Haebaru Railway Company
| Status | Operational |
|---|---|
| Locale | Iwate Prefecture Lamtsu Prefecture |
| Stations | 56 |
| Initials | NTT |
| Depot(s) | Haebaru Port Depot Ojika Depot |
|---|---|
| Rolling stock | Nantetsu Class 1000 (E44-600) |
| Former Rolling Stock | JGR Class 7700 Locomotives
Class 32 EMU Class 72 EMU |
| Line Length | 101.5km |
|---|---|
| Track gauge | 1453mm |
| Electrification | 25kv AC |
Haebaru Railway Company Co. Ltd, (南風原鉄道株式会社, Haebaru tetsudō kabushikigaisha), referred to as Nantetsu (南鉄道), is the oldest private railway in the entire continent, operating trains in the Haebaru District and the greater Iwate Prefecture. Recently, they have been beginning to make inroads into Lamtsu and Yokohama. It is one of the largest holding companies in Sorano, with more than 102 companies under their umbrella, and is listed on the SSE150.
Some of the more famous trains operated by Nantetsu included the Haebaru, which was one of two rail connections between Lamtsu and Joban (the other being the Ome Line), which had the fastest speed for any non-shinkansen railway in Lamtsu at 160km/h, until the opening of the Seiyo Shinkansen. After which, the Haebaru services were withdrawn, as the aging trains were putting stress on the railway's network.
In the Haebaru Region, it is the largest company, not just in transport but in other industries, such as Real Estate, and Retail, and has been credited with the continual growth of the Haebaru region, especially Ojika town, since the 1940s.
Nantetsu is the largest railway company in Iwate Prefecture, and is the largest of the 12 Major Private Railways in Lamtsu by network size and profit. All of the lines and stations fall within the Haebaru Prefecture. Despite Nantetsu being known as a railway company, close to 80% of it's revenue comes from non-railroad developments.
Nantetsu takes it's name from the first kanji for Haebaru, "南", pronounced Nan. The railroad's name literally means "Southern Railway", which led to some confusion with the Southern Railway on the Southern Island, which operates 2km of tramways. Therefore, some official documents refer to Nantetsu as the "Haebaru Railway Company" to avoid confusion.
Lines
| Locale | Class | Name | Japanese | Terminals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haebaru | Main | Haebaru Main Line | 南風原本線 | Nishi-Haebaru
Ojika Haebaru Port |
| Branch | Chiba Line | 千葉線 | Ojika
Nagaremaya | |
| Branch | Godo Line | 五堂線 | Ojika
Godo | |
| Branch | Kurate Line | 倉手線 | Ojika
Kurate | |
| Branch | Ojika Line | 小値賀線 | Ojika
Ojika Freight Terminal |
Major stations
- Ojika Station (HB03)
- Shin-Haebaru Station (HB02)
- Reihoku Station (HB06)
- Yasuda Station (OJ02)
- Hitachi Station
- Taketoyo Station
- Shirataka Station
History
Early History
The Haebaru Railway Company was founded in 1893 as the Haebaru Mine Horsecar Plate Railways, which hauled freight from the Kurate Mine and Haebaru Mine to Ojika City Centre. The railway mainly transported Iron Ore and Clay to the Ojika Ironworks and the Ojika Brickworks. However, with Iron Ore beginning to dry up in the Haebaru Mine, the railway was extended to the Ojika Mine, at the place of today's Ojika Station, as a Freight-only railroad. With increasing immigration to the town and a relatively high birth-rate, the line became mixed for passenger and freight traffic starting in 1923. The town saw a huge boom in immigration and development following the opening of the stations, and the line was double-tracked in 1935.
In 1942, the Japanese invaded and conquered the southern section of the continent, and the Lamtsu Capital City (Then the Misato Capital Region) , Hayakawa Town, Iwate town, Ome town, Yokohama, ect. However, due to the Permafrost in the glaciated region between Iwate and Haebaru, the Japanese vehicles were unable to cross and thus the invasion did not reach Haebaru. The fleeing people settled along the length of the Nantetsu (Road). Many of these people stayed in Haebaru after the war, making Haebaru the only town to see a population increase during the second world war. Due to the sudden population explosion, the lines were repurporsed for passenger usage as well, with the Ojika Line and Kurate Line starting passenger service in 1945.
Modern History
Nantetsu was heavily involved in developments along the lines, with 70% of the property alongside the lines being owned and rented out by Nantetsu. The company was involved in many major projects, including the Kurate Mine expansion, the Harmony Rail Transit Maglev Test Track and Research Institute, the Daigaku Line extension to Reihoku, and pushed for the integration of Hitachi and Shirakawa to the Haebaru Prefecture (Formerly District), leading to a greater expansion of the Nantetsu Network. At the time, the Railroad Act restricted railroad companies to the District or Prefecture where they were founded, and this led to the companies adopting the names of their regions that may not apply anymore. For example, Nantetsu means "Southern Railroad", when the initial portion of the network was in the far north regions of Joban, further north than any other railway company until the opening of the Ome Line. With the Haebaru District being promoted to a prefecture, absorbing Shirakawa District, Hitachi District and portions of Iwate Prefecture, Nantetsu was able to expand their network far beyond the reaches of their original location.
Nantetsu began to source other avenues of revenue starting in 1962, when the first Nantetsu Department Store was opened in Ojika. The department store was on the opposite side of the Nantetsu, by then Ojika Road. The department store was able to offer fresher and quicker delivery from the manufacturing sites in places like Kata and the former Tsubetsu area, due to the direct rail connection, which allowed Nantetsu to run a twice-daily direct Freight and Mail service to Kata Freight Terminal. This later evolved into the famous "Twilight Express Haebaru" (トワイライトエクスプレス南風原, Towairaitoekusupuresu Haebaru ), which ran every day, starting at 7pm from Misato Station, coupling to a freight train, and continuing as a single unit to Ojika Freight Terminal. The passenger train would then continue to Central South via the Fung Yuen Line. The service ended in 2018, with the announcement of Shin-Haebaru Station on the Seiyo Shinkansen, and the rollback of the Fung Yuen Line to Fung Yuen. The Nantetsu Department Store expanded into a chain, with more than 18 stores in Sorano, almost always paired with a railroad station. The full list of companies held by Nantetsu will be listed below, as well as their history.
The Nantetsu Main Line came up in 1990, when the single-tracking of the Haebaru Main Line and Iwate Line began to worry Nantetsu considerably. The Line was unable to handle the passenger traffic travelling between Lamtsu and Haebaru every day, and so the Nantetsu Main Line was proposed as a railroad connecting the Nantetsu network to the Seiyo Main Line in the south, which would slash travel time to Lamtsu considerably more than the Ome Line. The Daigaku Line was very slow and due to the financial situation of the line, Aotetsu was unwilling to double-track the line. Due to this, Nantetsu was forced to consider other methods of transporting. As Nantetsu has purporsely blocked road upgrading programmes and began heavy urbanisation in Ojika City Centre to prevent the upgrading of the roads, buses were not an option. Therefore, it was decided to build a completely new line from Ojika to Shirakawa on the Seiyo Main Line (then the Seitetsu Main Line, before it's purchase by MCR), and build it straight and double-tracked to maximise travel time, speed and therefore carrying capacity.