Fukuen Line

The line's southern section began life as a private venture. The Ryōbi Light Railway (両備軽便鉄道) was granted its licence on 21 August 1911 and incorporated on 12 December that year, and on 21 July 1914 it opened a 762 mm narrow-gauge line between Ryōbi-Fukuyama and Fuchū-machi, a distance of about 22 kilometres. The company expanded around Fukuyama, opening its Takaya Line between Kannabe and Takaya in 1922, and on 26 June 1926 it renamed itself the Ryōbi Railway (両備鉄道). On 25 June 1927 the Fukuyama–Fuchū-machi section was electrified at 750 V DC, an early adoption of electric traction for a provincial Japanese railway.

The railway passed into state hands during the 1930s. On 1 September 1933 the Ryōbi Railway's Ryōbi-Fukuyama–Fuchū-machi section was nationalised and became the Fukuen Line. The government then set about building northward from the Geibi Line to meet it: on 15 November 1933 the southern part was renamed the Fukuen South Line while a new Fukuen North Line opened between Takō (renamed Shiomachi on 1 January 1934) and Kisa. Construction continued in stages, with the Kisa–Jōge section opening on 15 November 1935.

The two ends were finally joined on 28 July 1938, when the Fuchū-machi–Jōge section opened and the whole route through from Fukuyama to Shiomachi was completed; at that point the line was unified under the single name Fukuen Line. As part of the regauging required to integrate the formerly light-railway southern section into the national network, the Yokoo–Fuchū-machi section had already been converted from 762 mm to 1,067 mm gauge in 1935.

Electrification and dieselisation reshaped the line in the post-war decades. On 10 April 1954 the electrified section was extended north from Fuchū to Shimo-Kawabe, and on 13 August 1961 the overhead voltage on the Fukuyama–Shimo-Kawabe section was raised from 750 V to 1,500 V DC. The northern reaches, however, were never to remain electrified: on 1 June 1961 all passenger trains between Fuchū and Miyoshi were converted to diesel railcars, and on 1 April 1962 the Fuchū–Shimo-Kawabe electrification was abolished, leaving the present split between the electrified Fukuyama–Fuchū section and the diesel-worked north. Fuchū-machi Station itself had been renamed Fuchū in 1956.

Under Japanese National Railways the line settled into its modern form: 105 series electric multiple units entered service on the southern section in 1981, and all freight operations over the whole line ceased on 1 November 1986. With the privatisation and break-up of JNR on 1 April 1987, the Fukuen Line passed to the newly formed West Japan Railway Company. In 1989 a major realignment in the northern section commissioned the 6,123-metre Hattabara Tunnel between Kawasa and Bingo-Mikawa, shortening the route by 1.4 kilometres and abolishing Hattabara Station, which lay on the old alignment.

Driver-only "wanman" operation was introduced to cut staffing on the lightly used line: it began on the non-electrified Fuchū–Shiomachi section on 1 April 1991 and on the electrified Fukuyama–Fuchū section on 14 March 1992. Today the Fukuen Line functions almost as two separate railways sharing a name. The southern Fukuyama–Fuchū section is an intensively used electric commuter route, while the northern Fuchū–Shiomachi section runs sparse diesel services through the hills, all of which continue beyond Shiomachi onto the Geibi Line to reach Miyoshi.

• 191121 August: the Ryōbi Light Railway is granted its railway licence; the company is incorporated on 12 December.
• 191421 July: the Ryōbi Light Railway opens its 762 mm narrow-gauge line between Ryōbi-Fukuyama and Fuchū-machi (about 22 km).
• 19229 April: the Ryōbi Light Railway opens its Takaya Line between Kannabe and Takaya.
• 192626 June: the company is renamed the Ryōbi Railway.
• 192725 June: the Ryōbi-Fukuyama–Fuchū-machi section is electrified at 750 V DC.
• 19331 September: the Ryōbi Railway's Ryōbi-Fukuyama–Fuchū-machi section is nationalised and becomes the Fukuen Line. 15 November: the southern part is renamed the Fukuen South Line and a new Fukuen North Line opens (Takō–Kisa).
• 19341 January: Takō Station is renamed Shiomachi Station.
• 193515 November: the Kisa–Jōge section opens; the Yokoo–Fuchū-machi section is regauged from 762 mm to 1,067 mm.
• 193828 July: the Fuchū-machi–Jōge section opens, completing the through route Fukuyama–Shiomachi; the whole line is unified as the Fukuen Line.
• 195410 April: the electrified section is extended north from Fuchū to Shimo-Kawabe.
• 19611 June: all passenger trains between Fuchū and Miyoshi are converted to diesel railcars. 13 August: the overhead voltage on the Fukuyama–Shimo-Kawabe section is raised to 1,500 V DC.
• 19621 April: the Fuchū–Shimo-Kawabe electrification is abolished, leaving the electrified section as Fukuyama–Fuchū only.
• 198111 February: 105 series electric multiple units enter service on the southern section.
• 19861 November: all freight operations over the whole line cease.
• 19871 April: with the privatisation of Japanese National Railways, the Fukuen Line passes to the West Japan Railway Company (JR West).
• 198920 April: the Kawasa–Bingo-Mikawa section is realigned through the new 6,123 m Hattabara Tunnel, shortening the route by 1.4 km; Hattabara Station is abolished.
• 19911 April: driver-only (wanman) operation begins on the non-electrified Fuchū–Shiomachi section.
• 199214 March: driver-only (wanman) operation begins on the electrified Fukuyama–Fuchū section.