The Tenhama Line
The Tenryu Hamanako Line (天竜浜名湖線), known locally as the “Tenhama” Line (天浜線) is one of several rural lines in Shizuoka Prefecture which should be explored. It is operated by the private railway company Tenryu Hamanako Railway (天竜浜名湖鉄道). It is 67.7km (42miles) in length.
The Tenhama Line runs in an arc that takes you over the Tenryū River and skirts the northern side of Lake Hamana (Hamanako 浜名湖). It is mainly rural, although there are some pockets of industrialization.
This line is of interest to both rail fans and tourists who want to explore rural Japan and Shizuoka Prefecture in particular.
See the Travel Information section below for more information on how to get there etc..
Built as an alternative route to the Tokaido Main line…
The line was built by Japan National Railways (JNR), the predecessor of the JR rail companies and was called the Futamata Line. It partially opened in 1935 and fully opened in 1940. Its purpose was to provide an alternative route for the Tokaido Main Line. This was because the part of the Tokaido Main Line that cross the Hamana Lake close to the Pacific Ocean was vulnerable to bad weather
But in the end served only local traffic…
In reality apart from some periods in 1944 & 1945 due to war and earthquake damage, it never acted as a real diversion of the Tokaido Main Line, and just served local traffic (including some freight up till 1984).
It was never electrified and today is operated by Diesel rail cars. When JNR was privatized in 1987, it was taken over by the newly incorporated third sector railway company Tenryu Hamanako Tetsudo.
Interesting stations and other structures…
The railway has many “tangible cultural properties of Japan” including stations, bridges and the locomotive round house at the Futamata Depot.
Hamana Lake (Hamanako), Tenryū River and rice paddies and tea plantations…
As already mentioned the Tenhama Line passes over the Tenryū River and passes by the northern side of Hamana Lake. The area is famous for green tea (as is the whole of Shizuoka Prefecture) and Unagi (fried eel).
You can read more about the Tenryu Hamanako Railway and the area it runs through in this article in Highlighting Japan (July 2019)
Along the route, and beside the Hamana Lake, there is this interesting site (old semaphore signals).
and for rail fans…
Tenryu Hamanako Railway operate a fleet of 15 diesel rail cars, each with their own livery. In order to raise extra money, the company has sold sponsorship rights for some of its trains.
The depot is at Futamata, close to the station. On some days the company operates a special train from the station to the depot and back where passengers can see the depot’s locomotive round house and turntable. The Locomotive round house is one of the Tangible Cultural Assets owned by the company.
(note: today the company does not have any locomotives but the round house is used for its diesel cars)
At Tenryu Futamata station, you can see two old cars. One a KiHa20 series diesel rail car was used on the Line. It was intended that this car would be one of the exhibits at a planned railway park at Futamata, but unfortunately this never happened. There is also a former blue train car ナハネ(NaHaNe)20 which was also going to be one of the exhibits.
To learn more see the Tenryu Hamanako Tetsudo website.
Travel Information
How to get there…
As already mentioned the Tenhama Line connects with the JR Tokaido Line at both ends. At Kakegawa, you can also connect with the Tokaido Shinkansen (although only Kodama services stop at Kakegawa). At the other end, Shinjohara, by taking the Tokaido Main Line two stops to Toyohashi you can connect to the Tokaido Shinkansen (Kodama and Hikari services). Kakegawa is served by local Tokaido Main Line services from Shizuoka and Hamamatsu and Shinjohara from Hamamatsu and Toyohashi (with some services going further). You can also connect with the Ensyu Line at Nishi Kajima for services to central Hamamatsu (Shin Hamamatsu).
To travel the length of the Tenhama Line takes about 2 hours. Some trains only operate between Kakegawa~Tenryu Futamata but for most of the day there is at least an hourly service throughout the line.
More information can be got from the Tenryu Hamanako Tetsudo website (in English and other languages). This site also has many ideas for places to visit and things to do!
JR Rail Passes are not valid on the Tehama Line itself, but the Tenryu Hamanako Railway does have a one day pass which will save you money if you are getting on or off en route or will travel on most of the line in both directions. Another ticket to consider is the The JR Tokai & 16 Private Rail Company Travel ticket which is a weekend pass, valid for 2 consecutive days (except during the new year, golden week and Obon holiday periods). this ticket is valid on a number of other private railways in Shizuoka Prefecture (and Aichi, Mie & Gifu Prefectures) as well as JR Tokai services
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