Yagan Railway

The Yagan Railway Co., Ltd. (野岩鉄道株式会社, Yagan Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a third-sector Japanese railway company whose major shareholders include the Tochigi and Fukushima prefectural governments. It operates a single railway line, the Aizu Kinugawa Line (会津鬼怒川線, Aizu Kinugawa-sen).

An Aizu Kinugawa Line train pulling out of Ryūōkyō Station, 2013

The name of the line comes from the kanji characters of the ancient provinces of Shimotsuke (下野) (now Tochigi Prefecture) and Iwashiro (岩代) (now Fukushima Prefecture).

Aizu Kinugawa Line

Route map of Aizu Kinugawa Line

The Aizu Kinugawa Line (会津鬼怒川線, Aizu Kinugawa-sen) is a 30.7 kilometre railway line from Shin-Fujiwara Station in Nikkō, Tochigi to Aizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station Minamiaizu, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture. Its nickname is the Hot Spa. Line (ほっとスパ・ライン, Hotto Supa Rain; lit. Relaxing Spa. Line).

The name of the line comes from the Aizu area at the northern end and the Kinugawa Onsen hot spring resort area at the southern end.

History

The construction began as a part of the Japan Railway Construction Corporation. It was taken over by Yagan Railway.

• 9 October 1986: Starts operations.^[1]
• 12 October 1990: Direct service onto Aizu-Tajima Station on Aizu Railway Aizu Line begins.
• 18 March 2006: The nickname Hot Spa. Line debuts.

Stations

• Limited Express Revaty Aizu (リバティ会津) is a Limited Express service operated by Tobu Railway. Reserved seats cost 380 yen on the Aizu-Kinugawa Line. However, there is in a case of passengers do not have to purchase the Express Ticket for reserving the seats if you get on and off at stations in between Kinugawaonsen Station and Aizu-Tajima Station.^[2]
• Aizu Mount Express (Aizuマウントエクスプレス) is operated by Aizu Railway. Passengers can ride on the trains without an additional ticket.
• Ozatoro Tenbo Ressha Yu-Meguri (お座トロ展望列車 湯めぐり号) is operated by Aizu Railway. Reserved seats cost 320 yen.

Station	Japanese	Distance (km)		Revaty Aizu	Aizu Mount Express	Open-car "torokko" Ozatoro Tenbō Ressha	Transfers	Location
		Between stations	Total
Shin-Fujiwara	新藤原	-	0.0	●	●	●	Tōbu Kinugawa Line	Nikkō	Tochigi Prefecture
Ryūōkyō	龍王峡	1.7	1.7	●	●	↓
Kawaji-Onsen	川治温泉	3.1	4.8	●	●	↓
Kawaji-Yumoto	川治湯元	1.2	6.0	●	●	●
Yunishigawa-Onsen	湯西川温泉	4.3	10.3	●	●	●
Nakamiyori-Onsen	中三依温泉	6.5	16.8	●	●	↓
Kamimiyori-Shiobara-Onsenguchi	上三依塩原温泉口	4.2	21.0	●	●	●
Ojika-Kōgen	男鹿高原	4.0	25.0	↕	↕	↓
Aizukōgen-Ozeguchi	会津高原尾瀬口	5.7	30.7	●	●	●	Aizu Railway Aizu Line	Minamiaizu, Fukushima, Minamiaizu District	Fukushima