HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--Around 200 people were allowed to walk along a relocated section of the JR Senseki Line that was heavily damaged by the tsunami in 2011.
HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--Around 200 people were allowed to walk along a relocated section of the JR Senseki Line that was heavily damaged by the tsunami in 2011.
Once the section is reopened, East Japan Railway Co. will resume full services on the line connecting Aobadori and Ishinomaki stations, both in Miyagi Prefecture, on May 30. Operations for 12 kilometers of the line were suspended because of damage caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
The railway walkers who made a round trip on a 1.5-km segment of the line on March 29 were chosen by lottery.
Yoshiyuki Tomono joined the event with his 8-year-old grandson, whose mother died in the tsunami.
“(Full operations) will make it easier for me to go with him to a department store in Sendai,” said Tomono, a 74-year-old resident of Higashi-Matsushima. “It’s a step further toward reconstruction.”
The participants could see the extent of the rebuilding effort of the section that connects Tona and Nobiru stations. The 1.5-km segment is part of 3.5 km of the railway that has been relocated to reclaimed land about 500 meters closer to the mountainside.