The Hakone Tozan Line (箱根登山鉄道線) is a mountain railway in Japan operated by Odakyu Hakone, a Odakyu Group company that also owns the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. The section of the line from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station began operating in 1919, with the current terminus of Gōra being reached in 1930. Since 2006, only Odakyū Odawara Line trains run on the section from Odawara Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station, as that section was converted from dual-gauge (standard and narrow) to just narrow-gauge. From Gora, travelers can continue up the mountain on the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. The railway is capable of climbing one meter vertically for every 12.5 m of horizontal distance, with a maximum gradient of 8%. The line traverses Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, so the line was carefully designed to limit the impact on the scenery. Due to the difficult topography, the line has three switchbacks used to ascend particularly steep sections. The section of the line between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora was suspended in October 2019 due to heavy damage caused by Typhoon Hagibis. On 9 July 2020, after repairs had been completed, test trains began running over the line and full service was restored two weeks later on 23 July.

Description

Stations

All stations are in Kanagawa.

Signal stops

There are three signal stops on the Hakone Tozan Line in addition to the regular passenger stations. All of them have a siding track and two of them have switchbacks.

Deyama Switchback

Signal stop with a switchback. 234 m AMSL. 35.2324°N, 139.08717°W

Kami-Ōhiradai Switchback

Signal stop with a switchback near Ōhiradai station which also has a switchback. 359 m AMSL. 35.2356°N, 139.07544°W

Sennindai Signal Stop

Signal stop without a switchback. 410 m AMSL. 35.23821°N, 139.06904°W

Rolling stock

Hakone Tozan Railway (Hakone-Yumoto - Gōra)

All trains are based at Iriuda Depot.

Former

Odakyu Electric Railway (Shinjuku - Odawara - Hakone-Yumoto)

Romancecar EMUs

Commuter EMUs

History

Microsoft Train Simulator

This route appears in Microsoft Train Simulator complete with scenarios simulating prototypical operation (Only from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto).