Katsuyama Eiheiji Line

The line began as the first electric railway in Fukui Prefecture. It was built by Kyoto Dentō (Kyoto Electric Lamp), a power utility that was also developing hydroelectricity in the region, and opened on 11 February 1914 as the Echizen Electric Railway between Shin-Fukui and Ichiarakawa (the present Echizen-Takehara). Construction pushed on quickly: the Ichiarakawa–Katsuyama section opened on 11 March 1914 and the Katsuyama–Ōnoguchi section on 10 April 1914, linking Fukui with Ōno that same year.

The railway was extended south to the centre of Fukui in stages, reaching Fukui Station in 1929, and grew over the following decades into a network of small stations up the valley. Under Japan's wartime power-industry consolidation (the Electricity Distribution Control Order), Kyoto Dentō's railway and tramway operations were taken over by Keifuku Electric Railway on 2 March 1942, and the route became the Echizen Main Line of Keifuku's Fukui division — the name it would carry for the next six decades.

As private cars spread from the 1960s, Keifuku rationalised its less profitable sections. The Katsuyama–Keifuku-Ōno segment at the top of the line, which paralleled and competed with the national railway's Etsumi-hoku Line, was closed on 13 August 1974, cutting the route back to Katsuyama. The company maintained the rest, but in 1992 it announced plans to abandon the section beyond Higashi-Furuichi (the present Eiheijiguchi) together with its connecting Eiheiji Line branch; the prefecture and local bodies stepped in with public support to keep the trains running.

The line's future was then thrown into doubt by two disasters. On 17 December 2000 a train running in from the Eiheiji Line lost its brakes and collided with another train on the Echizen Main Line near Higashi-Furuichi, killing the driver and injuring passengers. Barely six months later, on 24 June 2001, two trains met head-on between Hota and Hossaka, and Keifuku suspended all operations on the line. The branch Eiheiji Line never reopened and was formally abolished on 21 October 2002.

Rather than lose the railway altogether, Fukui Prefecture and the lineside municipalities backed a new third-sector operator, Echizen Railway, which took the line over from Keifuku on 1 February 2003 and renamed it from the Echizen Main Line to the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line. Service resumed in two stages later that year: the Fukui–Eiheijiguchi section reopened on 20 July 2003 and the Eiheijiguchi–Katsuyama section on 19 October 2003, restoring through running over the whole route. Ridership, which had collapsed during the suspension, climbed steadily once trains returned.

Since reopening, the line has been reshaped by the arrival of the Hokuriku Shinkansen at Fukui. To make room for the bullet-train viaduct and the railway's own elevated tracks, the Shin-Fukui–Fukuiguchi section was singled in 2006 and the remaining double-track stretches near Fukui were progressively reduced, so that by 2018 the entire line had reverted to single track. Today the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line is a local commuter and tourist railway, with daytime trains roughly twice an hour, daytime onboard attendants, station numbering introduced in 2017, and seasonal "Dinosaur Train" tourist services running up to the museum at Katsuyama.

• 191411 February: Kyoto Dentō opens the line's first section, Shin-Fukui–Ichiarakawa (now Echizen-Takehara), as the Echizen Electric Railway — the first electric railway in Fukui Prefecture.
• 191411 March: the Ichiarakawa–Katsuyama section opens. 10 April: the Katsuyama–Ōnoguchi section opens, linking Fukui with Ōno within the year.
• 19181 September: the Ōnoguchi–Ōno-Sanban section opens (Ōno-Sanban later renamed Keifuku-Ōno), completing the through route up the valley.
• 192921 September: the Fukui–Shin-Fukui section opens, extending the line into the centre of Fukui.
• 19422 March: under the wartime Electricity Distribution Control Order, Keifuku Electric Railway takes over Kyoto Dentō's railway operations; the route becomes Keifuku's Echizen Main Line.
• 194828 June: the 1948 Fukui earthquake forces a temporary closure of the whole line; service is restored in August 1948.
• 197413 August: the Katsuyama–Keifuku-Ōno section, which competed with the national Etsumi-hoku Line, is closed; the route is cut back to Katsuyama.
• 1992Keifuku announces plans to abandon the section beyond Higashi-Furuichi (now Eiheijiguchi) and the connecting Eiheiji Line; the prefecture and local bodies provide support to keep the line running.
• 200017 December: a train entering from the Eiheiji Line cannot stop owing to brake failure and collides with another train on the Echizen Main Line near Higashi-Furuichi, killing the driver and injuring passengers.
• 200124 June: two trains collide head-on between Hota and Hossaka, and Keifuku suspends all operations on the line.
• 200221 October: the connecting Eiheiji Line, suspended since the 2001 accident, is formally abolished and never reopens.
• 20031 February: Echizen Railway takes the line over from Keifuku and renames it from the Echizen Main Line to the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line (the transfer was approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on 17 January).
• 200320 July: the Fukui–Eiheijiguchi section reopens. 19 October: the Eiheijiguchi–Katsuyama section reopens, restoring through service over the whole line.
• 20069 April: owing to construction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the Shin-Fukui–Fukuiguchi section is singled.
• 201725 March: station numbering is introduced at all stations on the line.
• 201824 June: with the switch of the Fukui–Fukuiguchi section onto Echizen Railway's own viaduct, the Fukui–Shin-Fukui section is singled and the entire line reverts to single track.