Hakone Tozan Line

From TrainSpottingWorld, for Rail fans everywhere

The Hakone-Tozan Line (箱根登山鉄道線 Hakone Tozan Tetsudō-sen?, lit. Hakone Mountain-Climbing Railroad Line) is Japan's first mountain railroad.

The initial stretch of the line from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station started operations in 1919, with current terminus Gora reached in 1930. Since 2006, only Odakyu Odawara Line trains run on the section from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station. From Gora, visitors can continue up the mountain on the Hakone-Tozan Cable Car.

The railroad is capable of climbing one meter vertically for every 12.5 meters of horizontal distance, a maximum slope of 8%. The line traverses Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, so the line was carefully designed to limit the impact on scenery. Due to the difficult conditions, the line has three switchbacks used to ascend particularly tight spots.

Stations

Trivia

This route appears in Microsoft Train Simulator complete with scenarios simulating prototypical operation. ja:箱根登山鉄道鉄道線