Ome Line

Ome Line

File:OmeLine.jpg

An Ome Line train leaving Iwate station

General

Status	Operational
Owner	Aotetsu
Locale	Lamtsu Ome
Termini	Misato Ome
Stations	14
Initials	OM

Service

Type	Rural Commuter
Operator(s)	Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) Harmony Rail Transit (Joban) Aotetsu
Depot(s)	Ome Depot Lamtsu Depot
Rolling stock	E44 E233

History

Opened	7th Jan 1976

Technical

Line Length	21km
Track gauge	1435mm
Electrification	1500V DC 25KV AC
Operating speed	120km/h

Route Map

The Ome Line (青梅線, Ome-Sen) is a railway line jointly owned and operated by Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) and Aotetsu (Ome Railway Company) in Sorano, connecting Misato and Fukuchiyama. It is the major railway line of the Ome region, also passing through the Iwate area, approximately paralleling the Seiyo River 7km to the west. The line is one of the most important connections from Joban to Lamtsu, and is also one of the most heavily used freight corridors, with one of every 7 trains on the line transporting freight, after the opening of the Seiyo Shinkansen. The portion from Misato to Ome is one of the longest lines with significant service in the Lamtsu region.

Basic Data

• Distance: 21.6 km
• Operators
  • Aotetsu (Category 1)
    • Nanae-Ome: 10.9 km
  • Shintetsu (Category 2)
    • Misato-Nanae: 8.1 km
• Track
  • Double
    • Entire line double-tracked
• Maximum Speed
  • Misato-Kata: 80km/h
  • Kata-Mihara: 120km/h
  • Mihara-Oyamazaki: 80km/h
  • Oyamazaki-Oshima: 60km/h
  • Oshima-Hayakawa: 80km/h
  • Hayakawa-Ome: 120km/h
  • Ome:Fukuchiyama: 80km/h

Stations

The Ome Line has service broken into multiple parts, each operated by a different company. Although the entire line is owned by Aotetsu, only Limited Express trains such as the Tokiwa operate over the entire line. No train continues past Fukuchiyama, although some used to, due to the border between Joban and Sorano. The track between has since fallen into disuse.

For the stopping patterns of the Tokiwa and Sunrise Yamagawa, see their respective articles.

Legend

●: All trains stop

| : All trains pass

Misato-Nanae Block

Name	Japanese	Distance	Between	City	Urban	Transfers	Area	Region
Misato	美里	0.0	-	●	●	Yamate Line Namboku Line Mihara Line Seiyo Main Line Lamtsu Main Line Kujukuri Line Ome Heritage Line	Misato City	Lamtsu Capital City
Kata	賀田	1.2	1.2	●	●	Yamate Line Namboku Line Iizuna Line Ai-Liner
Oku	尾久	1.5	1.5	●	|	Kujukuri Line Seiyo Main Line	Kata
Mihara	三原	3.9	2.4	●	●	Mihara Line	Mihara
Oyamazaki	大山崎	5.0	1.1		●		Hayakawa	Ome Province
Oshima	大島	5.6	0.6		●
Nishikawa	西川	6.8	1.2		●
Hayakawa	早川	7.2	1.4		●	Namboku Line
Nanae	七飯	8.1	0.9		●		Iwate

Nanae-Ome Block

Name	Japanese	Distance	From Nanae	Between	Transfers	Area	Region
Nanae	七飯	8.1	0.0	0.9		Iwate	Ome Province
Kokura	小倉	10.7	2.6	2.6
Iwate	岩手	11.9	3.8	1.2	Iwate Line Chiba Line
Kusu	拿督	14.1	6.0	2.2
Takachiwa	立川	16.3	8.2	2.2		Ome City
Akishima	昭島	18.2	9.3	1.9
Ome	青梅	19.8	10.9	1.6	Namba Line

Ome-Fukuchiyama block

Ome	青梅	19.8	10.9	1.6	N.A	Namba Line
Fukuchiyama	福知山	21.6	12.7	1.8	N.A

Special Services

The Ome Line has the most Limited Express services of all the Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) lines, due to it's special position as the primary rail link between Lamtsu and Joban.

