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Tokai Transport Service Company line3 min read

Johoku Line

城北線

The Jōhoku Line (城北線, Jōhoku-sen) is an 11.2-kilometre commuter railway in Aichi Prefecture, running between Kachigawa Station in Kasugai and Biwajima Station in Kiyosu, on the northern and western fringes of Nagoya.

Trains are operated by the JR-Central Transport Service Company (formerly the Tōkai Transport Service Company, abbreviated TKJ), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The route is laid to 1,067 mm narrow gauge, double-tracked over most of its length, and serves six stations. It is not electrified and is worked by diesel railcars; apart from guideway-bus systems such as the Yutorito Line, it is the only non-electrified passenger railway left in Aichi.

NagoyaNishiKitaChikusaKitanagoyaHigashiNaka2 km
Route of the Johoku Line · Aichi · Boundaries: MLIT / GSI / Japan Post

History

The line had its origins in a freight project of the national-railway era. In 1962 a railway linking Seto with Inazawa became one of the planned lines under the revised Railway Construction Act. In the 1960s the Japanese National Railways (JNR) drew up a more specific scheme for a freight line that would join the Chūō Main Line at Kachigawa to the Tōkaidō Main Line at Biwajima. Construction began in March 1976, but while it was under way the project was hit by JNR's worsening finances, and work was later halted.

At the division and privatisation of JNR, the unfinished line was assigned to JR Central, which eventually revived it not as a freight route but as a passenger railway. On 1 December 1989 JR Central, which had inherited the project, applied to the Minister of Transport for authorisation to build the Kachigawa–Biwajima section, then treated as part of its Seto Line and given as 11.7 km. By 23 August 1990 the company had decided that the line would be run not by itself but by a wholly owned subsidiary — the future Tōkai Transport Service Company, now the JR-Central Transport Service Company — which would operate it as a Class II railway business over facilities held by others.

The Jōhoku Line opened in two stages. The first section, from Kachigawa to Owari-Hoshinomiya, entered service on 1 December 1991, and the remaining stretch from Owari-Hoshinomiya to Biwajima followed on 18 March 1993, completing the through route. As built, the line ran 11.2 km and served six stations: Kachigawa, Ajiyoshi, Hira, Otai, Owari-Hoshinomiya and Biwajima. Otai is a walk of about ten minutes from Kami-Otai Station, where passengers can change to the Nagoya Municipal Subway Tsurumai Line and the Meitetsu Inuyama Line. At its two ends the line meets the Chūō Main Line at Kachigawa and the Tōkaidō Main Line at Biwajima, the same trunk lines its freight-era plan had been designed to link.

The line's operating arrangement reflects how it was financed. It was built by the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, and JR Central pays lease fees to that body's successor, the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT), while TKJ — the JR Central subsidiary — runs the trains as a Class II operator. JR Central's lease payments to JRTT are scheduled to end in 2032.

The Jōhoku Line has remained a lightly used route, hampered by poor connections with other lines and the inconvenience of its Kachigawa terminus, which sits apart from the JR Chūō Main Line station of the same name. When the Chūō Main Line's Kachigawa Station was rebuilt in 2009, space was deliberately set aside there to allow the Jōhoku Line to be connected into the JR station in the future, a long-discussed step.

Stations on this line

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

Timeline
  • 1962A railway linking Seto and Inazawa becomes one of the planned lines under the revised Railway Construction Act.
  • 1976March: the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation begins building the line as a freight route linking Kachigawa (Chūō Main Line) and Biwajima (Tōkaidō Main Line); the project is later hit by JNR's worsening finances and work is halted.
  • 19891 December: JR Central applies to the Minister of Transport for authorisation to build the Kachigawa–Biwajima section (11.7 km), then treated as part of its Seto Line.
  • 199023 August: by this date JR Central has decided that the line will be operated by a 100%-owned subsidiary, the future Tōkai Transport Service Company, now the JR-Central Transport Service Company.
  • 19911 December: the Jōhoku Line opens between Kachigawa and Owari-Hoshinomiya.
  • 199318 March: the Owari-Hoshinomiya–Biwajima section opens, completing the 11.2 km line of six stations.
  • 2009The Chūō Main Line's Kachigawa Station is rebuilt, with space set aside for a possible future connection of the Jōhoku Line into the JR station.
  • 2032(Scheduled) The contract under which JR Central pays lease fees for the line to JRTT, the successor to the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, is due to end.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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