Kônan Tetsudô – Ôwani-sen 弘南鉄道　大鰐線

Kônan Tetsudô, Ôwani-sen: This minor 13, 9 km long railway, centered on the old castle town of Hirosaki in the southwest of Aomori Prefecture, was opened to traffic on 26 January 1952. It had the character of a demonstration line for Mitsubishi electric eqipment for rural lines (DC 1500 V, 1067 mm gauge) .

(https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20250201-oowanisen/

https://tetsudokyogikai.net/private/konan.)

The name of the line was Hirosaki Denki Tetsudô (Hirosaki Electric railway) until 1970, when it became one of the two Kônan Railways (established in 1926) in the area. Kônan 弘南 translates as “Hirosaki South”; the other Kônan Tetsudô line serves Kuroishi from Hirosaki. The wider city of Hirosaki has a population of around 159 thousand in 2024 (compared to around 175 thousand in 1970).

The Ôwani-sen starts from a small station in central Hirosaki and runs much of the way more or less parallel to the JR Ôu main line, but, unlike JR, serving the small housing areas. After emerging from the outskirts of Hirosaki the dominant scenery is that of apple orchards. Looking north we get a good view of the mighty Iwakisan volcano (1625 m).

The Ôwani line ends after entering the Hirakawa River valley at Sabaishi. The endstop is at Ôwani, besides the JR line. Ôwani is known for its hot springs and for skiing in winter, but in spite of tourist amenities, Ôwani’s population has dwindled from around 17’000 in 1970 to around 9000 in 2020. Passenger figures for the line stood at around 3’898’000 in 1974, as against 270’000 in 2023.

Already back in 2013 the future of the line was discussed, and the communities concerned began to show a considerable amount of activity in order to revive it. Among other things, all kinds of season tickets and reduced fares were introduced. The state gave a helping hand in the context of the kasseika saisei-hô (Act on the revitalisation of outlying and rural regions), introduced in 2017, and the communities agreed to a ten-year renewal plan. However, traffic continues to dwindle, and the Corona epidemic hit the line badly. Moreover, the winters are extremely harsh, and the dwindling population is practically fully motorised. To make things worse, there have been two derailments (2019 and 2023) due to the run-down state of the rails and sleepers. And so the decision has been taken to close the line at the end of the 2027/28 winter season.