Itō Line

Itō Line
Izu Kyuko Railway 2100 series "Resort21" train at Izu-Taga Station, March 2010
Overview
Type	Passenger
Termini	Atami Itō
Operation
Opened	1935
Operator(s)	JR East
Technical
Line length	16.9 km
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)

Ito line map

Itō Line
Legend Tōkaidō Main Line Tokyo Station Tōkaidō Main Line Tōkaidō Shinkansen 0.0 Atami Station 1.2 Kinomiya Station Fudō Tunnel 1795m 6.0 Izu-Taga Station 8.7 Ajiro Station Shin-Usami Tunnel 2941m 13.0 Usami Station 16.9 Itō Station ↓Izu Kyūkō Line Izukyū Shimoda Station

The Itō Line (伊東線, Itō-sen) is a railway line owned by the East Japan Railway Company which connects Atami and Itō Stations, along the east coast of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. From Itō, the line continues south to Shimoda under the privately owned and operated Izu Kyūkō Line.

Station list

Station Name	Japanese	Distance from Atami (km)	Transfers	Location
(Through service for Tokyo via Tōkaidō Main Line)
Atami	熱海	0	Tōkaidō Shinkansen Tōkaidō Main Line	Atami	Shizuoka
Kinomiya	来宮	1.2
Izu-Taga	伊豆多賀	6.0
Ajiro	網代	8.7
Usami	宇佐美	13.0		Itō
Itō	伊東	16.9	Izukyu Izu Kyūkō Line (through service)
(Through service for Izukyū Shimoda via Izu Kyūkō Line)

History

Initial plans called for the Japanese National Railways (JNR) to build a spur line linking Atami on the Tōkaidō Main Line with Shimoda. However, funding was limited in the 1930s due to a combination of a tight fiscal policy under Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi during the Great Depression, and a number of technical issues. The projected route of the Itō line along the mountainous east coast of the Izu Peninsula required numerous tunnels and bridges. Workers digging a tunnel near Usami encountered problems with underground hot springs, similar to that experienced in the construction of the Tanna Tunnel, which had recently been completed years later than originally projected and far over budget.

On March 30, 1935, the initial 8.7km section of the Itō Line linking Atami with Ajiro was opened. The second (8.3km) section from Ajiro to Itō was opened on December 15, 1938. Both sections were electrified at 1500 VDC when opened. Further work was delayed, and then canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

CTC signalling was commissioned in 1958, and the Atami - Kinomiya section was duplicated in 1968. The entire line was originally designed to be built as double track, and earthworks were undertaken on this basis, including tunneling, but to date only the first 1.2km of the line has been duplicated.

Construction south of Itō resumed in 1961, when the private-sector Tokyu Corporation acquired the rights to complete the line to Shimoda and established the Izukyū Corporation to manage construction and operations of this section.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia