Though the track of the Chikuhô Honsen is still used, it no longer exists as a through main line. Today, the line is divided into, a) the Wakamatsu-sen in the north (10, 8 km), b) the Orio – Nôgata – Keisen section (34, 5 km), which now forms part of the electric Fukuhoku Yutaka-sen, and c) the Keisen – Haruda line over Hiyamizu Pass (20, 8 km, completed in 1929). This last section has seen only very little traffic after the introduction of electric services from Keisen via Sasaguri directly to Fukuoka in 2001.
The Chikuhô Honsen, whose construction started in 1891, served the vast Chikuhô coalfield area with its many coalmines particularly around Iizuka, Tagawa Ita, Tagawa Gotôji, Nôgata and Nakama. A very large number of branch lines, many of them with passenger services, fed into the Chikuhô Honsen, but today they are almost all closed. The history of the Chikuhô coalmines is closely linked to that of the Yahata Steel Works, whose construction started in 1896. Before World War II the Yahata Steel Works produced over 80 percent of Japan's steel, accordingly the coal consumption was enormous and coal traffic very heavy. In the 1960s the coalmines closed in quick succession, as did the numerous railway branch lines to serve them and their communities. The last mine shut down in 1976. This development naturally led to a rapid decrease in population, which in turn affected the railway services. Freight transport completely ceased in 2005.
