Tobu Kinugawa Line
TN
Overview
Owner	Tobu Railway
Locale	Tochigi Prefecture
Termini	Shimo-Imaichi Shin-Fujiwara
Service
Type	Heavy rail
Technical
Line length	16.2 km (10.1 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC, overhead catenary

TheTobu Kinugawa Line (東武鬼怒川線,Tōbu Kinugawa-sen) is a 16.2 km (10.1 mi) long Japanese railway line fromShimo-Imaichi Station toShin-Fujiwara Station inNikkō, Tochigi. It is owned and operated by theprivate railway operatorTobu Railway.^[1]

At Shimo-Imaichi Station it connects with theTobu Nikko Line. At Shin-Fujiwara Station it connects with theYagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line. Some trains go beyond the Aizu Kinugawa Line terminus atAizu-Kōgen Oze-guchi Station onto theAizu Railway Aizu Line.

The line runs surcharged, reserved-seat limited express services from and toAsakusa andShinjuku in Tokyo.

The whole line is electrified at 1,500 V DC, but it is single tracked except for a 0.8 km (0.50 mi) double-tracked section at Kinugawa-Onsen Station.

All stations are located withinNikkō, Tochigi.

• 1915: Fujiwara Tramway (藤原軌道株式会社,Fujiwara Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha) was licensed to build a762 mm (2 ft 6 in) gauge steam-hauled tramway. It was renamed Shimotsuke Tramway (下野軌道株式会社,Shimotsuke Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha) in the same year.
• 2 January 1917: A 3.6-mile (5.8 km) section from Daiya-gawa Hokugan Station to Kinugawa Nangan Station was opened. The line was extended a further 2.5 miles (4.0 km) the same year.
• March 1919: Ōhara Station to Shimotaki Station section was opened.
• October 1919: Daiya Mukō Imaichi Station to Shin-Imaichi Station section was opened.
• 1 January 1920: Shimotaki Station to Fujiwara Station section was open to complete the whole 10.9-mile (17.5 km) line.
• 6 June 1921: The company name was renamed Shimotsuke Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (下野電気鉄道株式会社,Shimotsuke Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha).
• 9 March 1922: The whole line was electrified at 600 V DC.
• April 1927: The corporate headquarters was relocated to the Tobu Railway headquarters in Tokyo.
• 22 October 1929:1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge operation began on all the line.
• 1931: The voltage was raised to 1,500 V.
• 1 May 1943: Shimotsuke Electric Railway was bought out by Tobu Railway. The line became Tobu Kinugawa Line.
• 9 October 1986: Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line through service began.
• 12 October 1990: Aizu Railway Aizu Line through service to Aizu Tajima Station began.
• 18 March 2006: NewKinugawa services to/fromShinjuku commence.^[2]

From 17 March 2012, station numbering was introduced on all Tobu lines, with Tobu Kinugawa Line stations adopting the prefix "TN" in orange.^[3]

A new station, calledTobu World Square Station, opened betweenKosagoe andKinugawa-Onsen on 22 July 2017 to serve the nearbyTobu World Square theme park.^[4] From this date,Tobu World Square Station was numbered "TN-55", and the station numbers forKinugawa-Onsen toShin-Fujiwara were adjusted on 21 April 2017, ahead of the opening.^[4]

Tobu has leased formerJNR Class C11 steam locomotive C11 207 fromJR Hokkaido for use on the 12.4 km section of the Kinugawa Line betweenShimo-Imaichi andKinugawa-Onsen stations from 10 August 2017.^[5] Turntables will also be installed atShimo-Imaichi andKinugawa-Onsen to turn the locomotive in service.^[5] A two-stall engine shed is also being constructed for the steam loco at Shimo-Imaichi.

• List of railway lines in Japan

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTōbu Kinugawa Line.

• Tobu Kinugawa Line
• Lines of Tobu Railway
• Rail transport in Tochigi Prefecture
• 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan
• 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Japan
• 1500 V DC railway electrification

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