Sekihoku Main Line

nihongo|Sekihoku Main Line|石北本線|Sekihoku Honsen is a Japanese railway line in Hokkaidō, of JR Hokkaidō, between Shin-Asahikawa in Asahikawa and Abashiri Station in Abashiri. The name comes from nihongo|Ishikari Province|石狩国 and nihongo|Kitami Province|北見国, names of ancient provinces along the line.

Basic Data

*Operators, distances
**Hokkaidō Railway Company (Services and tracks)
***Whole the line, from Shin-Asahikawa to Abashiri: 234.0 km
**Japan Freight Railway Company (Services)
***From Shin-Asahikawa to Kitami: 181.0 km
*Stations: 40
*Signal boxes: 4
*Gauge: 1067 mm
*Track: single
*Trction: internal combustion (diesel)
*Block system: automatic (special); a simplified automatic system.

History

Historically, the route between Sapporo and Abashiri Subprefecture has changed for many times. Originally, the route took Hakodate Main Line to Asahikawa, then took southbound Nemuro Main Line and branched off from Ikeda, through nihongo|Abashiri Main Line|網走本線|Abashiri Honsen to Kitami. The route shortened a little when Nemuro Main Line opened the shortcut segment between Takikawa and Furano in 1913.

Another route, northbound from Nayoro to Kitami was completed as nihongo|Nayoro Main Line|名寄本線|Nayoro Honsen and nihongo|Yūbetsu Line|湧別線|Yūbetsu-sen in 1921.

The third route was a shortcut between Asahikawa and Engaru, straight through the Kitami Pass. nihongo|Sekihoku Line|石北線|Sekihoku-sen, completed in 1932, finally opened the link route still used today.

The current Sekihoku Main Line is consisted of what these three lines have left. The section between Shin-Asahikawa and Engaru is from Sekihoku Line, the one between Engaru and Kitami from Yūbetsu Line, and the one between Kitami and Abashiri from Abashiri Main Line.

ervices

The nihongo|Okhotsk|オホーツク|Ohōtsuku intercity limited express train, named after the Sea of Okhotsk, runs from Sapporo to Abashiri four laps a day in summer, six laps a day in winter. There is also the limited rapid train nihongo|Kitami|きたみ between Asahikawa and Kitami one lap a day.

As for the local service, the line is roughly divided into three segments. In the segment between Asahikawa and Kamikawa, the line functions as a commuter rail of Asahikawa City. There is one local train service per one to two hours. The segment between Kamikawa and Engaru is a sparsely populated area. Between Kakikawa and Shirataki, a local train runs one lap per day. For the segment between Engaru and Abashiri, there is one local train service per one to two hours.

tations

:LE: Limited Express:LR: Limited Rapid:All the trains stop at stations signed "+". Some trains stop at "*". No trains (other than local) stop at "-".

Gallery

ee also

*List of railway lines in Japan

External links

* [http://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/ JR Hokkaidō official website]
* [http://www2.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/ JR Hokkaidō official website]