Yamahana Line

The Sapporo tramway grew out of a horse railway. In 1909 the Sapporo Stone-Materials Horse Railway was laid between Yamahana and Ishikiriyama to haul "Sapporo soft stone" (a building stone then in sudden demand), and from 1912 the company (later the Sapporo Municipal Horse-Car Tramway) extended its network into the city streets. As the 1918 Hokkaidō Grand Exposition approached — held to mark fifty years since the opening of Hokkaidō — momentum grew to convert the horse line to electric traction, and in October 1916 the firm changed its name from "horse tramway" to "electric tramway." Regauging and electrification work began in April 1918.

The line had been planned for 1,372 mm gauge with cars to be imported from Dick, Kerr & Co. in Britain, but the First World War made shipping from Europe impossible. The company hurriedly acquired second-hand cars from the Nagoya Electric Railway and used rails from the United States, and to match those cars the gauge was changed to 1,067 mm — the same as the state railways. The disruption meant the system missed the exposition's 1 August opening; instead, on 12 August 1918 the Sapporo Electric Railway opened its first routes, the Teikō Line (Sapporo Station–Nakajima Park), the Minami-yon-jō Line and the Ichijō Line. New construction and extensions followed almost yearly. The tramway was municipalised on 1 December 1927, by which time it ran 16.3 km with 63 cars.

The Yamahana Line itself opened in stages along the Yamahana district. The first section, from Susukino to Gyōkei-Dōri, opened on 25 August 1923. On 16 July 1925 the line was extended from Gyōkei-Dōri to Ichūmae (the present Seishū-gakuen-mae). The final section, from Ichūmae to Shihan-Gakkō-mae (the present Chūō-Toshokan-Mae), opened as single track on 21 November 1931; with it, all of the Sapporo tram routes except the Tetsuhoku Line were now in place. Full double-tracking of the Yamahana Line was completed in 1954, and in 1994 the Sōsei-Shōgakkō-mae (present Shiseikan-Shōgakkō-mae)–Susukino stretch was converted to centre-pole catenary.

The system reached its greatest extent in the late 1950s, with more than 25 km of route reaching across the city, but ridership peaked in fiscal 1964 and then declined. After Sapporo was chosen to host the 1972 Winter Olympics, the city began building a subway, and the opening of the Namboku subway line prompted a series of tram closures. In four rounds — twice in 1971 and again in 1973 and 1974 — most of the network was abandoned, leaving only three routes: the Ichijō Line, the Yamahana-Nishi Line and the Yamahana Line. Total abolition of the survivors was considered, but in response to requests from residents along the line they were retained as a feeder complementing the subway.

The shortened tramway was designated a Hokkaidō Heritage asset in 2001, alongside the Hakodate tram. After the system slipped back into deficit in 2002 and questions were raised about its ageing cars and future, Sapporo's mayor Fumio Ueda decided in February 2005 to keep the line. From the late 1990s the city had studied reviving the link between Nishi-Yon-Chōme and Susukino to close the C-shaped route into a loop, and in 2012 it adopted a plan to connect the two over the Sapporo Ekimae-dōri with a new stop at Tanukikōji.

After construction delays pushed back the originally planned spring-2015 opening, the loop was completed on 20 December 2015, when the Toshin Line between Nishi-Yon-Chōme and Susukino opened and Tanukikōji stop entered service; unlike the older sections, its track was laid beside the pavement in a side-reservation arrangement. With the gap closed, the Ichijō, Yamahana-Nishi, Yamahana and Toshin lines became a single circular route worked by through trams, and the Yamahana Line took its place as the long eastern side of the loop running from Chūō-Toshokan-Mae to Susukino. Ridership rose about 11 per cent to roughly 24,396 passengers a day. On 1 April 2020 the operation of the Sapporo Streetcar was transferred from the Transportation Bureau to the Sapporo City Transportation Enterprise Promotion Association under a vertical-separation arrangement, with the Bureau continuing to own the infrastructure and rolling stock.

• 1909The Sapporo Stone-Materials Horse Railway is laid between Yamahana and Ishikiriyama to haul "Sapporo soft stone," the origin of the future tram system.
• 1916October: with the 1918 Hokkaidō Grand Exposition approaching, the company renames itself from "horse tramway" to "electric tramway" to convert to electric traction.
• 191812 August: the Sapporo Electric Railway opens its first electric routes (Teikō, Minami-yon-jō and Ichijō lines) at 1,067 mm gauge, the gauge having been changed from a planned 1,372 mm to match second-hand cars bought from the Nagoya Electric Railway.
• 192325 August: the first section of the Yamahana Line, Susukino–Gyōkei-Dōri, opens.
• 192516 July: the Yamahana Line is extended from Gyōkei-Dōri to Ichūmae (the present Seishū-gakuen-mae).
• 19271 December: the Sapporo tramway is municipalised; it then runs 16.3 km with 63 cars.
• 193121 November: the final section of the Yamahana Line, Ichūmae–Shihan-Gakkō-mae (the present Chūō-Toshokan-Mae), opens as single track; all tram routes except the Tetsuhoku Line are now in place.
• 1954Full double-tracking of the Yamahana Line is completed.
• 1964Ridership on the Sapporo tramway peaks in fiscal 1964 and then begins to decline.
• 1971The opening of the Namboku subway line triggers the first rounds of tram closures (two in 1971); further closures in 1973 and 1974 leave only the Ichijō, Yamahana-Nishi and Yamahana lines.
• 1994The Sōsei-Shōgakkō-mae (present Shiseikan-Shōgakkō-mae)–Susukino stretch of the Yamahana Line is converted to centre-pole catenary.
• 2001The Sapporo Streetcar is designated a Hokkaidō Heritage asset, together with the Hakodate tram.
• 2005February: Mayor Fumio Ueda decides to retain the tram line after it had slipped back into deficit.
• 201520 December: the Toshin Line between Nishi-Yon-Chōme and Susukino opens, completing the loop; the Ichijō, Yamahana-Nishi, Yamahana and Toshin lines become a single circular route and ridership rises about 11% to ~24,396 passengers a day.
• 20201 April: operation of the Sapporo Streetcar transfers from the Transportation Bureau to the Sapporo City Transportation Enterprise Promotion Association under vertical separation; the Bureau keeps ownership of the infrastructure and cars.