Yamahana-Nishi 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. The horse line was converted to electric traction and reopened as the Sapporo Electric Railway in 1918, on the eve of the Hokkaidō Grand Exposition; the gauge was set at 1,067 mm to match second-hand cars bought from the Nagoya Electric Railway after the First World War made the originally planned British equipment impossible to ship. New routes followed almost yearly, and the tramway was municipalised on 1 December 1927, by which time it ran 16.3 km with 63 cars.

The Yamahana-Nishi Line itself opened in November 1931 as a single-track route, around the time the last of the early Sapporo tram routes (all but the Tetsuhoku Line) were completed. It ran south-westward from the Ichijō Line at Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme down through the "Nishi-sen" (West-line) streets of the Yamahana district to Chūō-Toshokan-Mae, where it met the Yamahana Line. The line's intermediate stops — Nishisen-Roku-Jō, Nishisen-Ku-Jō Asahiyama-Kōen-Dōri, Nishisen-Jūichi-Jō, Nishisen-Jūyo-Jō, Nishisen-Jūroku-Jō, Ropeway-Iriguchi and Densha-Jigyōsho-Mae — take their names from the numbered west-side blocks they serve.

Double-tracking of the single-track line was carried out in stages after the Second World War. On 1 December 1950 the alignment near the junction with the Ichijō Line was altered and the Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme–Minami-San-Jō stretch (no longer in existence) was double-tracked. The Nishisen-Ku-Jō–Nishisen-Jūichi-Jō section followed on 28 June 1951, and the Minami-San-Jō–Minami-Ku-Jō and Nishisen-Jūichi-Jō–Nishisen-Jūroku-Jō sections on 5 October 1951. Finally, in August 1954 the Nishisen-Jūroku-Jō–Chūō-Toshokan-Mae section was double-tracked, completing double-tracking of the whole line.

The Sapporo tram network reached its greatest extent in the late 1950s, with more than 25 km of route, but ridership later declined as car ownership rose and the city built a subway. After Sapporo was chosen to host the 1972 Winter Olympics, 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 lines, 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. From 1973 onward most trams ran through the whole surviving C-shaped route, of which the Yamahana-Nishi Line formed the Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme–Chūō-Toshokan-Mae portion.

The shortened tramway was designated a Hokkaidō Heritage asset in 2001, and from the late 1990s the city studied closing the C-shaped route into a full loop by reviving the link between Nishi-Yon-Chōme and Susukino. After construction delays, the loop was completed on 20 December 2015, when the Toshin Line between Susukino and Nishi-Yon-Chōme opened and Tanukikōji stop entered service. With the gap closed, the Ichijō, Yamahana-Nishi, Yamahana and Toshin lines became a single circular route worked by through trams, and the Yamahana-Nishi Line took its place as the western side of the loop. On 1 April 2020 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.
• 1918The horse line is converted to electric traction and reopens as the Sapporo Electric Railway, the gauge set at 1,067 mm to match second-hand cars from the Nagoya Electric Railway.
• 19271 December: the Sapporo tramway is municipalised; it then runs 16.3 km with 63 cars.
• 1931November: the Yamahana-Nishi Line, Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme–Chūō-Toshokan-Mae, opens as a single-track line.
• 19501 December: the alignment near the junction with the Ichijō Line is altered and the Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme–Minami-San-Jō stretch (no longer in existence) is double-tracked.
• 195128 June: the Nishisen-Ku-Jō–Nishisen-Jūichi-Jō section is double-tracked; on 5 October the Minami-San-Jō–Minami-Ku-Jō and Nishisen-Jūichi-Jō–Nishisen-Jūroku-Jō sections follow.
• 1954August: the Nishisen-Jūroku-Jō–Chūō-Toshokan-Mae section is double-tracked, completing double-tracking of the whole Yamahana-Nishi Line.
• 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.
• 1973From this year most trams run through the whole surviving C-shaped route; the Yamahana-Nishi Line forms its Nishi-Jūgo-Chōme–Chūō-Toshokan-Mae portion.
• 2001The Sapporo Streetcar is designated a Hokkaidō Heritage asset.
• 201520 December: the Toshin Line between Susukino and Nishi-Yon-Chōme opens, completing the loop; the Ichijō, Yamahana-Nishi, Yamahana and Toshin lines become a single circular route and the Yamahana-Nishi Line becomes its western side.
• 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.