Iwate Galaxy Railway Line

The railway's origins lie with the old Tōhoku Main Line corridor. The section between Morioka and Metoki first opened on 1 September 1891, as part of the through route that the private Nippon Railway was building northward toward Aomori. In its early decades it was an integral stretch of that long trunk line linking Tokyo with the far north of Honshū.

Like the rest of the Nippon Railway network, the line passed into state hands on 1 November 1906, when the company was nationalized. On 12 October 1909 the government railways' line-naming reform formally designated the route the Tōhoku Main Line, and the Morioka–Metoki section became part of that named trunk line.

Modernization came in the post-war era. The Morioka–Metoki section was fully double-tracked by 12 July 1968, and electrified at 20,000 V 50 Hz AC on 22 August 1968, allowing electric trains and heavier traffic over the once steam-worked mountain route.

With the privatization and break-up of Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987, the section came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), which operated it as the northern end of the Tōhoku Main Line for the next fifteen years.

The decisive change came with the northward march of the Tōhoku Shinkansen. To take over the conventional line once the high-speed route absorbed its long-distance traffic, the third-sector IGR Iwate Galaxy Railway company was established on 25 May 2001. On 1 December 2002 the Shinkansen was extended from Morioka to Hachinohe, and on the same day JR East transferred the Morioka–Metoki section to the new company, which began operating it as the Iwate Galaxy Railway Line.

Today the line forms a continuous third-sector corridor with the neighbouring Aoimori Railway: no trains terminate at Metoki, and services run through across the prefectural boundary toward Hachinohe over the Aoimori Railway Line. Although passenger operation passed to the local company, the corridor remains an important freight artery — Japan Freight Railway (JR Freight) continues to run freight trains over the line as a Type II railway operator, linking the Tokyo region with Aomori and Hokkaidō.

• 18911 September: the Morioka–Metoki section opens as part of the through route the private Nippon Railway is building north toward Aomori.
• 19061 November: Nippon Railway is nationalized; the line passes into state hands.
• 190912 October: the government railways' line-naming reform designates the route the Tōhoku Main Line; the Morioka–Metoki section becomes part of that trunk line.
• 196812 July: the Morioka–Metoki section is fully double-tracked.
• 196822 August: the section is electrified at 20,000 V 50 Hz AC.
• 19871 April: with the privatization and break-up of Japanese National Railways, the section comes under the control of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
• 200125 May: the third-sector IGR Iwate Galaxy Railway company is established to take over the conventional line.
• 20021 December: the Tōhoku Shinkansen is extended from Morioka to Hachinohe; on the same day JR East transfers the Morioka–Metoki section to the new company, which opens it as the Iwate Galaxy Railway Line.