JR East will begin restoration work on damaged track facilities on the Riku East Line between Naruko-Onsen Station and Shinjo Station in September 2025, where operations have been suspended due to heavy rains in July 2024.
Why did it take so long?
The damage to this section, which spans Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures, was caused by record-breaking rains brought by a rainy season front that stagnated in northern Japan, causing damage such as soil inflow onto the tracks and the collapse of embankments in 19 locations. Buses are still providing replacement transportation, and local governments and economic organizations along the line have strongly requested JR East to resume operations, but a year has passed without any prospect of restoration.
What has prevented restoration is the large-scale soil inflow from the mountain beside the tracks that was confirmed between Semi-Onsen Station and Higashi-Nagasawa Station. As the next heavy rainfall could cause a similar landslide, JR East could not begin to restore railway facilities unless measures to prevent landslides from the surrounding national forests were presented. The Forestry Agency, which manages the forests, finally began emergency erosion control work in May 2025, and is currently building a concrete wall to block the landslide above the source of the stream, which is scheduled for completion around December.
What are the prospects for resuming operations?
Following the start of national construction work, JR East will begin full-scale restoration work in September 2025 on seven affected areas that are expected to have a large impact on third parties if the river floods or landslides occur. This includes the collapse of the embankment beside the river between Usugi Station and Semi-Onsen Station, and the area where the embankment collapsed between Higashi-Nagasawa Station and Nagasawa Station, causing landslides onto the road, and temporary emergency measures have already been completed.
As these construction works progress, restoration work will be started in the other 12 locations, including the embankment collapsed area between Mogami Station and Ohori Station. Of these, the plan is to begin restoration work within the JR lines for the area affected by soil inflow between Semi-Onsen Station and Higashi-Nagasawa Station, taking into account the progress of national construction work. The outlook for the resumption of service will be announced at a later date, depending on the progress of construction work.