Limited Express

Name	Route
Ome Liner	Ome-Misato
Moonlight Misato	Ome-Misato
Moonlight Lamtsu	Ome-Lamtsu
Moonlight Hakone	Ome-Tai Hing Forest (Via Mihara Line)
Via Haebaru Main Line
Ojika	Shin-Haebaru - Misato
Haebaru	Shin-Haebaru - Misato
Aoi	Shin-Haebaru - Ome

History

Pre-2022

The initial portion of the Ome Line was opened in 1952, from Mihara to Hayakawa. The line was built by Ome Railway Company, hoping to extend the line to the city of Ome, at the time comparable to Sakura in size. However, due to the extremely curvy alignment of the line, the travel times began to become so inflated that the line stopped at Nanae by 1956. The line then languished for 7 years, and due to a great amount of migration to the inner parts of the Lamtsu Capital City, the passenger numbers slowly dwindled until the line started to lose money in 1963.

The Ome Line Upgrading and Extension project began in 1964, with a very generous loan from the Misato Central Bank. The first stage of the project involved upgrading the line speed limits from 40-60 on the initial section, and purchasing specialised rolling stock to take tighter turns at higher speeds. This was completed in 1965. The second stage extended the line all the way to Ome, and ensuring that the line was as straight as possible. This was successfully achieved in 1970.

The Ome Railway Company partnered with Harmony Rail Transit (Joban) to extend the Ome Line from Ome to Central South, raising the line's potential to become the sole railway link between Lamtsu and Joban. The line was extended all the way in 1975, with the border switch occuring at Fukuchiyama Station. A cross-platform transfer with customs in-between allowed for services to be carried from Ome to Central South without too much issue. Ome Railway Company succesfully escaped Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu)'s attempts to purchase it for a significant amount of time this way, even extending the line from Mihara to Misato in 2003.

Many other branch lines opened in this time, connecting to industries along the line.

• 1970: Iwate Branch Line 1.3km (Sold to Nantetsu in 2023)
• 1974: Nishi-Kokura Branch Line (connecting to the main urban area of Kokura) 1.7km (Shut down in 2012)
• 1976: Tsuwano Freight Terminal Branch Line 0.3km (Shut down in 1990)
• 1980: Ome Line Iwate Bypass (now the Main Line)

The first threat to the monopoly of Aotetsu was the Seiyo Shinkansen. Completed in 2012, the Seiyo Shinkansen linked Lamtsu and Central South, and by extension Joban, in almost 2/3 of the time that the Ome Line takes.

The final blow to the Ome Railway Company was the Joban Border Control Act of 2020, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. No train service became possible to cross the border except west of the Seiyo River. As the Ome Line ran quite clearly east of the Seiyo River, all service from Ome to Central South had to stop. However, as Fukuchiyama was still within the Sorano Border, the agreement of Harmony Rail Transit (Joban) to run the service still applied, and the service runs from Ome to Fukuchiyama (1 station) up till today. Ome Railway Company attempted to solve this issue with bridging buses and freight trucks, but a significant portion of the traffic was lost. The Line from Fukuchiyama was abandoned until late 2024.

In October 2021, The Ome Line portion from Ome to Nanae was handed over to Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu), with the condition that Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) subsidises the rural services from Nanae to Iwate. The Ome Railway Company still operates other lines such as the Iwate Line (former Daigaku Line) , but they are a far cry from their former glory. The Vtuber Park Line would use the Ome Line tracks from Misato to Tsuwano.

2022 Lamtsu Railway Rebuild

2022 Sora Train Derailment

In 2022, the Sora Train Derailment that triggered the rebuild in the first place occured on the Ome Line, specifically the section between Misato and Sora. The section had been built with sub-par exits from Misato Station to force the Ome Railway Company to lower the speeds of their trains, further slowing them down as it would compete with the Mihara Line. Due to this, the Ome Line from Misato to Tsuwano had extremely tight timetabling, with local trains sometimes entering the station just seconds in front of the passing express. This was a cause for concern among much of the population.

