Tadami Line

Tadami Line
KiHa 40 series DMUs pass at Aizu-Kawaguchi Station, March 2007
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Locale	Fukushima, Niigata prefectures
Termini	Aizu-Wakamatsu Koide
Stations	38
Operation
Opened	1928
Operator(s)	JR East
Technical
Line length	135.2 km (84.0 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	None
Route map

The Tadami Line (只見線, Tadami-sen^?) is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aizu-Wakamatsu Station in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima with Koide Station in Uonuma, Niigata. The section between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami has been closed since July 2011 due to rainstorm damage, with no definite reopening date fixed.

All trains are local (all-stations) services, with approximately eight to nine trains in each direction per day. Only three round-trips operate over the entire line, and some seasonal trains operate through onto the line from the Ban'etsu West and Jōetsu lines.

Due to the many curves on the line trains take over four hours to traverse its 135.2 km length.

The Aizu-Wakamatsu - Aizu-Yanaizu section opened between 1926 and 1928. The line was extended to Aizu-Miyashita in 1941.

At the western end, the Koide - Oshirakawa section opened in 1942.

The Aizu-Miyashita - Aizu-Kawaguchi section opened in 1956, with the extension to Tadami opening in 1963.

The two sections were connected with the opening of Tadami - Oshirakawa (as a passenger only section) in 1971.

Freight services ceased between 1980 and 1982.

Heavy rain storms in July 2011 forced the section of the line between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Ōshirakawa to be closed. The section between Tadami and Ōshirakawa was reopened from 1 October 2012, but the schedule for reopening the remaining section between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami is indefinite. A replacement bus operates where the line is interrupted.