Hapi-Line Fukui Line

The line's origins lie in the Hokuriku trunk railway that the Railway Bureau built northward from Tsuruga in the 1890s. Surveying of the Tsuruga–Morita route began in 1893, and on 15 July 1896 the first section, the Hokuriku Line between Tsuruga and Fukui (about 61.96 km, then measured as 38 miles 40 chains), opened, with stations at Sugitsu, Imajō, Sabanami (now Nanjō), Takefu, Sabae, Ōdoro and Fukui. On 20 September 1897 the line was extended from Fukui to Komatsu (about 48.34 km), opening Morita, Shinjō (now Maruoka), Kanazu (now Awaraonsen), Hosorogi and Daishōji along the present route. When the government's nationwide line-naming regulation took effect on 12 October 1909, the Maibara–Uozu and Tsuruga–Kanagasaki sections were designated the Hokuriku Main Line, the name the corridor would carry for over a century.

Through the first half of the twentieth century the line gained further stations and was the scene of several disasters in the mountainous Tsuruga approaches. On 13 January 1936 a Maibara-to-Ueno train caught fire after leaving Fukui, killing four; nine days later, on 22 January 1936, an avalanche near the Yunoo Tunnel between Sabanami and Imajō buried fifty-one snow-clearing workers and killed eight. On 28 June 1948 the Fukui earthquake destroyed the Kuzuryū River bridge between Fukui and Morita and wrecked station buildings, derailing trains along the line. Wartime and post-war additions included Harue (1926), Ōshio (1927), Yunoo (1948) and Kita-Sabae (1955).

The most far-reaching change came in the early 1960s, when the steeply graded original alignment over the Sugitsu pass between Tsuruga and Imajō was abandoned. On 10 June 1962 the 13,870-metre Hokuriku Tunnel opened, carrying a new double-track, AC-electrified line between Tsuruga and Imajō (19.3 km) and a new station at Minami-Imajō, while the old 26.4 km route via Sugitsu was closed the day before. AC electrification, which had reached Imajō–Fukui in March 1962, was extended from Fukui to Kanazawa on 4 April 1963, and progressive double-tracking culminated in the completion of double track and electrification across the whole Hokuriku Main Line on 1 October 1969. On 6 November 1972 the line suffered Japan's deadliest railway tunnel fire when the express Kitaguni caught fire inside the Hokuriku Tunnel, killing thirty people.

Under JNR's division and privatisation on 1 April 1987, the Maibara–Naoetsu section of the Hokuriku Main Line (353.9 km) passed to the West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with Japan Freight Railway becoming the Class II operator over the same stretch. JR West later switched the Nagahama–Tsuruga section from AC to DC on 24 September 2006 to link Tsuruga into the Kansai-area DC network, moving the AC/DC dead section to near the Tsuruga end of the Hokuriku Tunnel. As the Hokuriku Shinkansen advanced, JR West filed on 28 February 2023 to discontinue the Kanazawa–Tsuruga parallel section of the Hokuriku Main Line.

In preparation for the shinkansen extension, the company Hapi-Line Fukui had been founded on 13 August 2019, with its headquarters in the city of Fukui and shares held by Fukui Prefecture, the cities of Fukui and Tsuruga, the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, and private businesses. On 16 March 2024, the day the Hokuriku Shinkansen reached Tsuruga, the Tsuruga–Daishōji section of the Hokuriku Main Line was transferred to Hapi-Line Fukui and became the Hapi-Line Fukui Line; the Ishikawa-side terminus, Daishōji, was taken over instead by the IR Ishikawa Railway, and Hapi-Line Fukui trains run through onto the IR Ishikawa Railway Line to and from Kanazawa. The new operator inherited sixteen two-car 521 series electric trainsets from JR West and introduced more frequent service, and on 14 March 2026 it opened a new station, Shikibu, and began running Regional Rapid trains alongside its existing Rapid services.

• 189615 July: the first section, the Hokuriku Line between Tsuruga and Fukui (about 61.96 km), opens, with stations including Imajō, Takefu, Sabae and Fukui.
• 189720 September: the line is extended from Fukui to Komatsu (about 48.34 km), opening Morita, Shinjō (now Maruoka), Kanazu (now Awaraonsen), Hosorogi and Daishōji.
• 190912 October: under the national line-naming regulation, the Maibara–Uozu and Tsuruga–Kanagasaki sections are designated the Hokuriku Main Line.
• 193613 January: a Maibara-to-Ueno train catches fire after leaving Fukui, killing four; on 22 January an avalanche near the Yunoo Tunnel buries 51 snow-clearing workers, killing eight.
• 194828 June: the Fukui earthquake destroys the Kuzuryū River bridge between Fukui and Morita and wrecks station buildings, derailing trains along the line.
• 196210 June: the 13,870 m Hokuriku Tunnel opens, carrying a new double-track AC-electrified line between Tsuruga and Imajō (19.3 km) with Minami-Imajō Station; the old 26.4 km route via Sugitsu had closed the day before.
• 19634 April: AC electrification is extended from Fukui to Kanazawa, having reached Imajō–Fukui in March 1962.
• 19691 October: double-tracking and electrification of the entire Hokuriku Main Line are completed.
• 19726 November: the express Kitaguni catches fire inside the Hokuriku Tunnel, killing 30 — Japan's deadliest railway tunnel fire.
• 19871 April: on JNR's division and privatisation, the Maibara–Naoetsu section of the Hokuriku Main Line (353.9 km) passes to JR West, with Japan Freight Railway as Class II operator.
• 200624 September: JR West switches the Nagahama–Tsuruga section from AC to DC, moving the AC/DC dead section to near the Tsuruga end of the Hokuriku Tunnel.
• 202328 February: JR West files to discontinue the Kanazawa–Tsuruga parallel section of the Hokuriku Main Line ahead of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension.
• 202416 March: with the Hokuriku Shinkansen extended to Tsuruga, the Tsuruga–Daishōji section transfers to Hapi-Line Fukui and becomes the Hapi-Line Fukui Line; Daishōji passes to the IR Ishikawa Railway, with through service to/from Kanazawa.
• 202614 March: Shikibu Station opens and Regional Rapid services begin operating alongside the existing Rapid trains.