Miyafuku Line

The idea of a railway between Fukuchiyama and Miyazu was an old one. As early as 1887 the Kansai Railway surveyed a route by way of Yura, but it came to nothing; a Miyazu Trade Port Railway promotion movement arose on the Miyazu side in 1892, a Tango Railway company plan followed in 1896 and a Miyazu Electric Railway plan in 1906, but all were abandoned for economic reasons. After the state-built Miyazu Line finally brought rail service to Miyazu, a plan emerged to build a line down the Yura River from Fukuchiyama to connect with the national railway, and the Hokutan Railway was founded for the purpose. It obtained its licence in May 1919 and opened its Fukuchiyama–Kōmori section in September 1923, but post-First World War recession and a shortage of funds halted plans to extend it on to Yura.

After the Second World War a Miyazu Railway Construction Promotion League was formed in May 1948, campaigning for the nationalisation of the Hokutan Railway and for completion of the remaining Miyazu–Kōmori link. As a result, in 1953 the Miyazu–Kōmori section was added to the Railway Construction Act's schedule as the Miyamori Line (宮守線), becoming a planned line. It was promoted in stages to a survey line and then a construction line; the Minister of Transport issued the construction-plan instruction on 22 April 1964, the construction plan was approved on 25 March 1966, and the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation broke ground on 1 October 1966. As planned, the Miyamori Line was to be 17.6 km long with five stations and an estimated cost of about 3.255 billion yen.

Construction progressed well — the line's longest tunnel, the 3,215-metre Fukō Tunnel, was bored through in September 1971 — but the Hokutan Railway, to which the Miyamori Line was meant to connect, suspended operations in 1971 and was abolished in 1974 amid falling passenger numbers and the closure of the Kōmori mine. Left as a dead-end branch, the Miyamori Line would have been pointless, so a campaign arose to extend it all the way to Fukuchiyama as a direct Keihanshin–Tango route. A July 1975 revision of the Railway Construction Act accordingly changed the project from a "Miyazu–Kōmori" line to a "Miyazu–Fukuchiyama" line and renamed it the Miyafuku Line; in December 1978 the Kōmori–Fukuchiyama section became a construction line.

The deterioration of Japanese National Railways' finances then intervened. The 1980 JNR Reconstruction Act, which froze construction of new local lines, took effect on 27 December 1980 and the Miyafuku Line's construction was suspended; the threshold for continuing construction was a transport density of at least 4,000 passengers per day, but the line's projected post-opening density was only about 2,300. At the point of the freeze land acquisition stood at 56 percent and roadbed work at 55 percent. Local interests, determined to see the line completed as a railway, resolved to take it over as a third-sector company under the provisions of the Reconstruction Act.

To that end the Miyafuku Railway Co. was established on 22 September 1982; it obtained a local-railway licence for the Miyafuku Line on 24 December 1982 and resumed construction on 28 February 1983, with the estimated cost revised to about 21.812 billion yen. The Miyafuku Line opened on 16 July 1988 between Fukuchiyama and Miyazu, featuring ten tunnels including the 3,215-metre Fukō Tunnel, the 2,175-metre Shimoamazu Tunnel and the 2,103-metre Tochiba Tunnel. The opening created a direct route from Kyoto and Osaka to Miyazu and Amanohashidate, greatly improving rail travel in the Kinki north: a Kyoto-to-Amanohashidate journey had previously required two switchbacks, at Ayabe and Nishi-Maizuru. When the national Miyazu Line was in turn designated for conversion as a Specified Local Line, the local side took it over too: the Miyafuku Railway was renamed the Kitakinki Tango Railway on 1 August 1989 and assumed operation of the Miyazu Line from JR West on 1 April 1990.

The line opened without electrification, worked mainly by local and rapid trains with very few limited expresses. As electrification spread on the surrounding JR lines and the expressway network grew, the company decided to electrify and speed up the line so that through electric limited expresses could run and journey times could be cut. To qualify for Railway Development Fund support the maximum speed had to be raised to 130 km/h. The work — including conversion to one-line-through track by replacing points and upgrading signalling, improved cant and lengthened transition curves, and electrification — was completed on 16 March 1996, when the Fukuchiyama–Miyazu section opened electrified at 1,500 V DC and upgraded for higher speeds. New limited expresses, including the Kyoto-based "Hashidate" and the Shin-Osaka-based "Monju" and "Tango Discovery," began running, while the "Miyazu" express was withdrawn. Although the design target was 130 km/h, actual operating speed is 120 km/h. JR West runs electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains on the line, while KTR/WILLER's own services, having no electric stock, use diesel multiple units even where electrified.

On 1 April 2015 the railway's operation was transferred from the Kitakinki Tango Railway to WILLER TRAINS (Kyoto Tango Railway), a subsidiary of WILLER ALLIANCE, beginning operation under a vertical-separation model in which Kyoto Tango Railway is the Type-2 operator and the Kitakinki Tango Railway the Type-3 owner. Line symbols and station numbers (the letter "F") were introduced at the same time, and Atsunakatonya Station was renamed Fukuchiyama-shimin-byōin-guchi; unlike the Miyazu Line, the Miyafuku Line itself was not given a new line nickname. Today the line carries limited expresses such as the "Hashidate" and "Tango Relay" that run through to the Miyazu Line toward Amanohashidate, together with roughly hourly local and rapid trains, including the "Ōeyama" rapid, that operate within the Fukuchiyama–Miyazu section.

• 1923September: the Hokutan Railway opens its Fukuchiyama–Kōmori section, an early attempt to build north from Fukuchiyama down the Yura River; plans to extend it to Yura are later abandoned for lack of funds.
• 1953August: the Miyazu–Kōmori section is added to the Railway Construction Act schedule as the Miyamori Line (宮守線), becoming a planned line.
• 196422 April: the basic plan for the Miyamori Line is decided; the Minister of Transport issues the construction-plan instruction to the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation.
• 1966Construction begins: the construction plan is approved on 25 March and the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation breaks ground on the Miyamori Line on 1 October.
• 1971September: the 3,215-metre Fukō Tunnel, the line's longest, is bored through; in the same year the Hokutan Railway suspends operations.
• 197428 February: the Hokutan Railway is abolished, leaving the Miyamori Line without the connection it was meant to serve.
• 1975July: a revision of the Railway Construction Act extends the project to Fukuchiyama and renames it the Miyafuku Line (宮福線); the Kōmori–Fukuchiyama section is added to the schedule.
• 198027 December: the JNR Reconstruction Act takes effect and construction of the Miyafuku Line is frozen; its projected post-opening transport density (~2,300/day) is below the 4,000/day threshold for continuing.
• 198222 September: the Miyafuku Railway Co. is established to take over and complete the line; it obtains a local-railway licence for the Miyafuku Line on 24 December.
• 198328 February: construction of the Miyafuku Line resumes under the Miyafuku Railway, with the estimated cost revised to about 21.812 billion yen.
• 198816 July: the Miyafuku Line opens between Fukuchiyama and Miyazu, with ten tunnels including the 3,215 m Fukō, 2,175 m Shimoamazu and 2,103 m Tochiba tunnels; the temporary express 'Miyazu' begins.
• 19891 August: the Miyafuku Railway is renamed the Kitakinki Tango Railway (KTR).
• 19901 April: the Kitakinki Tango Railway also takes over operation of the Miyazu Line from JR West.
• 199616 March: the Fukuchiyama–Miyazu section is electrified at 1,500 V DC and upgraded for higher speeds; through limited expresses ('Hashidate', 'Monju', 'Tango Discovery') begin and the 'Miyazu' express is withdrawn.
• 201112 March: through operation with JR is reduced — the 'Monju' and 'Tango Discovery' limited expresses are discontinued and the 'Tango Relay' limited express begins.
• 20151 April: operation is transferred from KTR to WILLER TRAINS (Kyoto Tango Railway) under a vertical-separation model — Kyoto Tango Railway as Type-2 operator, KTR as Type-3 owner; line symbol and station numbers ('F') are introduced and Atsunakatonya Station is renamed Fukuchiyama-shimin-byōin-guchi, but the line keeps its name.