Ōmori Line

The Hakodate tram system is the oldest in Japan north of Tokyo. Its origins lie with the Kikan Horsecar Railway (亀函馬車鉄道), a private company founded in January 1894, which opened the first horse-drawn tramway between Benten-chō (later Hakodate Dock-mae) and Higashikawa-chō (later Shinonome-chō) on 12 December 1897. The following year the horsecar lines spread quickly through the town: on 9 January 1898 a route opened from Jūjigai through Tsuruoka-chō — the place later known as Hakodate-Ekimae — to Higashikawa-chō, putting the future site of the Ōmori Line into service for the first time, albeit under horse power.

In August 1898 the operator merged with another firm and was renamed the Hakodate Horsecar Railway (函館馬車鉄道), and the network continued to grow. On 1 October 1911 the electric utility Hakodate Suiden (函館水電) bought the horsecar company, and it was under this owner that the lines were electrified. Electric operation began on 29 June 1913 on the Shinonome-chō–Yukawa section — the first electric streetcar in Hokkaido — and the central Benten-chō–Jūjigai–Shinonome-chō section followed on 31 October 1913.

The Ōmori Line itself was electrified the next year. On 31 October 1914 the Jūjigai–Hakodate-Ekimae–Kaigan-chō section and the Hakodate-Ekimae–Matsukaze-chō section — the latter being the Ōmori Line — were placed under wire, and electric running began across the whole network on that day. The line takes its name from the Ōmori district and the Ōmori-bashi bridge area along the seafront through which this stretch of track passes. From then on the short link between the station front and Matsukaze-chō formed an integral part of the through tram routes.

Ownership changed hands several more times — Hakodate Suiden became Teikoku Denryoku (帝国電力) in 1934 and the tram and bus operations passed through further transfers — before the City of Hakodate finally took the lines over on 1 November 1943, establishing a municipal transport office. In October 1952 this was reorganised as the Hakodate City Transportation Bureau (函館市交通局), the public enterprise that would run the trams for the rest of the twentieth century. At its peak the system reached six lines totalling 17.9 kilometres, worked by twelve service routes.

Falling ridership in the second half of the century forced the network back. Sections were abandoned in 1978, 1992 and 1993, reducing the system to its present four lines and 10.9 kilometres worked by two routes. Through these contractions the Ōmori Line survived, because its half-kilometre is structurally indispensable: it is the only track joining the Yunokawa Line at Matsukaze-chō to the Main Line at Hakodate-Ekimae, and without it cars from the Yunokawa direction could not reach the station front or continue toward Jūjigai.

That role is reflected in the two surviving services. Route 2 and Route 5 both run in from Yunokawa, pass over the Ōmori Line between Matsukaze-chō and Hakodate-Ekimae, and continue through Jūjigai — Route 2 onward to Yachigashira and Route 5 to Hakodate Dock-mae. As a result, although the Ōmori Line appears on maps as a separate line, in everyday operation it is simply the busy connecting curve that every tram passing Hakodate Station uses.

In 2011 the Transportation Bureau was merged with the city waterworks bureau and renamed the Hakodate City Enterprise Bureau Transportation Division (函館市企業局交通部), the operator's present name. The trams have since modernised with IC-card payment — the ICAS nimoca card was introduced on 25 March 2017 — and the Ōmori Line continues to carry the city's full tram traffic across its 0.5-kilometre length, a small but essential link in one of Japan's longest-lived streetcar networks.

• 1894January: the Kikan Horsecar Railway (亀函馬車鉄道) is founded as a private company.
• 189712 December: the company opens Hakodate's first horse-drawn tramway, Benten-chō–Higashikawa-chō — the first tram in Japan north of Tokyo.
• 18989 January: a horsecar route opens from Jūjigai via Tsuruoka-chō (later Hakodate-Ekimae) to Higashikawa-chō, first putting the future Ōmori Line site into service.
• 189819 August: the operator merges with another firm and is renamed the Hakodate Horsecar Railway (函館馬車鉄道).
• 19111 October: the electric utility Hakodate Suiden (函館水電) buys the horsecar company.
• 191329 June: electric operation begins on the Shinonome-chō–Yukawa section — the first electric streetcar in Hokkaido.
• 191431 October: the Hakodate-Ekimae–Matsukaze-chō section (the Ōmori Line) and the Jūjigai–Hakodate-Ekimae–Kaigan-chō section are electrified, and electric running begins across the whole network.
• 19431 November: the City of Hakodate takes over the lines, establishing a municipal transport office.
• 19521 October: the operation is reorganised as the Hakodate City Transportation Bureau (函館市交通局), a public enterprise.
• 19781 November: part of the Main Line (Gas-Gaisha-mae–Goryōkaku-Ekimae) is abandoned, the first of the network's contractions.
• 19921 April: the Shinonome Line (Hōrai-chō–Matsukaze-chō) is abandoned (−1.6 km).
• 19931 April: part of the Main Line (Hakodate-Ekimae–Gas-Gaisha-mae) and the Miyamae Line are abandoned (−3.6 km), bringing the network to four lines and 10.9 km.
• 20111 April: the Transportation Bureau is merged with the city waterworks bureau and renamed the Hakodate City Enterprise Bureau Transportation Division (函館市企業局交通部).
• 201725 March: the ICAS nimoca IC card is introduced for fare payment on the trams.