Ōtemachi Line

Iyo Railway was founded on 14 September 1887 and opened its first line, a 762 mm light railway between Matsuyama and Mitsu, on 28 October 1888 — the first railway in Shikoku. Over the following decades the company expanded into both suburban "interurban" lines radiating from Matsuyama-shi Station and a network of street tramways around Matsuyama Castle, the latter known collectively as the Matsuyama City Lines (松山市内線). The Ōtemachi Line belongs to this city-tram group and shares its rolling stock, the Komachi depot and workshops, and its operating arrangements; its own recorded history is correspondingly short, and the wider story of Matsuyama's trams forms its essential background.

The Matsuyama tram network took shape partly through acquisition. On 1 April 1921 Iyo Railway absorbed the rival Matsuyama Electric Tramway, and on 30 June 1923 it regauged those former Matsuyama Electric Tramway lines from 1,435 mm standard gauge to its own 1,067 mm gauge, unifying the city tracks. The Ōtemachi Line itself did not yet exist at this point; these company-wide changes simply established the 1,067 mm narrow-gauge city network into which the line would later be built.

The line's own origin lies in the 1920s. On 3 April 1927 a connecting line between Komachi and Matsuyama opened as a railway under the Local Railway Act. Then on 1 May 1936 the section from Komachi through Kokutetsu-ekimae (the station in front of the national-railway station, today JR Matsuyama Station-mae) to Nishi-Horibata opened as a tramway under the Tramway Act, and the earlier Komachi–Matsuyama connecting line was abolished. This 1936 opening is the founding date of the Ōtemachi Line as it exists today, and it is the only segment-opening in the line's history — the route has run essentially unchanged in extent ever since.

Like the rest of Iyotetsu's system, the city trams were caught up in the Second World War: the Matsuyama air raid of 26 July 1945 destroyed the head office, major stations and the car workshops and halted all rail and tram operation, after which services were progressively restored from the following day. In the post-war decades, while motorisation eliminated street trams across much of Japan, Matsuyama's network survived and even grew — the city tram lines were extended in 1962, and on 1 December 1969 the Matsuyama City Lines began loop (circular) operation around the castle, the pattern under which the Ōtemachi Line's services still run.

Modern improvements to the Matsuyama trams have been felt on the Ōtemachi Line through the services and vehicles that use it. A replica of the historic "Botchan" steam train — a diesel recreation of the light-railway locomotives of Iyotetsu's early years — entered service on the city tram network on 12 October 2001 and runs over the Ōtemachi Line, and Iyotetsu introduced Moha 2100 low-floor trams on 19 March 2002 and streamlined Moha 5000 LRT cars on 21 September 2017. On 13 March 2024 the city trams adopted nationwide interoperable IC cards such as ICOCA.

Today the Ōtemachi Line is electrified throughout at 600 V DC; the Komachi–JR Matsuyama Station-mae portion is single-tracked while the JR Matsuyama Station-mae–Nishi-Horibata portion is double-tracked. Three numbered tram services (1, 2 and 5) and the Botchan train operate over the line. A plan once existed to extend the city tram from the JR Matsuyama Station area — which is being elevated as part of a redevelopment — southward toward the Matsuyama Loop Road, with a longer-term aspiration of reaching Matsuyama Airport; however, materials from a March 2024 Matsuyama Station planning meeting omitted the tram-extension tracks from the drawings, indicating that the extension has in effect been shelved.

• 188714 September: Iyo Railway Co. is founded (network context).
• 188828 October: Iyo Railway opens its first line, Matsuyama–Mitsu (762 mm) — the first railway in Shikoku (network context).
• 19211 April: Iyo Railway absorbs the Matsuyama Electric Tramway (network context).
• 192330 June: the former Matsuyama Electric Tramway lines are regauged from 1,435 mm to 1,067 mm, unifying the city tram gauge (network context; the Ōtemachi Line did not yet exist).
• 19273 April: a Komachi–Matsuyama connecting line opens as a railway under the Local Railway Act — the Ōtemachi Line's direct predecessor.
• 19361 May: Komachi–Kokutetsu-ekimae (now JR Matsuyama Station-mae)–Nishi-Horibata opens as a tramway under the Tramway Act; the Komachi–Matsuyama connecting line is abolished. This is the founding of the present Ōtemachi Line.
• 194526 July: the Matsuyama air raid destroys the head office, major stations and the car workshops and halts all rail and tram operation; services are restored progressively from the next day (network context).
• 1962The Matsuyama City Lines are extended (network context).
• 19691 December: the Matsuyama City Lines begin loop (circular) operation around the castle — the service pattern under which the Ōtemachi Line still runs (network context).
• 200112 October: a replica of the "Botchan" train enters service on the city trams and runs over the Ōtemachi Line (network context).
• 200219 March: Moha 2100 low-floor trams enter service on the Matsuyama City Lines (network context).
• 201721 September: streamlined Moha 5000 LRT cars enter service on the city trams (network context).
• 202413 March: nationwide interoperable IC cards (e.g. ICOCA) are introduced on the Matsuyama city trams (network context).