en %C5%8Cigawa Railway

Ōigawa Railway
Native name	大井川鐵道
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Transportation
Founded	May 19, 1917; 107 years ago
Headquarters	Shimada, Shizuoka, Japan
Area served	Shizuoka Prefecture
Total equity	212 million yen
Parent	Eclipse Hidaka
Subsidiaries	Incofer; Bluerail
Website	daitetsu.jp

A Class C11 steam locomotive at Senzu Station on the Ōigawa Main Line

Ōigawa Railway (大井川鐵道, Ōigawa Tetsudō) is a railway company in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, which first opened in 1927. The company is commonly known as Daitetsu (大鐵). The company belonged to the Meitetsu Group until 2015, when it was sold to Eclipse Hidaka, a food and hotel company headquartered in Hidaka, Hokkaido.

Operation

The company operates preserved steam locomotives, and has "sister railway" agreements with Brienz Rothorn Railway in Switzerland and Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan. Because of its historical rolling stock and the picturesque scenery, the Ōigawa Main Line is often used for shooting films or TV programs, especially those set in the pre-war period, and has been used as a setting in anime.

Ōigawa Railway's locomotives include five characters from the Thomas & Friends series: Thomas the Tank Engine, Hiro, Percy, James the Red Engine, and Rusty. The locomotives are based at Shin-Kanaya Station.^[1] Thomas runs between Shin-Kanaya Station and Kawaneonsen-Sasamado Station.^[2]

2022 typhoon

In September 2022, the Ōigawa Main Line suffered substantial damage from Tropical Storm Talas. Rail services between Kawane-Onsen Sasamado and Senzu Station were suspended until further notice.^[3] Steam locomotives were changed to only operate between Shin-Kanaya and Kawane-Onsen Sasamado. Ōigawa Railway advises customers intending to travel beyond Ieyama Station to the Ikawa Line, towards Senzu and the Sumata Gorge area, to transfer to Kawanehon Town's community buses at Ieyama Station, which provide connections to Senzu Station.^[4]

Lines

The company operates two 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge railway lines:

Ōigawa Main Line: Kanaya – Senzu
Ikawa Line: Senzu – Ikawa

Both lines function primarily as sightseeing lines. The Ōigawa Main Line is known for its heritage steam trains, while the Ikawa Line is the only rack railway line in existence in Japan.

The company also operates a bus line near Sumatakyō Onsen in the town of Kawanehon.