Senseki Line

The Senseki Line (仙石線, Senseki-sen) is a railway line in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aoba-dōri Station in Sendai to Ishinomaki Station in Ishinomaki, and provides access to the central coast areas of Miyagi Prefecture, significantly the Matsushima area. It connects with the Sendai Subway Nanboku Line at Aoba-dōri Station; the Tōhoku Shinkansen, the Tōhoku Main Line and the Senzan Line at Sendai Station; and the Ishinomaki Line in Ishinomaki. The name Senseki (仙石) comes from the combination of the first kanji of Sendai (仙台) and Ishinomaki (石巻), the two cities that the Senseki Line connects.

Basic data

• Operators, distances:
  • East Japan Railway Company (Services and tracks)
    • Aoba-dōri â€" Ishinomaki: 50.2 km / 31.2 mi.
  • Japan Freight Railway Company (Services and tracks)
    • Rikuzen-Yamashita â€" Ishinomaki-Minato: 1.8 km / 1.1 mi.
  • Japan Freight Railway Company (Services)
    • Rikuzen-Yamashita â€" Ishinomaki: 1.4 km / 0.9 mi.
• Stations:
  • Passenger stations: 31
  • Freight terminals: 1 (Ishinomaki-Minato)
• Tracks:
  • Double-track: Aoba-dōri â€" Higashi-Shiogama
  • Single-track: Higashi-Shiogama â€" Ishinomaki
• Electrification: Whole line (1,500 V DC)
• Railway signalling:
  • Aoba-dōri â€" Ishinomaki: ATS-Ps
• CTC center: Miyagino Operation Control Center

Services

All trains originate from Aoba-dōri Station, with most running to Tagajō or Higashi-Shiogama. Local trains and rapid service trains that run the entire length of the line operate at 30-minute intervals. At Sendai Station, the line crosses under the Tōhoku Main Line and its platforms, similar to the situation with the Keiyō Line in Tokyo and the Chikuhi Line in Hakata (which connects via the Fukuoka Airport Subway Line).

The segment from Aoba-dōri to Higashi-Shiogama is a key part of Sendai's transportation system, and becomes very crowded during peak periods, and headways are as short as 4 minutes. During non-peak times 3-5 trains run per hour. Between Higashi-Shiogama and Ishinomaki two trains run per hour (generally one local and one rapid train).

In addition to all-stations "local" trains, there are two types of limited-stop "rapid" services on the Senseki Line. Both rapid services make only intermittent stops between Tagajō and Yamoto, but the first type (known as "green" rapids) stops at every station between Aoba-dōri and Tagajō, while the second type (known as "red" rapids) makes intermittent stops between Aoba-dōri and Tagajō. Local and rapid trains make all stops from Yamoto to Ishinomaki.

Green rapid trains serve Aoba-dōri, Sendai, Tagajō, Hon-Shiogama, Higashi-Shiogama, Matsushima-Kaigan, Takagimachi, Nobiru, Rikuzen-Ono, Yamoto, and all stations until Ishinomaki. Red rapid trains stop at the stations above as well as at all stations between Sendai and Tagajō.

A "Mangattan Train" operates on the Senseki Line, with a livery featuring Ishinomori Manga characters.

Service was halted since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, as several trains, stations, and sections of the line were destroyed, heavily damaged, or flooded. Service for the first 16 miles of the line from Sendai was expected to be restored by the end of May 2011. By mid-July, the Sendai â€" Matsushima-Kaigan and Yamoto â€" Ishinomaki sections had service restored, although the latter segment was with diesel trains due to the loss of the power substation. As the remainder of the line between Matsushima-Kaigan and Yamoto was virtually obliterated by the tsunami.

From March October 2012, services resumed on all but the Takagimachi to Rikuzen-Ono section, with services on that section proposed to be restored by 2015, and a new 400m link is also due to be constructed from between Shiogama Station and Matsushima Station on the Tohoku Main Line to a point between Matsushima-Kaigan Station and Takagimachi Station on the Senseki Line. Costing approximately 2 billion yen to build, the new link will allow through-running services from the Tohoku Main Line to the Senseki Line, and cut approximately 10 minutes off the journey time between Sendai and Ishinomaki.

Stations

(Stations in parentheses are currently not in operation due to damage from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Trains run on both sides of these stations, but as two unconnected lines.)

Rolling stock

• 205-3100 series 4-car EMUs

New HB-E210 series 2-car hybrid diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains are scheduled to be introduced on the line from 30 May 2015 between Takagimachi and Ishinomaki following the start of new Senseki-Tohoku Line services using a newly built link connecting with the Tohoku Main Line at Shiogama.

History

The Miyagi Electric Railway opened the line in sections between 1925 and 1928. Individual opening dates are given in the timeline section below. The Rikuzen-Haranomachi to Nishi-Shiogama section was double-tracked between 1968 and 1969, and extended to Higashi-Shiogama in 1981.

In 2000, the surface section between Rikuzen-Haranomachi and Sendai was replaced by a double-track underground line, with a new section to Aoba-dori to connect to the Sendai subway.

Parts of the line were extensively damaged by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and whilst service was restored on the majority of the line by March 2012, the Takagimachi - Rikuzen-Ono section will not be returned to service until 2015.

Timeline

• June 5, 1925: Miyagi Electric Railway (later Senseki Line): Sendai â€" Nishi-Shiogama.
• January 1, 1926: Miyaginohara Station opens.
• April 14, 1926: Nishi-Shiogama â€" Hon-Shiogama section opens.
• April 18, 1927: Hon-Shiogama â€" Matsushima-Kōen (later Matsushima-Kaigan Station) section opens.
• April 10, 1928: Matsushima-Kōen â€" Rikuzen-Ono section opens.
• May 15, 1928: Nigatake Station opens.
• November 22, 1928: Rikuzen-Ono â€" Ishinomaki section opens, connecting Sendai to Ishinomaki.
• June 1, 1929: Kazuma Station opens.
• October 23, 1931: Nobiru Station becomes Tōhoku-Suma Station.
• December 1, 1931: Tōna Station opens.
• January 8, 1932: Ishinomaki station becomes Miyaden-Ishinomaki Station.
• August 1, 1932: Geba Station opens.
• February 1, 1939: Miyaden-Yamashita Station (later Rikuzen-Yamashita Station) opens.
• November 7, 1939: Miyaden-Yamashita â€" Kama (later Ishinomaki Port Station) freight connection opens.
• May 1, 1944: Miyagi Electric Railway is nationalized, becomes the Senseki Line; Higashi-Nanabanchō Station becomes Sendai Higashi-Guchi Station, Hamada Station becomes Rikuzen-Hamada Station, Matsushima-Kōen becomes Matsushima-Kaigan Station, Tomiyama becomes Rikuzen-Tomiyama Station, ÅŒtsuka becomes Rikuzen-ÅŒtsuka Station, Tōhoku-Suma becomes Nobiru Station, and Miyaden-Ishinomaki becomes Ishinomaki Station.
• June 1, 1952: Sendai â€" Sendai Higashi-Guchi section stops operation.
• September 26, 1952: Sendai â€" Sendai Higashi-Gushi section abolished.
• 1957: Rapid trains begin operation.
• February 23, 1968: Track doubled on Fukudamachi â€" Tagajō section.
• March 19, 1968: Track doubled on Rikuzen-Haranomachi â€" Fukudamachi section.
• October 11, 1968: Kama â€" Ishinomaki-Futō freight connection opens
• September 26, 1969: Track doubled on Tagajō to Nishi-Shiogama section.
• April 1, 1971: Kama â€" Ishinomaki-Minato freight connection abolished.
• March 15, 1972: Kama Station becomes Ishinomaki-Minato Station.
• 1974: 72 series and 79 series trains begin operation.
• October 1, 1979: 103 series trains begin operation.
• April 1, 1981: Nakanosakae Station opens.
• November 1, 1981: Nishi-Shiogama â€" Higashi-Shiogama section elevated, double-tracked; Hon-Shiogama Station and Higashi-Shiogama Station moved.
• October 2, 1983: New weekend schedule introduced.
• March 31, 1987: Higashi-Yamoto Station opens.
• April 1, 1987: Senseki Line becomes part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
• March 13, 1988: Rapid trains renamed Umikaze; scheduling changes.
• July 21, 1990: Ishinomaki and Senseki Lines' Ishinomaki stations are merged.
• November 1, 1999: Ishinomaki-Minato â€" Ishinomaki-Futō; freight connection abolished.
• March 11, 2000: Sendai â€" Rikuzen-Haranomachi section moved underground; Aoba-dōri â€" Sendai section added.
• November 5, 2002: 205-3100 series trains begin operation.
• July 2004: Last remaining 103 series trains withdrawn.
• March 13, 2004: Kozurushinden Station opens.
• October 16, 2004: "Umikaze" name is discontinued; weekday and Saturday schedules are merged.
• March 16, 2005: Nishi-Shiogama Station becomes unmanned.
• November 2006: One 4-car 103 series train is brought out of storage and reinstated into service.
• October 21, 2009: JR East's last remaining 103 series train is withdrawn from service.

• March 11, 2011: Two Senseki Line trains were derailed and badly damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
• 2015: Services are restored over the entire length of the line.

References

This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.