Takagimachi Station

Transcription

Touring Various Stations Series No.59 Takagimachi station on the JR Senseki line is located at Matsushima Town in Miyagi Prefecture, which is famous for the beautiful Matsushima islands, one of the three most scenic spots in Japan. As of July 2014, Takagimachi station is a provisional terminal on the side of Sendai because a partial section between Takagimachi and Rikuzen-Ono on the JR Senseki line has been suspended since the 3.11 catastrophic earthquake in 2011. The station has a daily ridership of 1,167 passengers in 2013. I took the scenery of station, environs, and trains at the station. Takagimachi station has a small residence-style station building with gabled roof. The station is along some narrow pathways and there is no large space such as station plaza or rotary. There are some small stores, vending machines and taxi parking area. The lavatory is not in the station but on the side of building separately. There are a vending machine and 5 seats in the small waiting space. Takagimachi is in the area where passengers can use Suica (JR East’s rechargeable contactless smart card) service. The 2 automatic ticket machines are compatible with Suica. The seal on the route map shows sections of interrupted railway service and replacement bus service. The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11th March, 2011, caused extensive damage of the Senseki line due to its destructive shaking and tsunami. Whole section of the line was forced to be interrupted. However, the Senseki line has resumed its service from the relatively minimal damaged section. First, the section between Aobadori and Kozurushinden resumed on 28th March, 2011, 2 weeks after the earthquake. Whole section was re-interrupted on 7th April, 2011, when very strong afterquake occurred. But the section between Aobadori and Kozurushinden resumed on 15th April, 2011. Once again. The section between Kozurushinden and Higashi-Shiogama resumed on 19th April, 2011. This means double track route on the Senseki line resumed completely. The section between Higashi-Shiogama and Takagimachi resumed on 28th May, 2011. The section between Ishinomaki and Yamoto resumed on 16th July, 2011. This is the first resumed section on the east side of the Senseki line. However, the service has been operated by diesel multiple unit because tsunami hit the electric substation equipment. The section between Yamoto and Rikuzen-Ono resumed on 17th March, 2012. So the section between Takagimachi and Rikuzen-Ono is interrupted as of July, 2014. The number of upbound trains for Sendai is 34 every day. There are 1 to 3 trains every hour. There are no sign on the timetable of downbound train for Ishinomaki. Instead of railway time schedule, there is an information of replacement bus service on it. There are some railway staff who inspect ticket when train arrives but there is no ticket office at Takagimachi station. There are simplified automatic Suica ticket gates at the wicket. Passengers using Suica touch to the surface of read sensor of the gates when they go through the wicket. Passengers using paper ticket and getting off at Takagimachi station need to give the tickets to station staff or put them in this box. The station building and platform are connected by the sing. The station has a narrow platform with 2 tracks. The length of platform is just only 4-car long. Passengers need to push the button by the train when they board. White seal hide “Tetaru”, the east neighboring station name of Takagimachi, on the old station nameboard. There is no “Tetaru” sign on the new station nameboard. The sign will be showed by seal after the interrupted section resumes. The narrower waiting room on the narrow platform has 3 seats. I wish this white seal is torn off as soon as possible thanks to resume of whole section. There are grassy rails on the side of Ishinomaki but they are in good condition as if train is running on it. So I don’t feel this station is terminal even if this situation is provisional. The interrupted section (between Takagimachi and Rikuzen-Ono) of the Senseki line is different from and the shorter than the section of replacement bus service (Matsushimakaigan and Yamoto). It takes about 600 meters long and 7 minutes on foot from the railway station to the replacement bus stop corresponding to Takagimachi station. The number of replacement bus from Matsushimakaigan to Yamoto is 20 and one from Yamoto to Matsushimakaigan is 19 every day. There are 1 to 2 buses every hour. If passengers use railway route via the replacement bus, they can use Suica and railway ticket. If passengers use only the replacement bus, they cannot use Suica and need to have cash available. The mark of Takagimachi bus stop for Yamoto is the Matsushima Town Culture and Tourism Community Center, while one for Matsushimakaigan is the hotel. In principle, the schedule of replacement bus corresponds to train arrival time at Matushimakaigan station or Yamoto station. When bus is late, train don’t make connections. When the number of travelers increases, the service sometimes operates by more than one bus. But passengers left behind need to wait for next bus. So if you use these services, you should allow enough time for the connecting buses. The interrupted section between Rikuzen-Otsuka and Rikuzen-Ono suffered extensive damage from the 3.11 earthquake especially. Not only tracks but station buildings and trains flowed out. This is why the railway route changes to about 500 meter inland in parallel with the settlement transfer to the heights. From the window of replacement bus, we can see new elevated rail for new route inland. As of July, 2014, whole section of the Senseki line is going to resume in 2015. At the same time as disaster-relief work, building operations of interconnect line to the parallel Tohoku main line is under way at the section between Matsushimakaigan and Takagimachi. From train window, we can see the work that the former connection rail for construction traffic was removed and new interconnect line is creating. New train linked directly Sendai and Ishinomaki via the interconnect line will starts its service in 2015. Not electric train but new hybrid diesel multiple unit will be used as the direc train because the Senseki line electrified on DC but the Tohoku main line electrified on AC. The complete Senseki line will be coming back soon.