History
Tsukuba-Sanchō Station is the summit terminus of the 1.634 km Tsukuba-kankō Tetsudō Tsukubasan Cable-car Line in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, sitting at 800 m near the peak of Mount Nantai on Mount Tsukuba. The line — Kantō's second-oldest cable car after Hakone-Tozan — opened on 12 October 1925, was abolished as a wartime non-essential line on 11 February 1944, and reopened on 3 November 1954. The current cars 'Wakaba' and 'Momiji' have run since 1995 (refurbished 2005); the operator was reorganised on 1 October 1999 when Tsukubasan-Kōsaku-Tetsudō merged with the ropeway to form today's Tsukuba-kankō Tetsudō.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-25.
Notes
Because of the line's proximity to the Kakioka Magnetic Observatory the cable car runs without overhead catenary — onboard power comes from batteries. Only the platform areas use a 100V AC third-rail strip, solely to power the automatic doors.