Shiranuka Line

Before the Pacific War, there were plans to develop the northern part of Shiranuka with an east-west line that would have connected Mashū on the Senmō Main Line with Ashoro on the Chihoku Line. In 1952, planning began instead for a line running from south to north in the Charo Valley, which was also listed in the appendix of the revised Railway Construction Law the following year. Along the planned route, there were 64,000 hectares of forest resources and deposits of around 320 million tons of high-quality hard coal. Several mining companies opened mines, but the mined coal had to be transported away by truck, which caused higher costs and made it difficult to increase production.{{Cite book|last=Seishi|first=Moriguchi|title=鉄道未成線を歩く（国鉄編）|publisher=JTB Publishing |location=Tokyo|date=2002|pages=25-27|ISBN=978-4533042089}}

Construction work on the railroad line began in June 1958, but progress was rather slow. On October 7, 1964, the Japan National Railway opened the 25.2 km section from Shiranuka Station to Kami-Charo Station. The mine located there was then able to expand its production capacity to the maximum. Almost all the coal was now transported by rail. {{Cite book |last=Fumihiko |first=Suzuki |title=特定地方交通線の実態と問題を現地に見る 26 白糠線 |number=201 |publisher=Seibidō Shuppan |location=Tokyo |date=1983 |pages=64-69}} However, the planned replacement of rafting by freight trains did not materialize and timber was transported by truck instead. {{Cite book |last=Kiyoshi |first=Chiba |title=わが町の白糠線はバスに転換した |number=11 |publisher=Un'yu Chōsakyoku |location=Tokyo |date=1983 |pages=23-27}} On September 8, 1972, the line was extended by 7.9 km from Kami-Charo to Hokushin. {{Cite book | last=Tetsu Ishino | title=停車場変遷大辞典 国鉄・JR編 (Station change directory JNR/JR) | publisher=JTB Publishing | location=Tokyo | year=1998 | pages=250 | ISBN=4-533-02980-9}}

The original plan was to connect the Shiranuka Line ending in Hokushin with the Aioi Line at Kitami-Aioi, which would have required the construction of a 5.2 km long tunnel, among other things. The corresponding project was approved in August 1967. In the late 1960s, however, the population began to shrink rapidly after several coal mines in the Charo Valley were forced to close. Under these circumstances, the railroad project was no longer profitable and the Ministry of Transport finally abandoned it in 1972.

After the closure of the last mine, the state railroad ceased freight traffic on October 1, 1978 due to a lack of demand. {{Cite book | last=Tetsu |first=Ishino | title=停車場変遷大辞典 国鉄・JR編 (Station Change Directory JNR/JR) | publisher=JTB Publishing | location=Tokyo | year=1998 | pages=251 | ISBN=4- 533-02980-9}} A youth holiday camp provided additional passenger traffic with special trains during the summer season, However, it became apparent that the line would be closed because it had a very low cost recovery ratio outside the season. Based on the law passed in 1980 to restructure the state railway finances, the state railroad and city authorities agreed to replace the railroad line with a bus line. The closure took place on October 23, 1983.

{{Specified local lines}}

Category:Rail transport in Hokkaido

Category:Defunct railroads

Category:Closed railway lines in Japan

Category:1067 mm gauge railways in Japan

Category:Railway lines opened in 1964

Category:Railway lines closed in 1983