Hōjō Line

The line was built not by the state but by the Banshū Railway, which opened the route between Ao and Hōjōmachi — a distance recorded as 8.5 miles, about 13.68 km — on 3 March 1915. Several intermediate stops were added in the line's first years: a halt at Yokotamura opened in 1916, Banetsu Ōji Station (the present-day Harima-Shimosato) in 1917, and a first-generation Tahara Station between Abiki and Hokkeguchi in 1919. A planned extension was even entered into the railway-construction programme in 1922 under the National Railway Construction Act, though it was never realised.

Ownership changed hands as the small railway was absorbed into larger concerns. On 21 December 1923 the line was transferred to the Bantan Railway, which in 1930 converted the route's distance markings from miles to metres. Then, on 1 June 1943, the Bantan Railway was nationalised together with its other lines, and the route became a government railway under the name Hōjō Line.

The line was the scene of a serious wartime accident. On 31 March 1945 an Imperial Japanese Navy Shiden-Kai fighter (the Kawanishi N1K) on a test flight made an emergency landing between Abiki and Hokkeguchi after a malfunction, shifting the track; an up passenger train that arrived moments later was derailed and overturned. The crash — known as the Hōjō Line train derailment accident — killed 12 people and injured 104.

In the post-war decades the line saw both additions and contractions. A second-generation Tahara Station opened in 1952, and Harima-Yokota Station was added in 1961, first as a temporary halt and then as a full station from 20 December that year. Freight operations, however, were abolished on 1 October 1974, leaving the line a passenger-only route.

Like many lightly used rural lines, the Hōjō Line was caught up in the rationalisation of Japanese National Railways. In September 1981 it was approved for abolition as part of the first batch of designated specified local lines — routes judged to carry too little traffic to remain in the national network. Rather than close it, the decision was taken in May 1984 to convert the line to a third-sector railway, and on 1 April 1985 operations passed to the newly formed Hōjō Railway, the structure under which the line still runs today.

Under Hōjō Railway, the otherwise single-track line gained new capability at its midpoint. A passing loop was completed at Hokkeguchi Station in 2020, and with the timetable revision of 1 September that year five additional weekday round trips were introduced; the crossing facility uses a signalling arrangement in which the driver opens the signal by touching an IC-card reader at the station. From 1 April 2026 the line is scheduled to accept the ICOCA smart card.

• 19153 March: the Banshū Railway opens the line between Ao and Hōjōmachi, a distance of 8.5 miles (about 13.68 km).
• 191714 August: Banshū Ōji Station, the present-day Harima-Shimosato Station, opens.
• 191922 December: a first-generation Tahara Station opens between Abiki and Hokkeguchi.
• 192321 December: the line is transferred to the Bantan Railway.
• 19301 April: the Bantan Railway converts the line's distance markings from miles to metres.
• 19431 June: the Bantan Railway is nationalised together with its other lines, and the route becomes a government railway named the Hōjō Line.
• 194531 March: an Imperial Japanese Navy Shiden-Kai (Kawanishi N1K) fighter on a test flight makes an emergency landing between Abiki and Hokkeguchi, shifting the track; a following up passenger train derails and overturns, killing 12 and injuring 104.
• 195218 February: a second-generation Tahara Station opens.
• 196120 December: Harima-Yokota Station opens as a full station (having opened as a temporary halt on 1 October the same year).
• 19741 October: freight operations on the line are abolished.
• 198118 September: the line is approved for abolition as part of the first batch of designated specified local lines.
• 198425 May: conversion of the line to a third-sector railway is decided.
• 19851 April: operations pass to the newly formed Hōjō Railway, beginning the line's present third-sector operation.
• 2020A passing loop is completed at Hokkeguchi Station; from the 1 September timetable revision, five additional weekday round trips are introduced.
• 20261 April: the Hōjō Line is scheduled to begin accepting the ICOCA smart card.