Yōrō Railway Yōrō Line

The Yōrō Line (養老線, Yōrō-sen) is a railway line of a Japanese private railway operator Yōrō Railway (養老鉄道, Yōrō Tetsudō). The line traverses the northeastern side of the Yōrō Mountains and connects Kuwana Station in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture and Ibi Station in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture.

Yōrō Line
A Local train, 7700 series
Service
Operator(s)	Yōrō Railway Co., Ltd.
Technical
Line length	57.5 km (35.7 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Minimum radius	160 m (520 ft)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead lines
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph)
Maximum incline	25 ‰

Yōrō Line
Legend
km JR Central Kansai Main Line Kintetsu Railway Nagoya Line Sangi Railway Hokusei Line 0.0 Nishi-Kuwana│Kuwana Sangi Railway Hokusei Line JR Central Kansai Main Line Kintetsu Railway Nagoya Line 0.7 Higashikata truck conversion facility 1.6 Harima 4.0 Shimo-Fukaya 6.6 Shimo-Noshiro 8.6 Tado 11.9 Mino-Matsuyama 14.2 Ishizu 16.2 Mino-Yamazaki 19.8 Komano 24.5 Mino-Tsuya 28.8 Yōrō 31.8 Mino-Takada 34.5 Karasue Makita River Bridge over Makita River 36.0 Ōtoba 37.4 Tomoe 39.4 Mino-Yanagi JR Central Tōkaidō Shinkansen 41.2 Nishi-Ōgaki│ Ogaki Depot Shin-Muro 43.0 Ōgaki JR Central Tōkaidō Main Line Tarumi Railway Tarumi Line 44.1 Muro 44.5 Shiken-ya JR Central Tōkaidō Main Line 45.4 Kita-Ōgaki Gama closed 1974 47.5 Higashi-Akasaka 50.3 Hiro-Gōdo 51.9 Kita-Gōdo 53.5 Ikeno 54.4 Kita-Ikeno 55.2 Mino-Hongō 57.5 Ibi km
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The northern portion of the Ōgaki section is locally and unofficially called the Ibi Line (揖斐線, Ibi-sen), as Ōgaki is a reversing station.

Kintetsu Railway, one of largest private railway companies in Japan, owns the tracks and rolling stocks of the line whereon Yōrō Railway (a Class II railway),^{[clarification needed]} a wholly owned subsidiary of Kintetsu, operated trains until 2018.^[1]

Descriptions

• Company: Yōrō Railway (Category-2),^[2] Kintetsu Railway (Category-3)
• Length: 57.5 km (35.7 mi)^[2]
• Gauge: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
• Power: Electric 1500 V DC
• No. of stations: 27 incl. both ends
• Track: single^[2]
• Maximum speed: 65 km/h (40 mph)
• Operation: All Local trains

History

Initially steam powered, the line was constructed as a Class 1 railway by Yōrō Railway and opened in 1913 between Yōrō, Ōgaki, and Ikeno. In 1919, the present line was completed with extensions from Yōrō to Kuwana and Ikeno to Ibi. In 1922, Yōrō Railway merged with Ibi River Electric (揖斐川電気, Ibigawa Denki) and the following year the line was electrified (1500 V DC). In 1928, its railway was transferred to Yōrō Electric Railway (養老電気鉄道, Yōrō Denki Tetsudō). Since then, the operator has changed several times, namely to Ise Electric Railway (伊勢電気鉄道, Ise Denki Tetsudō) in 1929, to Yōrō Dentetsu (養老電鉄) in 1936, to Sangu Kyūkō Railway (参宮急行電鉄, Sangū Kyūkō Dentetsu) in 1940, to Kansai Kyūkō Railway (関西急行鉄道, Kansai Kyūkō Tetsudō) in 1941, finally to Kintetsu, then known as Kinki Nippon railway (近畿日本鉄道, Kinki Nippon Tetsudō), in 1944.^[3]

Following typhoon damage in 1959, the Kintetsu Nagoya Line was regauged to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), the Kintetsu standard which enables through trains to Osaka. However, the Yōrō Line remained at 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) partly due to through freight trains to the Japanese National Railways (JNR) lines at Ōgaki and Kuwana, as the line provided a shortcut between these stations.

With accumulating deficit, Kintetsu Corporation decided to split off the operation of the Yōrō Line in 2007.^[4] Local governments along the line made an agreement of financial aid to the Yōrō Railway until 2010.^[5]

Stations

All stations are unattended with the exceptions of Ōgaki, Nishi-Ōgaki, Ibi, Yōrō, Komano, Tado, and Kuwana.

Name	Japanese	Distance (km)		Transfers	Location
		Between stations	Total
Kuwana	桑名	-	0.0	Kansai Main Line (CJ07) Kintetsu Nagoya Line (E13) Sangi Railway Hokusei Line (Nishi-Kuwana)	Kuwana	Mie
Harima	播磨	0.9	1.6
Shimo-Fukaya	下深谷	2.4	4.0
Shimo-Noshiro	下野代	2.6	6.6
Tado	多度	2.0	8.6
Mino-Matsuyama	美濃松山	3.3	11.9		Kaizu	Gifu
Ishizu	石津	2.3	14.2
Mino-Yamazaki	美濃山崎	2.0	16.2
Komano	駒野	3.6	19.8
Mino-Tsuya	美濃津屋	4.7	24.5
Yōrō	養老	4.3	28.8		Yōrō, Yōrō District
Mino-Takada	美濃高田	3.0	31.8
Karasue	烏江	2.7	34.5
Ōtoba	大外羽	1.5	36.0		Ōgaki
Tomoe	友江	1.4	37.4
Mino-Yanagi	美濃青柳	2.0	39.4
Nishi-Ōgaki	西大垣	1.8	41.2
Ōgaki	大垣	1.8	43.0	Tōkaidō Main Line (CA77) ■ Tarumi Railway Tarumi Line (TR01)
Muro	室	1.1	44.1
Kita-Ōgaki	北大垣	1.3	45.4
Higashi-Akasaka	東赤坂	2.1	47.5		Gōdo, Anpachi District
Hiro-Gōdo	広神戸	2.8	50.3
Kita-Gōdo	北神戸	1.6	51.9
Ikeno	池野	1.6	53.5		Ikeda, Ibi District
Kita-Ikeno	北池野	0.9	54.4
Mino-Hongō	美濃本郷	0.8	55.2
Ibi	揖斐	2.3	57.5		Ibigawa, Ibi District

Connections

At Kuwana

• Kintetsu: Nagoya Line
• Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Kansai Main Line

At Ōgaki

• JR Central: Tōkaidō Main Line (the main line and the "Mino-Akasaka branch line")
• Tarumi Railway: Tarumi Line