Kintetsu Utsube Line - History

History

The Utsube Line was originally conceived and built by the Mie Tramway (三重軌道, Mie Kidō?), later renamed Mie Railway (Santetsu). The original portion of the line was completed in 1912 making it one of Kintetsu's oldest train lines. In 1916, an extension from the line's origin, Kintetsu-Yokkaichi (at that time called Suwa Station and located slightly to the east), to what is now JR Central Yokkaichi was added. However, this extension had a relatively short life as it was sold off in 1927 to Ise Electric Railway (Iseden) for use in their main line. This made Suwa Station, a hub between three different private railways and the biggest station in Yokkaichi, the origin again. Steam locomotives ran on the line for many years until 1928 when gasoline-powered trains were introduced, which ran until the line was electrified in 1943.

The line originally included the Hachiōji Line and ended at Ise-Hachiōji Station. However an extension to Suzuka was planned to originate from Hinaga Station and construction began in 1922, ten years after the original opening. However, this new portion of the line was only completed as far as Utsube in Yokkaichi because legal permission to continue construction of the train line was revoked. The original portion of the line, starting at Suwa, down to the end of never-to-be-finished Suzuka branch became the "Utsube Line", and the portion of track which included the old endpoint at Ise-Hachiōji became a branch line called the "Hachiōji Line".

Ownership of the line has shifted a few times during its existence. Mie Tramway built the line in 1912 but control was given to Santetsu shortly after in 1916. Then in 1944, Santetsu, along with six other companies, merged to form Mie Transport (Sanco). During the later part of the Santetsu era and the entire Sanco era, there was direct service offered between the now-separate Utsube Line and Yunoyama Line, which at that time was also a 762 mm gauge railway; the combination of these two train lines was called the Mie Line. In 1964, the railway department of Sanco split off to become a separate company called Mie Electric Railway (Sanden), however this organization was short-lived as it was bought up by railway giant Kintetsu the following year, and thus in 1965 the line came under its current name and ownership.

In 1954 the initial portion of the route was re-routed by Sanco, the owner at that time, who planned the re-routing because of Kintetsu's plan to re-route its Kintetsu Nagoya Line, which suffered from many sharp curves on its way through Yokkaichi to Suwa Station. Kintetsu developed a plan to straighten the Nagoya Line as well as enlarge Suwa Station, which would be moved about a kilometer to the west; construction began in 1952 and took a few years to complete. In accordance with this plan, Sanco altered its own Yokkaichi-area railways in 1956 to utilize the new location of Suwa Station, which was renamed to Kintetsu-Yokkaichi Station. From Akahori Station, the track that ran to the old Suwa Station was closed and a new track was built to Kintetsu-Yokkaichi. At first, the direct connection with the Yunoyama Line was maintained however in 1964, the Yunoyama Line was altered and renovated to connect directly with the Nagoya Line and thus the connection with the Utsube Line was closed and direct service ended.