Sanyō Main Line
The San'yō Main Line (山陽本線, San'yō-honsen) is the JR main railway line in western Japan, connecting Kobe Station and Moji Station, largely running parallel the coast of the Inland Sea, in other words the southern edge of western Honshū. The Sanyō Shinkansen line runs largely parallel to its route since 1972. The name Sanyō derived from the ancient region and highway San'yodo, the road on the sunny (south) side of the mountains.
The San'yō Main Line is operated by the following two JR companies.
- West Japan Railway Company (Kobe-Shimonoseki), 528.1 km.
- Kyushu Railway Company (Shimonoseki-Moji), 6.3 km.
The Wadamisaki Line, a short section of line in length of 2.7 km between Hyogo and Wadamisaki stations in Kobe is technically part of the San'yō Main Line. Also a short section connecting to Kitakyushu Freight Terminal is included into Sanyō Main Line.
Technically its length in total is 537.1 km. There are 118 stations for passengers service and five freight stations. Some stations are used by both passengers and freight.
History
Originally the main stretch of line between Kobe Station and Shimonoseki Station was constructed by the private company Sanyō Tetsudo (Sanyō Railway) between the 1880s and 1901. First the section between Hyogo Station (in Kobe) and Akashi Station (in Akashi, Hyogo) was opened in 1888. In 1889 it was extended to the east to Kobe Station and to the west Tatsuno Station (Tatsuno, Hyogo). The Sanyō Railway was gradually extended to the west, and finally in 1901 it reached Bakan Station, the current-day Shimonoseki Station. Under the Railway Nationalisation Act of 1906 it was purchased by the Japanese government and renamed Sanyō Main Line.
The Sanyō Main Line runs mainly along the Inland Sea but some parts could be shortened by tunnels. In 1934 the Gantoku Line between Iwakuni and Tokuyama (today Shunan, Yamaguchi) was opened and replaced the former line which run through Yanagii along the Inland Sea. In 1944 it was replaced again the former part because in the former part two tracks were placed. It was a part of setting double tracking between Kobe and Shimonoseki.
Sanyō Main Line was connected to Kyūshū by ferry from Shimonoseki and Shimonosekiko Station (Port Shimonoseki). In 1942 the Kanmon Tunnel under Kanmon Straits was completed and the Sanyō Main Line was extended to Moji Station.
Except for the Wadamisaki Line, the entire line was electrified in 1964, the year the Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened between Tokyo and Osaka. Between Shin-Osaka Station through Osaka Station many expresses ran in Sanyō Main Line and it serves transport way running the Western Honshū and connection to Kyūshū. Shinkansen was extended as Sanyō Shinkansen. It was extended to Okayama Station in 1972 and to Hakata Station in 1975. In both occasions many expresses were obsoleted. Since 1972 the Sanyō Main Line is mainly used by mostly local and freight services as well as some night trains such as the Fuji service between Tokyo and Ōita.
| JR West lines | |
| Main | Hokuriku – Kansai – Kisei – San'in – Sanyō – Tōkaidō |
| Local | Ako – Bantan – Fukuchiyama – Fukuen – Gantoku – Geibi – Hakubi – Inbi – Kabe – Kakogawa – Kibi – Kishin – Kisuki - Kure – Ohama – Oito – Onoda – Sakai – Sanko – Tsuyama – Ube – Uno – Wakayama – Yamaguchi |
