Meitetsu Gamagōri Line

Meitetsu Gamagōri Line
A Meitetsu 6000 series EMU
Overview
Native name	名鉄蒲郡線
Owner	Meitetsu
Locale	Nishio Gamagōri
Termini	Kira Yoshida Gamagōri
Stations	10
Service
Type	Commuter rail
History
Opened	November 10, 1936 (1936-11-10)
Technical
Line length	17.6 km (10.94 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1,500 V DC
Operating speed	85 km/h (53 mph)
Route map Meitetsu Nishio Line to Shin Anjō (新安城) 0.0 Kira Yoshida (吉良吉田) 3.2 Mikawa Toba (三河鳥羽) 4.7 Nishi Hazu (西幡豆) 7.0 Higashi Hazu (東幡豆) 8.9 Kodomonokuni (こどもの国) 10.5 Nishiura (西浦) 11.7 Katahara (形原) 13.5 Mikawa Kashima (三河鹿島) Tōkaidō Main Line to Nagoya JR Central Mikawa-Shiotsu (三河塩津駅) 15.3 Gamagōri-Kyōteijō-Mae (蒲郡競艇場前) 17.6 Gamagōri (蒲郡) Tōkaidō Main Line to Tokyo

The Meitetsu Gamagōri Line (名鉄蒲郡線, Meitetsu Gamagōri-sen) is a 17.6 km railway line located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The line connects Kira Yoshida Station in Nishio, with Gamagōri Station in Gamagōri. It is owned by Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu) as an extension of the Meitetsu Nishio Line. The fare calculation classification for the line is B, which means the fare is calculated based on the actual distance multiplied by a factor of 1.15.

Stations

All stations are located in Aichi Prefecture.

No.	Station	Japanese	Distance (km)	Transfers	Location
	Kira Yoshida	吉良吉田	0.0	Meitetsu Nishio Line	Nishio
	Mikawa Toba	三河鳥羽	3.2
	Nishi Hazu	西幡豆	4.7
	Higashi Hazu	東幡豆	7.0
	Kodomonokuni	こどもの国	8.9
	Nishiura	西浦	10.5		Gamagōri
	Katahara	形原	11.7
	Mikawa Kashima	三河鹿島	13.5
	Gamagōri-Kyōteijō-Mae	蒲郡競艇場前	15.3	Tōkaidō Main Line (Mikawa-Shiotsu)
	Gamagōri	蒲郡	17.6	Tōkaidō Main Line

History

The Kira Yoshida to Mikawa Toba section of the Meitetsu Gamagōri Line was originally opened by the Mikawa Railway in 1929. At that time, it was electrified at 1,500 V DC. In 1936, the line was extended to Gamagōri, although the extension was not electrified. In 1941, the Mikawa Railway merged with Meitetsu, and in 1943, the voltage on the Kira Yoshida to Mikawa Toba section was lowered to 600 V DC to enable through-running with the Meitetsu Nishio Line.

Between 1946 and 1947, the Mikawa Toba to Gamagōri section of the line was electrified. In 1959, the voltage on this section was increased back to 1,500 V DC. As a result, through-running on the Nishio Line resumed when the voltage on that line was raised the following year.

Viability issues

On December 19, 1997, Meitetsu President Muneyoshi Minōra stated during a regularly-scheduled press conference Meitetsu's intention to discuss the reorganization and consolidation of unprofitable routes with the relevant local governments and identified the Kira Yoshida-Gamagōri section of the Nishio-Gamagōri Line as a potential candidate for discontinuation, along with the Tanigumi Line and the Yaotsu Line (later discontinued in 2001). Measures to increase efficient opperation such as introducing one-person operation and unmanned stations at select stops were implemented afterwards, but Meitetsu was unable to gain control over the continued reduction in riders. Because of this, on December 20th 2005, Meitetsu established the Meitetsu Nishio and Gamagōri Countermeasures Council along with two cities and towns along the lines.

At the Countermeasures Council, Meitetsu announced the potential closure of two stations on the Gamagōri Line and Nishio Line due to the financial challenges of continued operation experienced with the introduction of automatic ticket gates for the new system. They then announced these stations were selected based on the criteria that they received fewer than 300 riders per day and were located outside urban areas. Meitetsu then applied this method of evaluating concrete ridership numbers to the Gamagōri Line with the criteria that the benchmark for considering changing to buses would be less than 4,000 riders per day, meaning the Gamagōri Line at 2,857 riders per day in the 2005 fiscal year was a strong candidate for cancellation. In reaction, the public authorities along the line stated Meitetsu had a responsibility as a provider of public transportation and requested the line remain. During this same period, Meitetsu was considering implementing a flat fare for the Nishio Line as well as permitting non-disassambled bicycles on board. They went on to trial allowing bicycles on the Nishio Line betwen March 1st to May 31st 2007 between the Nishio Line's Fukuchi Station and the Gamagōri Line's Gamagōri-Kyōteijō-Mae Station at all stations excluding Kodomonokuni Station.

Ridership dropped to its lowest of 2,927,000 during the 2007 fiscal year. In March 2008, Meitetsu requested Nishio, Kira, Hazu, and Gamagōri cities propose countermeasures for increasing ridership along the NIshio-Kira-Gamagōri section of the Nishio and Gamagōri Lines by the end of the fiscal year. Meitetsu expressed how the lines were unable to display rail's features as a mass transit system due to the extremely low ridership and that they had already exhausted what the company could do alone. They also announced in their 2008 Equipment and Investment Plan that they would not be introducing Tranpass, a magnetic fare card system, between Mikawa Toba Station and Gamagōri Station on the Gamagōri Line despite its rollout on the rest of the company's lines. This section was also not included in the later rollout of manaca, an IC card fare system.

Aichi Prefecture began participating in the Countermeasures Councils starting September 2009 with the 6th Countermeasures Council, and the following arrangements were made at the 8th Countermeasures Council in November 2010:

1. In order to encourage the public to view the Nishio-Gamagōri Line as a foundational aspect of society as important as roads and ensure its continued use, the cities and towns along the line will provide support in the form of a portion of the necessary expenses for Meitetsu for three years (from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012).

2. The three parties consisting of the cities and towns along the line, Aichi Prefecture, and Meitetsu will cooperate with local groups, schools, companies, etc. along the line to conduct a variety of awareness-raising activities and maintain the environment around the stations in order to boost use.

As a result, Nishio City and Gamagori City allocated 250 million yen per year, which Aichi Prefecture supplemented by providing 83 million yen annually to the two cities. Discussions were held for the 2013 fiscal year and beyond at the 12th Countermeasures Council in October 2012 which resulted in the two cities on the route continuing to supplement the line's expenses in order to keep the line in operation. Further meetings agreed that the line's continued existence would be maintained by government support up to the 2025 fiscal year.

Revenue generated for the section between Nishio Station and Gamagōri Station in 2017 was 390 million yen, and expenditure for the section was 1.16 billion yen, resulting in a loss of 770 million yen.

References

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