JR West will carry out a demonstration project to operate special trains on weekends and holidays from July 2025 on the Geibi Line between Bitchu-Kojiro Station and Bingo-Shobara Station, which has particularly low passenger numbers.
Verification by the nation’s first “reconstruction council”
The section, which runs through mountainous areas straddling the border between Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, has an average daily passenger volume of 20 people in some section and 80 people in other sections in fiscal 2023, which is extremely low among local lines nationwide, and is a decrease of about 90% compared to 1987 when JR was established. JR West requested discussions on a sustainable transportation system with Okayama Prefecture, Hiroshima Prefecture, and two cities along the line (Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture, and Shobara City, Hiroshima Prefecture), and the nation’s first reconstruction council based on the revised Regional Transportation Act was established in January 2024.
The council has so far conducted surveys of residents and visitors along the line and interviews with local organizations, and will use the results to come up with ideas and conduct a demonstration project to verify the economic effects on the region. There are no regular trains on this section between 10:00 and 12:00, when tourists are most likely to use the service, so a special train will fill the gap in the timetable and run one round trip on each of the two sections bordering Bingo-Ochiai Station (Shobara City) for a total of 45 days on weekends and holidays from July 19 (Sat) to November 24 (Mon, national holiday).
Residents along the line want “evening” trains
The special train will depart Niimi Station (Niimi City) at 10:24 (10:29 on August 17 (Sun)) and arrive at Bingo-Ochiai Station at 11:57 (12:02 on August 17 (Sun)), then turn around and return from Bingo-Ochiai Station (departing at 12:20) to Niimi Station (arriving at 13:58). Meanwhile, from Hiroshima Station, the Rapid “Shobara Liner” service (departing Hiroshima Station at 9:07) will run to Bingo-Ochiai Station (arriving at 11:54) as an extended version of the regular rapid train that terminates at Miyoshi Station, and also will run directly from Bingo-Ochiai Station (departing at 12:08) to Hiroshima Station (arriving at 15:09) without transfers. The special train will use Kiha 120 series vehicles (one car on the Niimi side, two cars on the Hiroshima side), and passengers can transfer between the special trains at Bingo-Ochiai Station in both directions.
Cities along the line plan to operate secondary transportation such as jumbo taxis to coincide with the arrival of the special trains, and to hold events around stations, in order to establish tourism on the Geibi Line. At the same time, the council also plans to examine setting trains for evening hours, which are highly requested by residents along the line, and JR West will announce the details as soon as they are decided. The cost of these timetable improvements, approximately 46 million yen, is expected to be approved at the fourth council meeting to be held in July, and it is estimated that the result will be an economic ripple effect of 81 million yen in the local area.
