The JR Hohi Line resumed full operations on Saturday, more than four years after some sections in Kumamoto Prefecture were suspended as a result of the earthquake there in April 2016.
The Hohi Line connects Kumamoto and Oita, two major cities in the Kyushu region. Its return to full operations is expected to help revitalize tourism and local communities -- for residents, a means of commuting to work and school has been restored.
Due to a series of massive landslides caused by the Kumamoto Earthquake, a 27.3-kilometer section between Higo-Ozu Station in Ozu and Aso Station in Aso had been suspended. Restoration cost about 5 billion yen.
Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) paid half the cost, while the central government and Kumamoto Prefecture contributed the rest. With the full resumption of the Hohi Line, all the JR lines that were damaged by the earthquake have been restored.
At a departure ceremony for the "Aso Boy!" tourist train held at Kumamoto Station, prefectural Gov. Ikuo Kabashima said that "Kumamoto was suffering" as a result of heavy rains in July and the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, as well as from the earthquake.
"I hope the opening of the entire line will brighten the future and contribute to the vitalization of tourism and the economy of the prefecture as a whole," Kabashima said.
The Kumamoto quake affected the Hohi Line, the Kyushu Shinkansen Line and the semi-public Minami-aso Railway Co. Minami-Aso Railway aims to reopen its entire line in the summer of 2023.
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