The Kinuura Rinkai Railway operates an 11,6Km-long network formed of two unconnected lines, the 3,4Km-long Handa Line and the 8,2Km-long Hekinan Line, both serving the port of Kinuura in Mikawa bay, some 25 Km south of Nagoya. The company was founded in 1971, jointly by JNR and the Aichi Prefectural Gorvernment, and on the 15th of November 1975, the first line, the Handa Line, opened for businness, branching off from JNR’s Taketoyo Line at Higashi-Narawa Station. On the 25th of May 1977, the Hekinan Line opened as well, branching off the Taketoyo Line too, but at Higashiura Station instead.

The railway’s main purpose is to carry cement, fly ash and calcium carbonate to and from the port, using a fleet of hopper and tank cars. In more recent years, the Kinuura Rinkai Railway began to transport containers as well. To run these services, the Kinuura Rinkai Railway owns a fleet of four KE65 diesel locomotives (derived from JNR’s DE10s) split 50-50 between the two lines. The railway used to have also a small-size DD35 shunter as well until 1991, when it was retired and scrapped.

Diesel locomotives