Taniyama Line

The line is the oldest of Kagoshima's tram routes. The first electric tramway to open in the city was the Kagoshima Electric Tramway's Taniyama Line, which, although a street tramway in character, was built and licensed under Japan's Light Railway Act rather than the Tramway Act — said to have been done so that coupled (multiple-car) operation would be permitted. A light-railway licence for the Kagoshima–Taniyama route was granted on 3 August 1911, construction began on 5 June 1912, and the Takenohashi–Taniyama section opened on 1 December 1912. Seven wooden single-truck cars were provided at opening, and from 1913 electric freight cars were added to carry parcels and fresh fish.

In its early years much of the line was singled to free up materials for building other lines: the Nikenchaya–Taniyama section was authorised for conversion to single track on 15 September 1915 and the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section on 16 May 1917, the recovered rail and sleepers being reused on new construction. These stretches would not be restored to double track until the post-war years.

Kagoshima City took the tramway into public ownership in the late 1920s. The Kagoshima Electric Tramway was transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局) on 1 July 1928, the transfer having been permitted on 25 May that year; the line's legal status was then changed from light railway to tramway under the Tramway Act, authorised on 28 December 1928. The municipal operator was successively reorganised — into the city Transport Section in 1933, the Transport Department in 1944, and finally the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau on 1 October 1952, the name it still bears.

The Second World War interrupted services: an air raid on 17 June 1945 suspended operation on the line, which resumed on 29 June 1945. Restoration of double track then proceeded in stages after the war — the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section in December 1947 and the Nikenchaya–Wakita section in February 1948 — and was completed on 29 December 1949, when double track was restored across the whole Taniyama Line.

From the late 1950s the line's track was progressively lowered and rebuilt: the original Takenohashi–Taniyama route had been entirely on dedicated right-of-way, but from 1959 the track bed was dropped to street level and central reservations were created, and through the early 1960s the in-street (combined) sections were extended after new roads and bridges were built. A separate proposal by the Railway Ministry to buy the Namida-bashi–Taniyama light-railway segment for use in building the Ibusuki Line was rejected by the city assembly, which feared the loss of the frequent tram service, and a parallel new railway was built to the west instead; the new Minami-Kagoshima (then a new station) was added on that line in 1944. The Usuki-itchōme stop was added on the Taniyama Line in 1979.

In more recent decades the line has become known for its lawn (green) track: the city began planting grass within the track bed at a tram stop and then greened the trackbed more widely with lawn, lit up at night, with the greening completed by 2018 across all but the dedicated-track section between Namida-bashi and Taniyama. The Kagoshima City Tram as a whole has also introduced ultra-low-floor cars from 2002 onward. On 3 July 2019 a landslide near Minami-Kagoshima-eki-mae caused by heavy rain suspended the Kōrimoto–Taniyama section, with service resuming the following day.

• 19113 August: a light-railway licence is granted for the Kagoshima–Taniyama route.
• 19121 December: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway opens the Takenohashi–Taniyama section as the first electric tram line in Kagoshima; construction had begun on 5 June and the Takenohashi–Taniyama-village section was completed on 23 November.
• 191515 September: conversion of the Nikenchaya–Taniyama section to single track is authorised, the recovered rail and sleepers being reused for new line construction.
• 191716 May: conversion of the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section to single track is authorised.
• 19281 July: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway is transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (transfer permitted 25 May); on 28 December the line's legal status is changed from light railway to tramway.
• 194517 June: an air raid suspends services on the line; operation resumes on 29 June.
• 194929 December: double-tracking is completed across the whole Taniyama Line, restoring double track (after staged works at Kamoike–Nikenchaya in 1947 and Nikenchaya–Wakita in 1948).
• 19521 October: the municipal operator is reorganised into the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (previously the Transport Section from 1933 and Transport Department from 1944).
• 1960Track-bed lowering having begun in 1959, the track is relocated on the Takenohashi–Arata-hachiman section (28 February down track, 1 March up track) as in-street running is introduced.
• 1979The Usuki-itchōme stop is newly opened on the line.
• 200215 January: ultra-low-floor cars (U-Tram) begin operating on the Kagoshima City Tram network of which the Taniyama Line is part.
• 2018Lawn (green) track greening of the trackbed is completed across the line except the dedicated-track Namida-bashi–Taniyama section.
• 20193 July: a landslide near Minami-Kagoshima-eki-mae caused by heavy rain suspends the Kōrimoto–Taniyama section; service resumes the following day (17:00 on 4 July).