellow
1808	Camellia (椿, Tsubaki)	Green
1809	Cherry blossom (桜, Sakura)	Pink
1810	Chrysanthemum (菊, Kiku)	Orange

Stations

All stations are located in Aichi Prefecture.

No.	Image	Station name	Japanese	Distance from Shin-Toyohashi (km)	Transfers	Location
1		Shin-Toyohashi	新豊橋	0.0	JR Central (Toyohashi Station) Tokaido Shinkansen, Tokaido Main Line, Iida Line Meitetsu (Toyohashi Station) ■ Nagoya Main Line Toyohashi Railroad (Ekimae Station) ■ Azumada Main Line	Toyohashi
2		Yagyu-bashi	柳生橋	1.0
3		Koike	小池	1.7
4		Aichidaigakumae	愛知大学前	2.5
5		Minami-Sakae	南栄	3.2
6		Takashi	高師	4.3
7		Ashihara	芦原	5.3
8		Ueta	植田	6.3
9		Mukougaoka	向ヶ丘	7.1
10		Ōshimizu	大清水	8.5
11		Oitsu	老津	10.7
12		Sugiyama	杉山	12.7
13		Yagumadai	やぐま台	14.0		Tahara
14		Toshima	豊島	15.6
15		Kambe	神戸	17.1
16		Mikawa Tahara	三河田原	18.0

Ridership

Reference:^[12]

No.	Station	Passengers (2023)
1	Shin-Toyohashi	14,528
2	Yagyu-bashi	1,081
3	Koike	744
4	Aichidaigakumae	4,542
5	Minami-sakae	3,267
6	Takashi	2,236
7	Ashihara	600
8	Ueta	644
9	Mukougaoka	568
10	Ōshimizu	2,566
11	Oitsu	484
12	Sugiyama	409
13	Yagumadai	364
14	Toshima	350
15	Kanbe	379
16	Mikawa Tahara	2,306

See also

• List of railway lines in Japan