Taniyama Line

The line is the oldest of Kagoshima's tram lines. The first electric tramway to open in the city was the Kagoshima Electric Tramway's Taniyama Line, which was built and licensed under Japan's Light Railway Act — said to have been done with coupled (multiple-car) operation in mind. A light-railway licence for the Kagoshima–Taniyama route was granted on 3 August 1911, construction began on 5 June 1912, and the Takenohashi–Taniyama section opened on 1 December 1912. Seven wooden single-truck cars were provided at opening, and from 1913 electric freight cars were added to carry parcels and fresh fish.

In its early years much of the line was singled to free up materials for building other lines: the Nikenchaya–Taniyama section was authorised for conversion to single track on 15 September 1915 and the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section on 16 May 1917, the recovered rail and sleepers being reused on new construction. These stretches would not be restored to double track until the post-war years.

Kagoshima City took the tramway into public ownership in the late 1920s. The Kagoshima Electric Tramway was transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (鹿児島市電気局) on 1 July 1928, the transfer having been permitted on 25 May that year; the line's legal status was then changed from light railway to tramway under the Tramway Act, authorised on 28 December 1928. The municipal operator was successively reorganised — into the city Transport Section in 1933, the Transport Department in 1944, and finally the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau on 1 October 1952, the name it still bears.

The Second World War interrupted services: an air raid on 17 June 1945 suspended operation on the line, which resumed on 29 June 1945. Restoration of double track then proceeded in stages after the war — the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section in December 1947 and the Nikenchaya–Wakita section in February 1948 — and was completed on 29 December 1949, when double track was restored across the whole Taniyama Line.

From the late 1950s the line's track was progressively lowered and rebuilt: the original Takenohashi–Taniyama route had been entirely on dedicated right-of-way, but from fiscal 1959 the track bed was dropped to street level, and through the early 1960s the in-street (combined) sections were extended after new roads and bridges were built — near Takenohashi, a new road was laid along the east side of the line in 1960 and the track was moved to its centre. Before the transfer to the city, a proposal by the Railway Ministry to buy the Namida-bashi–Taniyama light-railway segment for use in building the Ibusuki Line (as it was then called) was opposed by the city assembly, which feared the loss of the frequent tram service, and a parallel new railway was built to the west instead; a new station was opened on that line in 1944. The Usuki-itchōme stop was added on the Taniyama Line in 1979.

Beginning with grass planted in the track at a tram stop, the Kagoshima City Tram has greened its trackbed with lawn, which is lit up at night; as of 2018 the greening was complete everywhere except on the dedicated right-of-way between Namida-bashi and Taniyama. The Kagoshima City Tram as a whole has introduced ultra-low-floor cars from 2002 onward. On 3 July 2019 a landslide near Minami-Kagoshima Station caused by heavy rain suspended the Kōrimoto–Taniyama section, with service resuming the following day.

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

• Arata-hachiman荒田八幡
• Kamishioya上塩屋
• Kamoike鴨池
• Kishaba騎射場
• Korimoto (Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau)郡元
• Minami-Kagoshima Eki-mae南鹿児島駅前
• Namidabashi涙橋
• Nichu-dori二中通
• Nikenjaya二軒茶屋
• Sasanuki笹貫
• Takenohashi武之橋
• Taniyama (Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau)谷山
• Usuki 1-chome宇宿一丁目
• Wakida脇田

• 19113 August: a light-railway licence is granted for the Kagoshima–Taniyama route.
• 19121 December: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway opens the Takenohashi–Taniyama section as the first electric tram line in Kagoshima; construction had begun on 5 June and the Takenohashi–Taniyama-village section was completed on 23 November.
• 191515 September: conversion of the Nikenchaya–Taniyama section to single track is authorised, the recovered rail and sleepers being reused for new line construction.
• 191716 May: conversion of the Kamoike–Nikenchaya section to single track is authorised.
• 19281 July: the Kagoshima Electric Tramway is transferred to the city's newly established Electric Bureau (transfer permitted 25 May); on 28 December the line's legal status is changed from light railway to tramway.
• 194517 June: an air raid suspends services on the line; operation resumes on 29 June.
• 194929 December: double-tracking of the Wakita–Taniyama section is completed, restoring double track across the whole Taniyama Line (after staged works at Kamoike–Nikenchaya in 1947 and Nikenchaya–Wakita in 1948).
• 19521 October: the municipal operator is reorganised into the Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau (previously the Transport Section from 1933 and Transport Department from 1944).
• 1960Track-bed lowering having begun in fiscal 1959, the track is relocated on the Takenohashi–Arata-hachiman section (28 February down track, 1 March up track) as in-street running is introduced.
• 1979The Usuki-itchōme stop is newly opened on the line.
• 200215 January: ultra-low-floor cars (U-Tram) begin operating on the Kagoshima City Tram network of which the Taniyama Line is part.
• 2018As of this year, lawn greening of the Kagoshima City Tram trackbed is complete except on the dedicated right-of-way between Namida-bashi and Taniyama.
• 20193 July: a landslide near Minami-Kagoshima Station caused by heavy rain suspends the Kōrimoto–Taniyama section; service resumes the following day (17:00 on 4 July).