Winter on the Ōito Line
The Ōito Line runs from Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture to Itoigawa on the coast in Niigata Prefecture. It avoids the city of Nagano, running some 50 km west through the famous ski resort of Hakuba which hosted the downhill skiing events during the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. At Minami Otari, the 1500v DC electrification ends and is also the boundary between JR East & JR West operating areas.
Our selection from Billy Bunda this month come from his visit to the line on the 30th December 2023.
All Photos: Billy Bunda.
Azusa 546 provides a convenient service from Shinjuku all the way to Minami Otari station, which connects to the JR West part of the Ōito line.
JR West Kiha 120 329 provides one of the roughly two hourly services from Minami Otari to Itoigawa.
During winter season the Hybrid Resort Train HB-E 300 from Nagano depot provides additional weekend service from Matsumoto to Hakuba, here seen at Yanaba.