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Hiroshima Rapid Transit line3 min read

Astram Line

広島新交通1号線

The Astram Line (アストラムライン), formally the Hiroshima New Transit Line 1 (広島新交通1号線), is an 18.4-kilometre automated guideway transit (AGT) line in Hiroshima, Japan, running from Hondōri in the central Naka ward north-west to Kōiki-kōen-mae in Asaminami ward.

It is a rubber-tyred, side-guidance people mover laid to a 1,700 mm guideway and powered from a 750 V DC conductor rail, and it is operated by Hiroshima Rapid Transit, a third-sector company founded in 1987. Opened in 1994 for the Asian Games, it links the heart of the city with the north-western suburbs and with the Hiroshima Big Arch stadium.

HiroshimaNakaNishi2 km
Route of the Astram Line · Hiroshima · Boundaries: MLIT / GSI / Japan Post

History

Plans for a new transit system connecting the centre of Hiroshima with the suburbs to the north-west were first proposed in July 1977. The third-sector operating company, Hiroshima Rapid Transit, was established in 1987 to build and run the line. In 1988 a three-party agreement was concluded with the area's bus operators, and the company applied for the track licences for the route, which were granted that August; the application covered the central Hondōri–Kenchō-mae section and the Kenchō-mae–Chōrakuji section.

The groundbreaking ceremony and the start of construction took place on 28 February 1989. In October 1990 the company applied for the track licence for the outer Chōrakuji–Kōiki-kōen section, which was granted the following March, extending the project out to what would become the line's terminus.

Construction was overshadowed by a major accident. On 14 March 1991 a girder on the elevated viaduct collapsed near the construction site of Kamiyasu Station, killing more than a dozen people and injuring 8 — an event recorded as the Hiroshima New Transit System girder-collapse accident. Work resumed in stages: the underground portion restarted within days, other sections by mid-year and the accident site itself around December 1991, while construction of the outer Chōrakuji–Kōiki-kōen section began in October 1991.

After opening inspections were completed in July 1994 and local preview rides were held that August, the whole line from Hondōri to Kōiki-kōen-mae — all 18.4 km and, at opening, 21 stations — entered revenue service simultaneously on 20 August 1994. The timing was deliberate: the line opened for the 1994 Asian Games held in Hiroshima that October, and its outer section beyond Chōrakuji was built as access to the Games' main stadium, the Hiroshima Big Arch, beside the terminus at Kōiki-kōen-mae.

In its first decades the line refined its operations rather than its route. Express trains were introduced in a March 1999 timetable revision, with timed express/local connections added at Ōmachi from 2000; the express services were later wound back, with the holiday-timetable expresses dropped in 2003 and the weekday expresses in 2004. The line adopted the PASPY IC fare card on 8 August 2009, also accepting ICOCA, and joined the nationwide mutual IC-card service in March 2018.

Only one station has been added since opening: Shin-Hakushima, which opened on 14 March 2015 as an infill stop between Hakushima and Jōhoku to provide a transfer with the JR Sanyō Main Line, bringing the line to its present 22 stations. That June Hiroshima City announced that it would proceed with a "Saifū Toshi Line" extension from Kōiki-kōen-mae to JR Nishi-Hiroshima. The original 6000 series cars, which had run since the 1994 opening, gave way to the new 7000 series — introduced into service on 26 March 2020 — and the 6000 series made its final run on 18 May 2025.

Stations on this line

22 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.

Timeline
  • 1977July: a new transit system linking central Hiroshima with the north-western suburbs is first proposed.
  • 1987The third-sector company Hiroshima Rapid Transit is founded to build and operate the line.
  • 1988A three-party agreement is concluded with area bus operators; the track licences for the Hondōri–Kenchō-mae and Kenchō-mae–Chōrakuji sections are applied for and granted in August.
  • 198928 February: groundbreaking ceremony and start of construction.
  • 19908 October: the company applies for the track licence for the outer Chōrakuji–Kōiki-kōen section (granted March 1991).
  • 199114 March: a girder collapses near the Kamiyasu Station construction site, killing more than a dozen people and injuring 8 (the Hiroshima New Transit System girder-collapse accident); construction later resumes in stages.
  • 199420 August: the whole Hondōri–Kōiki-kōen-mae line (18.4 km, 21 stations at opening) enters revenue service simultaneously, timed for the 1994 Asian Games and serving the Hiroshima Big Arch stadium.
  • 199920 March: a timetable revision introduces express trains.
  • 200420 March: the last weekday express trains are discontinued (holiday expresses had ended in 2003).
  • 20098 August: the PASPY IC fare card is introduced, with ICOCA also accepted.
  • 201514 March: Shin-Hakushima Station opens as an infill stop between Hakushima and Jōhoku, giving a transfer with the JR Sanyō Main Line and bringing the line to 22 stations.
  • 202026 March: the new 7000 series cars enter service, beginning the replacement of the original 6000 series (whose final run was 18 May 2025).

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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