Meitetsu Kakamigahara Line

Unlike many lines in the Meitetsu network, the Kakamigahara Line did not begin as a Meitetsu undertaking. It was built by a separate company, the Kakamihara Railway (各務原鉄道), incorporated on 13 April 1924 with Nakajima Jun as president and capital of one million yen, after the railway licence for the Gifu–Unuma corridor had been granted on 19 June 1923. The promoters drew on local interests along the route as well as established Gifu-area operators in planning the line.

Construction proceeded in stages. The first section opened on 21 January 1926, between Arata and the stop in front of the army supply depot (Hokyūbu-ekimae). A further segment opened on 1 August 1926, and the line was extended again on 20 September 1927. The route was completed on 28 December 1928 when the Nagazumichō–Arata section opened, giving through running across the whole line. As built it was electrified at 600 V DC.

The Kakamihara Railway did not remain independent for long. On 28 March 1935 it was absorbed by the Meiki Railway (名岐鉄道), becoming that company's Kakamigahara Line. Only months later, on 1 August 1935, the Meiki Railway merged with the Aichi Electric Railway and renamed itself the Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu), the company that operates the line today.

Under Meitetsu the line was progressively upgraded. The section from the Gifu end as far as Ogase was double-tracked in a series of works carried out between 1938 and 1942. The line passed through the difficult years of the Second World War — Kakamigahara, with its airfield and military installations, was bombed in 1945, and several stations were suspended and later reopened in the years that followed.

The most significant modernisation came in 1964. On 15 March that year the final single-track section, from Ogase to Shin-Unuma, was doubled, the overhead line voltage was raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC, and through running with the Inuyama Line began. The higher voltage allowed the line's maximum speed to be increased from 65 km/h to 85 km/h, knitting the Kakamigahara Line into Meitetsu's wider standard-voltage network toward Nagoya.

In later decades the line's connections changed. From 1970 a short link at Tagami Station allowed through services from the Mino-machi Line to reach the Kakamigahara Line; this arrangement ended on 1 April 2005, when the Tagami Line and Mino-machi Line were abolished. On 29 January 2005 several stations were renamed, including the Gifu terminus, which became Meitetsu-Gifu. Today the line carries dense local commuter traffic between Gifu and Kakamigahara, with one-man operation introduced on 18 March 2023.

• 192319 June: a railway licence is granted for the Kakamihara Railway's Gifu–Unuma line.
• 192413 April: the Kakamihara Railway is incorporated, with Nakajima Jun as president and capital of one million yen.
• 192621 January: the first section opens, between Arata and Hokyūbu-ekimae (the stop in front of the army supply depot), electrified at 600 V DC.
• 19261 August: the line is extended, opening the Kakamino–Nirentaimae section.
• 192720 September: the line is extended again, opening the Nirentaimae–Higashi-Unuma section.
• 192828 December: the Nagazumichō–Arata section opens, completing the line and allowing through running across its whole length.
• 193528 March: the Kakamihara Railway is absorbed by the Meiki Railway, becoming its Kakamigahara Line.
• 19351 August: the Meiki Railway merges with the Aichi Electric Railway and renames itself the Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu).
• 1938Double-tracking of the line begins; the Nagazumichō–Tagami section is doubled on 18 July, part of the staged Gifu-to-Ogase double-tracking carried out from 1938 to 1942.
• 194222 October: the Nijikken–Ogase section is double-tracked, completing the Gifu-to-Ogase doubling.
• 194522 June: stations on the line are damaged in the bombing of Kakamigahara during the Second World War.
• 196415 March: the final single-track section (Ogase–Shin-Unuma) is doubled, the voltage is raised from 600 V to 1,500 V DC, and through running with the Inuyama Line begins; the maximum speed rises from 65 km/h to 85 km/h.
• 197025 June: the Tagami Line opens, allowing Mino-machi Line trains to run through onto the Kakamigahara Line at Tagami Station.
• 200529 January: several stations are renamed, including the Gifu terminus, which becomes Meitetsu-Gifu.
• 20051 April: the Tagami Line and Mino-machi Line are abolished, ending through running from the Mino-machi Line.
• 202318 March: one-man (driver-only) operation begins on the line.