The Derailment was caused by overspeed in this section. The driver had overrun the platform at Mihara Station, causing him to lose 20 seconds. This was further exascerbated by the timetabling, which meant that his train would get stuck behind a local between Tsuwano and Yellowstones, further delaying the train by 1 minute. The driver then overrode the ATS out of stress, and it was also company policy to allow drivers to overspeed in delays of more than 30 seconds. However, the driver was not prepared to brake after passing Sora Station, as he still had 49 seconds of delay (according to the clock). The train rounded the 25km/h bend at 130km/h, and derailed and broke up, with the first car plunging into the river. The second car lay perpendicular to the track, destroying the third car, and the fourth car had the front crushed by the third car.

The driver was among the 300 casualties in the acccident. No one in the first 3 carriages survived, and those in the 4th carriage all sustained major injuries. Among the dead was the grandson of Hideo Sogo, the founder of Misato City Railway and considered to be the father of the Lamtsu Railways.

Realignment

The section of the Ome Line from Misato to Mihara was converted for heritage use, with a speed limit of 40km/h, or less than a tram. The Ome Heritage Line runs from Misato Station Platform 13, the site of the accident, and the only part of the original Misato station to have been preserved.

The Ome Line went through the most revisions in the plan for rebuilding. The initial plan called for a line to connect and use the Misato Freight Line tracks, this later became the Vtuber Park Line or Mihara Freight Line. The plan then changed to a Lamtsu Start, using the parts of the Misato Freight Line that had been seperated by Kata Station, before going underground to Mihara, bypassing the crowded Misato Station. However, Misato Railway Transport had reserved the right-of-way for new tunnels for the Kujukuri Line, and those would be breached by the proposed Ome Line alignment. Finally, the alignment was switched to using the aboveground viaduct formerly used by the Misato Light Rail, from Misato to Moseushi. Although the line passes right in front of Kata Station, there is no stop on the line.

The Line then heads north on a viaduct, before disappearing underground before the Sora Nature Reserve, and emerging right after the Lamtsu Vtuber Park. This actually also made an issue, with the Vtuber Park stating that the emerging tracks would breach the Kizuna Mural. Because of this, an extra 5 Million had to be spent moving the tunner exit 20 metres north, where it rejoins the past Ome Line tracks. This tunnel also breached the Ome Line tracks from Tsuwano to Mihara, so although service from Mihara to Lamtsu Vtuber Park used to be possible in theory, it is no longer possible due to this.

The line then continues on it's usual path from there.

Misato-Mihara Viaduct

The Misato-Mihara Viaduct was a project to link Misato Station and Mihara Station using straight, accelerated tracks to achieve speeds of 160km/h between Misato and Mihara, possibly Hayakawa, increasing the speed of the line significantly. It would also increase the maximum length of the Limited Express trains from 4 Standard Cars (25m)/5 Lamtsu Cars(20m) to 8 Standard Cars/10 Lamtsu Cars.

The finalised alignment was announced in May 2022, and completed in June that year. The viaduct runs from Misato all the way to Iwate, using the alignment and right-of-way reserved for the cancelled Ome Shinkansen project. The viaduct runs about halfway to Iwate, before entering a tunnel and emerging about 1km before Iwate, re-joining the Main Line.

Breakup of Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu)

When Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) was broken up in 2022, the Ome Line was returned to the control of Aotetsu. However, Shintetsu continues to operate trains up to Nanae.

Rolling Stock

Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu)

• E233-500
• HRT Series 345 Limited Express
• HRT Series 341 Airport Express

Aotetsu

• E44-300

Former Connecting Lines

In the early days, Aotetsu operated a huge number of branch lines off the Ome Line, but almost all of them have been closed, shut down or realigned since.

Lamtsu Area

• Vtuber Park Line
• Iizuna Line

Iwate Area

• Daigaku Line
• Aoyoko Line
• Kusu Line

Ome Area

• Ome Freight Line
• Akishima Line