Aki Coastal Line

The Aki Coastal Line is a railway line in southern Ōshima, Yamatai, within the provinces Mizuho and Yamashiro. The line carries both freight and passenger trains. The line is primarily operated and maintained by the South Ōshima Rail Corporation (NanŌ), though YNR Freight operates the freight trains on the line, as with all national freight trains.

The 125-kilometer line follows the northern coast of the Aki Strait, connecting Kobayashi Station in Kobayashi with Kita-Takase Station in Takase. The Aki Coastal Line primarily serves the rural communities along the coastline, which are largely bypassed by the Eastern Ōshima Shinkyuko that cuts inland through the Mizuho Plain.

There are 48 stations on the line. Most of the train services on the Aki Coastal Line are local train services and some "one man car" services traveling along sections of the track to connect coastal cities and towns, and only freight trains and the "Weekend Coast Run" trains regularly utilise the entire length of the track. Weekend Coast Run trains are marketed as lower-cost but slower alternatives to the Shinkyuko, and use the iconic NanŌ Type-1000 "Red Train".

History
Construction on the Aki Coastal Line began in 1900. The line was officially opened in 1909, and until the construction of the Shinkyuko it was the primary means of rail transportation connecting the larger cities in southern Ōshima for over 70 years. The line was one of many sold to private companies during the privatisation of Yamatai Imperial Railways in 1956, and NanŌ took over ownership of the line.

After the opening of the Eastern Ōshima Shinkyuko in 1983, ridership of city-to-city express services declined, and such services were increasingly suspended. Today, only the Weekend Coast Run service remains.

In 2010, NanŌ introduced contactless payment options to their stations.

In 2017, Bishō Station, a wooden structure built in 1906, collapsed during a heavy storm. 4 people were injured and all traffic on the local service between Ono and Mikawa was halted. This prompted an inquiry into the safety of some of the older stations on the line, as well as the preservation of these stations as historical monuments.