Nemuro Main Line - Nemurohonsen

The name of the Hokkaido Railway Company's track. Takikawa-Obihiro-Kushiro-Nemuro: 443.8 km. Hokkaido's main railway line, connecting the eastern region with central Hokkaido. From the northern Ishikari Plain, it runs up the valley of the Sorachi River, through the Furano Basin, and passes through the Karikachi Pass near the Shin-Karikachi Tunnel (5,648 meters long), before passing through the Tokachi Plain, Kushiro Plain, and the southern part of the Konsen wilderness to the Nemuro Peninsula. The entire line is single track and non-electrified. Construction was continued under the names of the Tokachi Line from Asahikawa and the Kushiro Line from Kushiro (Hokkaido Government Railway), and the Asahikawa-Kushiro section was opened from 1899 to 1907 (Meiji 32-40), with Obihiro as the border between the two lines. When the line name was established in 1909, the two lines were integrated to form the Kushiro Line, but in 1913 (Taisho 2), with the opening of the Takikawa-Furano section in an attempt to shorten the route from the central Hokkaido region, the two were incorporated, and the section between Takikawa and Kushiro was named the Kushiro Main Line, and the section between Asahikawa and Furano was named the Furano Line. Between 1917 and 1921, the line was moved further eastward to open the Kushiro-Nemuro section, and when the section was completed, the name of the line was changed to the Nemuro Main Line. In 1966 (Showa 41), in order to ease the steep gradient of the Karikachi Pass crossing the Sekiryo Mountain Range, the route between Shintoku and Ochiai was changed to pass through the Shin-Karikachi Tunnel.

In 1981, the Sekisho Line, which runs between Chitose Airport (now Minami-Chitose) and Shintoku, was opened, greatly shortening the route between Tokachi and Kushiro and the central Hokkaido region, and major intercity trains west of Shintoku now use the Sekisho Line, reducing the importance of the existing Takikawa-Shintoku section, which, along with the Kushiro-Nemuro section, which has low transport demand, has essentially become a local line. In 1987, following the privatization of the Japanese National Railways, it became part of Hokkaido Railway Company. The section between Kushiro and Nemuro is nicknamed the Hanasaki Line.

[Eiichi Aoki and Ryo Aoki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

北海道旅客鉄道の線路名称。滝川―帯広(おびひろ)―釧路(くしろ)―根室間443.8キロメートル。道東地方を道央と結ぶ北海道の幹線鉄道。石狩(いしかり)平野北部から空知(そらち)川の河谷をさかのぼり、富良野(ふらの)盆地を経て、狩勝(かりかち)峠付近を新狩勝トンネル（長さ5648メートル）で貫き、十勝平野、釧路平野、根釧(こんせん)原野南部を経由して根室半島に至る。全線単線、非電化。旭川(あさひかわ)より十勝線、釧路より釧路線の名称で建設を進め（北海道官設鉄道）、1899～1907年（明治32～40）旭川―釧路間を開業し、帯広を両線の境界とした。1909年の線路名称の制定で両線を統合して釧路線としたが、1913年（大正2）道央地方からのルート短縮を図った滝川―富良野間の開業とともに、これを編入して、滝川―釧路間を釧路本線、旭川―富良野間を富良野線とした。1917～1921年、線路をさらに東進させて釧路―根室間を開業し、その全通とともに線名を根室本線と改めている。1966年（昭和41）脊梁(せきりょう)山脈を横断する狩勝峠越えの急勾配(こうばい)を緩和するため、新得(しんとく)―落合間で新狩勝トンネルを経由するルートへの変更が行われた。

　1981年、千歳(ちとせ)空港（現、南千歳）―新得間を走る石勝(せきしょう)線の開業によって、十勝・釧路地方と道央地方とを結ぶルートは大きく短絡され、主要な都市間連絡列車は新得以西では石勝線経由となって、在来の滝川―新得間の重要性は低下し、輸送需要の少ない釧路―根室間とともに実質的にはローカル線となっている。1987年、日本国有鉄道の分割民営化に伴い、北海道旅客鉄道に所属。釧路―根室間には花咲(はなさき)線の愛称がある。

［青木栄一・青木　亮］

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