Toyama Tram Branch Line

The tram network was built by the Toyama Electric Tramway (富山電気軌道), which held its inaugural general meeting on 30 May 1913 after obtaining a tramway construction licence in late 1912. Services began on 1 September 1913, timed to coincide with a regional joint exhibition; on that opening day both the Main Line (Toyama-Eki-mae to the exhibition grounds) and the original Branch Line (Toyama-Eki-mae – Sōgawa – Nishichō) entered service. The Branch Line was thus part of the tramway from its very first day.

Ownership of the system changed twice in its early decades. Hampered by poor finances, the Toyama Electric Tramway was transferred to the city of Toyama on 1 July 1920, becoming the Toyama Municipal Tramway (富山市営軌道); the lingering nickname 'shiden' (city tram) dates from this municipal era. Then, on 1 January 1943, under the wartime Land Transport Business Coordination Act, the tramway was handed over to Toyama Chihō Railway, which has operated it ever since.

The Branch Line's fortunes turned with the Second World War. On 2 August 1945 the great Toyama air raid forced the suspension of the entire tram network. Recovery came in stages: the Branch Line's Echizenchō–Nishichō section reopened on 15 May 1946, and the Toyama-Eki-mae–Hatagomachi section followed on 15 March 1949. By the end of that year the rebuilt central lines had been knitted into a circular service: loop operation began on 30 December 1949, and the Branch Line, threading through the heart of the city, formed part of that loop.

During the system's 1960s heyday the Toyama trams ran to about 11 km of route. The Branch Line's central stops carried longstanding city-centre names; the key interchange of Sōgawa was renamed Marunouchi on 5 August 1952, the name it still bears. But the post-war boom brought rising car ownership, and as road traffic slowed the trams, ridership fell into decline.

Rationalisation in the early 1970s cut the Branch Line back. After part of the Eastern Line closed in September 1972, the Branch Line's Nishichō – Hatagomachi – Marunouchi section was abolished on 31 March 1973, and with it the city-centre loop service disappeared. What survived was the eastern stub between Toyama-Eki-mae and Marunouchi — the 1.0-kilometre link that is the Branch Line of today, joining the Main Line at the station end to the cluster of lines meeting at Marunouchi.

The line's modern landmarks belong to Toyama's tram-led urban renewal. When the Hokuriku Shinkansen reached an elevated Toyama Station on 14 March 2015, the short Toyama Station North–South Connecting Line and the new Toyama Station tram stop opened, and the Branch Line's eastern terminus, until then Toyama-Eki-mae, was renamed Dentetsu-Toyama-Eki/Esta-mae to avoid confusion with the new stop. Station numbering across the tramway was introduced on 9 February 2019, and on 21 March 2020 through running between the city trams and the Toyamakō Line across Toyama Station began, completing the long-planned north–south link through the station.

• 1912Toyama Electric Tramway obtains a tramway construction licence (licence issued 4 November 1912) and begins building street tramways in the city of Toyama.
• 19131 September: the tramway opens, timed to a regional joint exhibition; on the same day the Main Line (Toyama-Eki-mae–exhibition grounds) and the original Branch Line (Toyama-Eki-mae–Sōgawa–Nishichō) enter service.
• 19201 July: hampered by poor finances, the Toyama Electric Tramway is transferred to the city of Toyama, becoming the Toyama Municipal Tramway.
• 19431 January: under the wartime Land Transport Business Coordination Act, the tramway is transferred to Toyama Chihō Railway, its operator ever since.
• 19452 August: the great Toyama air raid forces the suspension of the entire tram network, the Branch Line included.
• 194615 May: the Branch Line's Echizenchō–Nishichō section reopens.
• 194915 March: the Branch Line's Toyama-Eki-mae–Hatagomachi section reopens; on 30 December loop operation begins, with the Branch Line forming part of the city-centre circle.
• 19525 August: the Branch Line's Sōgawa stop is renamed Marunouchi, the name it still carries.
• 197221 September: part of the Eastern Line (Chūkyōin-mae–Chitetsu-Biru-mae) is abolished, a prelude to the loss of the central loop.
• 197331 March: the Branch Line's Nishichō–Hatagomachi–Marunouchi section is abolished and the city-centre loop service ends, leaving the surviving 1.0 km Toyama-Eki-mae–Marunouchi stub as today's Branch Line.
• 201514 March: with the Hokuriku Shinkansen reaching an elevated Toyama Station, the Toyama Station North–South Connecting Line and Toyama Station tram stop open; the Branch Line's terminus Toyama-Eki-mae is renamed Dentetsu-Toyama-Eki/Esta-mae.
• 20199 February: station numbering is introduced across the tramway; the Branch Line's stops are numbered C14–C18 in the orange (Daigaku-mae-direction) scheme.
• 202021 March: through running between the city trams and the Toyamakō Line across Toyama Station begins, completing the long-planned north–south link.