Mikuni Awara Line

The line grew out of a string of pre-war local-railway schemes. A plan to link Fukui with Mikuni and Daishōji was licensed to the Kaetsu Electric Railway in 1919; the depressed economy that followed the First World War stalled it, and the company was reorganised, becoming Yoshizaki Electric Railway, which was formally established in 1924. From about 1925 the Kyoto-based power utility Kyoto Dentō (Kyoto Electric Lamp) joined the venture, and in 1927 the company was renamed Mikuni Awara Electric Railway and construction finally began.

Mikuni Awara Electric Railway opened its first section, Fukuiguchi to Awara (now Awara-Yunomachi), on 30 December 1928. The line was extended the following year to Mikunichō (now Mikuni), and through running began over Kyoto Dentō's Echizen Main Line — the present Katsuyama Eiheiji Line — into Fukui. A coastal extension from Densha-Mikuni out to Tōjinbōguchi opened in 1932, giving the railway its fullest pre-war extent.

Under Japan's wartime consolidation of the power and railway industries, the Mikuni Awara Electric Railway was absorbed into Keifuku Electric Railway on 1 August 1942 and became Keifuku's Mikuni Awara Line — the name it has carried ever since. Wartime priorities then reshaped the route. In January 1944 the coastal Densha-Mikuni–Tōjinbōguchi branch was suspended as a non-essential line, and in October 1944 Keifuku took over the parallel state-owned Mikuni Line between Mikuni and Mikuni-Minato, electrified it at 600 V DC, and opened it for through service; that segment became the line's present terminus arrangement.

For the next half-century the Mikuni Awara Line settled into the role of a local railway across the Fukui Plain, shedding freight and converting to driver-only operation as motorisation advanced. Then disaster overtook its sister route. Two collisions in 2000 and 2001 on Keifuku's Echizen Main Line prompted a business-improvement order from the authorities, and Keifuku suspended all operations on the Mikuni Awara Line as well on 24 June 2001, leaving the whole network without trains.

Rather than abandon the railway, Fukui Prefecture and the lineside municipalities backed a new third-sector operator, Echizen Railway. The transfer was approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in January 2003, and Echizen Railway took the line over from Keifuku on 1 February 2003. Service was restored in two stages later that year: the Fukuiguchi–Nishi-Nagata section reopened on 20 July 2003, and the Nishi-Nagata–Mikuni-Minato section on 10 August 2003, returning trains to the entire line. The reopening was accompanied by station renamings, including Awara-Yumachi to Awara-Yunomachi and Nishi-Fukui to Fukudaimae-Nishi-Fukui.

Since reopening, the line has been modernised and more closely woven into Fukui's local network. A new station, Matsumoto Machiya, opened in 2015 as the railway shifted onto temporary tracks alongside the rising Hokuriku Shinkansen viaduct. In March 2016 mutual through-running with the Fukui Railway Fukubu Line began over the Tawaramachi–Washizuka-Haribara section, branded the "Phoenix Tawaramachi Line." Station numbering was introduced across the line in 2017, and in 2018 Fukuiguchi Station was rebuilt as an elevated station. Today the Mikuni Awara Line is a local commuter and tourist railway with daytime trains roughly twice an hour, through service to Fukui, on-board attendants, and connections at Awara for the hot-spring resort and the Sea of Japan coast.

• 191926 December: a railway licence is granted to the Kaetsu Electric Railway for lines from Mikuni to Fukui and from Mikuni toward Ishikawa, the scheme from which the line ultimately grew.
• 192410 November: the reorganised company, Yoshizaki Electric Railway, is formally established after the post-WWI slump stalled the original plan.
• 1927The company, now with the Kyoto Dentō power utility participating in its management, is renamed Mikuni Awara Electric Railway and construction begins.
• 192830 December: Mikuni Awara Electric Railway opens its first section, Fukuiguchi–Awara (now Awara-Yunomachi).
• 192931 January: the Awara–Mikunichō (now Mikuni) section opens. Through operation onto the Kyōto Dentō Echizen Main Line into Fukui Station begins the same year.
• 193228 May: the coastal extension from Densha-Mikuni to Tōjinbōguchi opens, giving the line its fullest pre-war extent.
• 19421 August: under wartime industry consolidation, Mikuni Awara Electric Railway merges into Keifuku Electric Railway and the route becomes Keifuku's Mikuni Awara Line.
• 194411 January: the coastal Densha-Mikuni–Tōjinbōguchi branch is suspended as a non-essential wartime line (later abolished).
• 194411 October: Keifuku takes over the state-owned Mikuni Line between Mikuni and Mikuni-Minato, electrifies it at 600 V DC and opens it for through service, forming the line's present terminus section.
• 200124 June: following two collisions (2000 and 2001) on Keifuku's Echizen Main Line and a resulting business-improvement order, Keifuku suspends all operations on the Mikuni Awara Line.
• 20031 February: Echizen Railway takes the line over from Keifuku (the transfer was approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on 17 January).
• 200320 July: the Fukuiguchi–Nishi-Nagata section reopens (with Awara-Yumachi renamed Awara-Yunomachi and Nishi-Fukui renamed Fukudaimae-Nishi-Fukui). 10 August: the Nishi-Nagata–Mikuni-Minato section reopens, restoring trains over the whole line.
• 201527 September: Matsumoto Machiya Station opens as the railway shifts onto temporary tracks alongside the Hokuriku Shinkansen viaduct.
• 201627 March: mutual through-running with the Fukui Railway Fukubu Line begins over the Tawaramachi–Washizuka-Haribara section, branded the "Phoenix Tawaramachi Line."
• 201725 March: station numbering is introduced across the line.
• 201824 June: Fukuiguchi Station is rebuilt from a ground-level station into an elevated station.