Daiyūzan Line

The railway was built by the Daiyūzan Railway (大雄山鉄道), a company established on 2 June 1922 after a railway licence had been granted on 14 June 1921 for a steam-powered line between Odawara town in Ashigarashimo District and Minamiashigara village in Ashigarakami District. The line opened on 15 October 1925 between a temporary terminus, Kari-Odawara, and Daiyūzan, a distance of about 9.01 km; seven stations were in service at the opening, while Anabe Station was still under construction and was excluded from the first day of operation.

The new stations were added quickly. Anabe opened on 31 March 1926, Iidaoka in May 1926, and Isaida on 24 November 1926. On 10 April 1927 the line was extended at its Odawara end from the temporary Kari-Odawara terminus to a new Shin-Odawara Station, near the site of present-day Midorichō, bringing the railway closer to central Odawara. The line was electrified from the outset, but at a modest 600 volts.

In 1933 the Daiyūzan Railway passed into the management of Hakone Land (箱根土地), a land-development company that was a forerunner of the Seibu and Prince Hotels group — the beginning of the line's long association with the Seibu camp. Access to Odawara improved again in 1935: Midorichō Station opened on 14 June, and on 16 June the line was extended the last short distance from Midorichō into Odawara Station itself, at which point Sagami-Hiroko Station was closed and the original Shin-Odawara–Midorichō stub abandoned. The terminus had thus moved in stages from Kari-Odawara to Shin-Odawara and finally to Odawara, where trains connected with the national railway.

Wartime consolidation reshaped the company. On 23 August 1941 the Daiyūzan Railway was absorbed by the Sunzu Railway (駿豆鉄道), the operator of the Sunzu Line across the prefectural border in Shizuoka, so that the two lines came under one owner. That combined company was renamed Izuhakone Railway (伊豆箱根鉄道) on 1 June 1957, the name the line carries today; in the interim, Fujifilm-mae Station had opened on 13 August 1956, named for the photographic-film works beside it.

The post-war decades brought steady modernisation. On 17 January 1973 an inbound train at Odawara failed to stop, overran the buffer stop and reached the platform, injuring some fifty people. On 25 November 1976 the overhead supply was raised from 600 to 1,500 volts, and on 18 March 1984 the 5000 series electric multiple units entered service; because a 100-metre-radius curve near Midorichō Station bars full-length 20-metre cars, the line is worked by shorter 17–18-metre stock, and units needing heavy overhaul are ferried over the Tōkaidō Main Line to the company's Ōba Works on the Sunzu Line.

Today the Daiyūzan Line runs a frequent pattern timetable of all-stations local trains between Odawara and Daiyūzan, with crossings made at passing loops along the single track. A new Odawara station building opened and automatic ticket gates were brought into use on 30 March 2003, and from 18 March 2007 the Suica and PASMO IC cards became usable at every station. As part of the Seibu group it carries dense commuter traffic for a small private railway, and each New Year it runs all-night services for worshippers heading to Saijōji.

• 192114 June: a railway licence is granted for a steam-powered line between Odawara town (Ashigarashimo District) and Minamiashigara village (Ashigarakami District).
• 19222 June: the Daiyūzan Railway company is established.
• 192515 October: the Daiyūzan Railway opens Kari-Odawara–Daiyūzan (about 9.01 km) with seven stations; Anabe is still under construction and excluded. Electrified at 600 V, 1,067 mm gauge.
• 1926Anabe Station opens on 31 March, Iidaoka in May, and Isaida on 24 November.
• 192710 April: the line is extended from the temporary Kari-Odawara terminus to the new Shin-Odawara Station (near present-day Midorichō).
• 1933The Daiyūzan Railway comes under the management of Hakone Land, a forerunner of the Seibu / Prince Hotels group.
• 193514 June: Midorichō Station opens. 16 June: the line is extended from Midorichō into Odawara Station; Sagami-Hiroko Station is closed.
• 194123 August: the Daiyūzan Railway is absorbed by the Sunzu Railway, bringing the Daiyūzan and Sunzu lines under one company.
• 195613 August: Fujifilm-mae Station opens, named for the adjacent photographic-film works.
• 19571 June: the company is renamed the Izuhakone Railway, the operator's present name.
• 197317 January: an inbound train at Odawara fails to stop, overruns the buffer stop and reaches the platform, injuring about fifty people.
• 197625 November: the overhead supply is raised from 600 V to 1,500 V.
• 198418 March: the 5000 series electric multiple units enter service.
• 200330 March: a new Odawara station building opens and automatic ticket gates are brought into use (Daiyūzan's gates also begin service).
• 200718 March: the Suica and PASMO IC cards become usable at every station on the line.