HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--The tsunami-hit JR Senseki Line is gearing up to resume full operations next month after a trial run was held April 21 on a previously damaged section of track.
HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--The tsunami-hit JR Senseki Line is gearing up to resume full operations next month after a trial run was held April 21 on a previously damaged section of track.
Operator East Japan Railway Co. gave media representatives a ride on a segment of the line that has been off-limits to passengers since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It allowed reporters to glimpse the area's rebuilding.
The line will resume full service on May 30.
The section that has undergone repair runs 12 kilometers between Takagi-machi Station in Matsushima and Rikuzen-Ono Station in Higashi-Matsushima, both in Miyagi Prefecture.
Part of the section has now been relocated from a coastal area to reclaimed higher ground about 500 meters closer to the mountains.
About 34 km, or two-thirds of the Senseki Line, which connects the prefectural capital of Sendai with the coastal city of Ishinomaki, was destroyed in the disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The service has been gradually resuming.