Sanyō Railway

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Not to be confused with Sanyō Electric Railway.

The Sanyō Railway (山陽鉄道, San'yō-tetsudō^?) was established in 1887 and served as a major railroad company during the Meiji period in Japan. The railroad was headquartered in Kobe, and Nakamigawa Hikojirō served as head of the railroad.^[1]

1 Rail lines
2 Steamship
3 Nationalization
4 References

[edit] Rail lines

The first rail line opened in 1888. By 1894, the Sanyō Railway had been extended west, along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, from Kobe to Hiroshima.^[2] The railroad was later extended to Shimonoseki. The Sanyō Main Line connected with the Tōkaidō Main Line in Kobe, and the Kyushu Railway at Moji. In 1904, the 330 mile trip from Kobe to Shimonoseki took 11 hours.^[3] An express train from Kobe to Hiroshima took 8 1/2 hours, travelling 189 miles.^[4] The Sanyō Shinkansen largely runs parallel to the Sanyō Main Line, with the trip from Shin-Kobe to Hiroshima Station now taking under 1 1/2 hours.^[5]

[edit] Steamship

Sanyō also operated steamship service, from Shimonoseki to Busan in Korea.^[6] Sanyō Railway also operated a ferry from Miyajimaguchi Station, which opened on September 25, 1897, to Itsukushima (Miyajima).

[edit] Nationalization

The railroad was nationalized in 1906, under the Railway Nationalization Act.

[edit] References

^ Yui, Tsunehiko (Spring, 1970). "The Personality and Career of Hikojiro Nakamigawa, 1887-1901". The Business History Review 44(1): pp. 39–61.
^ Kosaikai, Yoshiteru (2007). "History of Hiroshima", Hiroshima Peace Reader. Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation.
^ Nippon Yusen Kaisha (1904). Handbook of Information for Shippers and Passengers. Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
^ Chamberlain, Basil Hall ,W. B. Mason (1899). A Handbook for Travellers in Japan: Including the Whole Empire from Yezo to Formosa. Kelly & Walsh.
^ Shinkansen. Japan Railways Group. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
^ Mason, Herbert B. (1908). Encyclopaedia of Ships and Shipping. The Shipping Encyclopedia.