Hanazono Line

The line is laid to 1,067 mm gauge and is double-tracked and electrified at 600 V DC by overhead wire throughout its entire length. It takes its name from Hanazonochō-dōri, the shopping street that runs alongside the tracks between the two stops. The Matsuyama City Station stop, where the line begins, connects with Matsuyama City Station, the terminus of Iyotetsu's suburban Takahama, Yokogawara and Gunchū lines, allowing tram passengers to interchange with the company's heavy-rail network; at the other end, the Minami-Horibata stop meets the Jōnan Line.

Four numbered tram routes use the Hanazono Line, together with the Botchan Ressha, a heritage train whose locomotive is a diesel-powered reproduction of the steam locomotives Iyotetsu used in its light-railway era. Every service that runs on the line begins and ends at the Matsuyama City Station stop, the hub of Iyotetsu's city tram network.

Two of those services, Routes 1 and 2, are loop services that run in opposite directions by way of JR Matsuyama Station, Kiyamachi, Teppōchō and Ōkaidō. Loop operation on the Matsuyama city tram network began on 1 December 1969, and the Hanazono Line forms part of the circuit those trains follow. Route 3, by contrast, links Matsuyama City Station with Dōgo Onsen, the city's largest tourist destination.

The Hanazono Line opened on 25 March 1947, extending Iyotetsu's tram network the short distance between Matsuyama City Station and Minami-Horibata. On 1 March 2018 Iyotetsu rerouted its Route 6 service, which had previously started and terminated at Dōgo Onsen, to begin and end at Matsuyama City Station instead, sending it over the Hanazono Line; the change was made to improve access to that station and was announced in a company press release.

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

• Matsuyama City Station松山市駅
• Minami-Horibata南堀端

• 194725 March: the Hanazono Line opens, extending Iyo Railway's Matsuyama tram network the short distance between the Matsuyama City Station stop and Minami-Horibata.
• 19691 December: loop (circular) operation begins on the Matsuyama city tram network; the Hanazono Line forms part of the circuit followed by the loop services that run over it (Routes 1 and 2).
• 20181 March: Iyo Railway reroutes its Route 6 service, previously starting and terminating at Dōgo Onsen, to start and end at Matsuyama City Station instead, sending it over the Hanazono Line; the change, announced in a company press release, was made to improve access to that station.