The only dedicated coal-carrying railroad still running in Japan will cease operations at the end of this month, ending its 94-year mission to support the country’s industrial development.
The railroad, operated these days by Taiheiyo Coal Services & Transportation Co., runs entirely within the city of Kushiro, Hokkaido, connecting a loading point and a storage yard.
In Japan’s past, many railroads were established to transport coal, mainly in Hokkaido and Kyushu, where there were abundant coal deposits.
But all have been scrapped except the Taiheiyo Coal Line, nicknamed the Rinko-sen (Harbor Line), reflecting the domestic coal industry’s decline brought on by cheap imports and a shift in the government’s energy policy.
Coal trains have been running on the 4-km-long line since 1925. During peak production at the Taiheiyo mine, a diesel locomotive pulled hopper cars hauling a total of 720 tons of coal from the loading point six times a day.
