The is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese railway line between Katsuta

Katsuta Station

is a train station in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.- Lines :*East Japan Railway Company**Jōban Line*Hitachinaka Kaihin Railway**Minato Line- Adjacent stations :...

 and Ajigaura

Ajigaura Station

is a train station in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.- Adjacent stations :...

, all within Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

is a city located in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 155,354 and a population density of 1,570 persons per km²...

. This is the only railway line operates. The railway company took over operation of the line on April 1, 2008 from Ibaraki Kōtsū.

The line is variously referred to as , , or .

Minato Line was the only railway line of Ibaraki Kōtsū, or Ibakō, whose main business was bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 transport. Because of the severe business condition, Ibaraki Kōtsū decided to withdraw from the railway operation. In September 2007, Ibaraki Kōtsū and Hitachinaka City agreed to transfer the line to a third sector (funded jointly by local government and private sector) company, later incorporated as Hitachinaka Seaside Railway.

Basic data

• Distance: 14.3 km (ca. 8.9 mi.)
• Gauge
  Rail gauge
  Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
  
  : 1,067 mm (3 ft. 6 in.)
• Stations: 9
• Track: single
• Electric supply: None
• Railway signalling
  Railway signalling
  Railway signalling is a system used to control railway traffic safely, essentially to prevent trains from colliding. Being guided by fixed rails, trains are uniquely susceptible to collision; furthermore, trains cannot stop quickly, and frequently operate at speeds that do not enable them to stop...
  
  : Automatic
• Yard
  Classification yard
  A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...
  
  : Nakaminato Station

Stations

Name		Between (km)	Distance (km)	Passengers per day	Connections	Location
	勝田	-	0.0		JR East: Jōban Line Joban Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company . It begins at Nippori Station in Taitō, Tokyo and follows the Pacific coasts of Chiba, Ibaraki, and Fukushima Prefectures before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, Miyagi...	Hitachinaka Hitachinaka, Ibaraki is a city located in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 155,354 and a population density of 1,570 persons per km²... Ibaraki Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. The capital is Mito.-History:Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province...
	日工前	0.6	0.6	6
	金上	1.2	1.8	116
	中根	3.0	4.8	8
	那珂湊	3.4	8.2	508
	殿山	1.4	9.6	196
	平磯	1.2	10.8	146
	磯崎	2.5	13.3	93
	阿字ヶ浦	1.0	14.3	39