Soy Line

The line was built primarily to connect central Japan with the north of Hokkaido. However, in 1905, after the victory of Japan in the war with Russia , the southern part of Sakhalin , on which Karafuto Prefecture was created , went to Japan. The new line immediately became strategically important - Wakkanai was the port closest to Sakhalin. A ferry service was organized between Wakkanai and Otomari (today Korsakov), the line became transit.

After the defeat of Japan in World War II and the loss of Karafuto, the significance of the line fell. It ran through rural sparsely populated areas, where industrial production and mining were practically absent (with the exception of logging). In addition, the importance of the Wakkanai port as a cargo port fell; transshipment of cargo at Wakkanai station ceased by the end of the 1970s. By the mid-1990s, all lines adjacent to the Soy line north of Sin Asahikawa were closed.

• 08/12/1898: Hokkaido Government Railway commissioned the Tesio line (天 塩 線Tesio sen ) (I) Asahikawa-Nagayama.
• 11/25/1898: Line extended to Ranru.
• 11/15/1899: Line extended to Wassam.
• 08/05/1900: Line extended to Sibetsu.
• 09/03/1900: Line extended to Nayoro.
• 04/01/1905: The line was transferred to the Imperial Railways of Japan.
• 11/03/1911: Line extended to Onnenaya.
• 09.21.1912: The Tesio (I) line has been renamed the Soy Line ( Japanese 宗 谷 線 so: I sen ) .
• 11/05/1912: Line extended to Otoineppu.
• 10.20.1919: The Soya line was renamed the Main line of Soya ( Japanese. 谷 本 線 so: I am Honsen ) .
• 10/05/1921: The line was renamed back to the Soy Line.
• 11/01/1922: The Otoineppu-Hama-Tombetsu-Wakkanai (later Minami-Wakkanai) section was opened, which later became the Tempoku line.
• 11/04/1922: The line was renamed back to the Soy Main Line.
• 11/08/1922: A section of the Tesio (II) Otoineppu-Pompira line (Tesio-Nakagawa) was discovered.
• 05/01/1923: The railway ferry Vakkanai - Otomari (Korsakov) was opened.
• 11/10/1923: Tesio line extended to Toykambetsu.
• 06/25/1924: The northern line of Tesio (天 塩 北 線tesio hokusen ) is open between Wakkanai and Kabutonuma. The Tesio Line is renamed the Tesio South Line (天 塩 南 線Tesio Nansen ).
• 07.20.1925: The south line of Theshio is extended to Horonobe.
• 09/25/1926: The north and south lines of Tesio are connected, the new line is called the Tesio line (天 塩 線Tesio sen ) (II).
• 12/26/1928: The section Wakkanai - Wakkanai-Minato (port) was opened.
• 04/01/1930: The Tesio line was transferred to the Soy line. The old Otoineppu – Hama-Tombetsu – Wakkanai route became the new Kitami line (北 見 線whales sen ), which later became the Tempoku line (天 北 線tempoku-sen ).
• 10/01/1938: Converting a ferry to a railway ferry, with the possibility of wagon transportation.
• 02/01/1939: The Wakkanai-Minato station was renamed Wakkanai, the old Wakkanai station was renamed Minami-Wakkanai.
• 08/24/1945: With the arrival of the Soyamaru ferry to Wakkanai, the Wakkanai - Otomari ferry crossing was terminated due to the occupation of the latter by Soviet troops and the subsequent transfer of the former Karafuto prefecture to the Soviet Union .
• 07/15/1965: The Shimodaira tunnel was opened, the line was rescheduled. Thus, the danger of avalanches is reduced.
• 11/10/1984: Auto-lock was put into operation, ticket sales were automated at 29 stations.
• 11/01/1986: Dispatch centralization was introduced, personnel were removed from the above stations.
• 04/01/1987: Privatization of the Japanese National Railways , the Hokkaido Railway Company gained control over the entire Soya line in category 1 (ownership of infrastructure), Japan Freight Railway Company - in category 2 (lease of tracks) between Asahikawa and Nayero.
• 03.2000: Reconstruction of the Asahikawa - Nayoro section. Super Soya Express launched .

Today, the line is mainly passenger communication. Local trains, Sarobetsu express train and Super Soya express train run . Freight traffic is only between Asahikawa and Nayero.

Russia has repeatedly proposed a project to build a tunnel between Sakhalin and Hokkaido under the Laperouse Strait . After the construction of the Sakhalin-mainland tunnel, such a tunnel will allow Japan to be connected with the Eurasian railway network and thus open the land route to Europe for Japanese goods. With the implementation of this project, the Soya line will again become a transit line. However, at the moment, interest in the Russian proposal in Japan is small due to its high cost, as well as the presence of a competing tunnel project between Japan and Korea . In addition, the Japanese gauge of rolling stock is already significantly European and Russian, which will make it impossible for foreign cars to pass through the tunnels of the Soya line without restructuring it.

The Soya line, especially its section north of Nayero, where there is no freight traffic, is unprofitable - the passenger traffic on it is less than 2000 passengers / km. In 2016, the Hokkaido Railway Company reported an expected record loss of ¥ 44 billion. To reduce costs, it is planned to rationalize (close or increase operating subsidies) almost half of the company's lines by 2020. If, by this time, JR Hokkaido is unable to reach an agreement with local governments on additional subsidies to maintain communications, the section of the Soya Nayero-Wakkanai line may be closed.