Tosa Kuroshio Railway

Ownership

As of January 2013, shares in the company are owned by Kōchi Prefecture (49.1%), the city of Sukumo (8.3%), the city of Aki (7.3%), the city of Shimanto (6.4%), and Shikoku Bank (4.8%).

Lines

Tosa Kuroshio Railway operates the following three lines.

• Nakamura Line (labeled "TK")
  • — (43.0 km)
• Sukumo Line (labeled "TK")
  • — (23.6 km)
• Asa Line (labeled "GN")
  • The official nickname is Gomen-Nahari Line.
  • — (42.7 km)

Station numbering

Each company station has a unique alphanumeric label that complements the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku) system, designed to assist passengers unfamiliar with the lines, especially at transfer stations. For example, JR Gomen Station's label is "D40", while "GN40" is the label of Tosa Gomen Station.

Rolling stock

As of April 2014, the company owned a fleet of 23 diesel multiple unit cars as shown below.

• 2000 series (1 x 4-car set, identical design to JR Shikoku 2000 series)
• TKT-8000 series single-car units (8 cars, built 1988 to 1999)
• 9640 series single-car units (11 cars, built 2002) ("9640" can be read as "Kuroshio" in Japanese)

History

The Tosa Kuroshio Railway was founded on 8 May 1986 for the purpose of resuming construction of the Sukumo and Asa lines, which had been planned by JNR but abandoned. The company however first took over control of operations on the 43.0 km former JNR Nakamura Line ( to ) from 1 April 1988, as its continued operation was a requisite for opening the Sukumo Line. The company opened the 23.6 km Sukumo Line ( to ) on 1 October 1997, and the 42.7 km Asa Line ( to ) on 1 July 2002.

References

References

1. Takai, Kunpei. (30 June 2014). "全国私鉄超決定版電車・機関車・気動車1700". Sekaibunka-sha.
2. Terada, Hirokazu. (19 January 2013). "データブック日本の私鉄: 全国私鉄165社局掲載". Neko Publishing.