Traveling Across the Ōu Mountian Range on Japan's Experimental Senzan Railway Line

Join me for a trip on the Senzan Line this week, as we cross over the Ōu Mountain range on Japan's first railway line to receive AC electrification. It's a stunning journey through Japan's lesser-known rural railways, so join me for an interesting journey.
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Train type: JR EAST E721
Route: Yamagata to Sendai (Senzan line)
Train: 12:01 Yamagata to Sendai RAPID
Distance: 63 km
Journey time: 1h20m
Average speed: 47 km/h
Price: 1170 yen or 7 €

[@NickBurman]

The Senzan line had an interesting electrification story. The middle section (Sakunami - Yamadera) was electrified originally at 1500V DC because the summit tunnel was too long for steam operation. Trains either switched locomotives at either station or in some cases were dragged complete with their steam locomotives through the tunnel, the steamers having their fires banked beforehand. Before it was completely switched to AC it was also a bit of a railfan haven, as JNR assigned it several of its early imported electric locomotives, cascaded from the Tokaido line due to increased train loads and larger locos. Thus, a gaggle of locos built by GE, Baldwin-Westinghouse, English Electric and Brown Boveri alternated on the task of towing trains through the tunnel. If you think anything over 2h on commuter train seats is tough, try Toyohashi to Okaya (and on to Matsumoto over the Chuo Line) on the Iida Line... it's something like 6 to 7h on a similar train if you travel local all the way. When I did it, I took an express from Toyohashi to Iida, which lopped about an hour from running times, then changed to a local. It was still a 4h journey to Matsumoto, though... ouch my posterior.

[@himbourbanist]

This is a really interesting line. The train cars themselves are laid out almost like a metro train car would be, but the line makes limited stops in an express pattern (I believe that's what they're referring to as 'rapid') and covers distances that are more in line with a Regional Rail type service. Plus it's single-tracked with passing sidings through the mountains. I see why they ended up upgrading portions of this track to the 'mini-shinkansen' services, but getting the track through the mountains alone is an impressive feat of engineering.

[@mihaelverk9507]

Seattle's Best Coffee LLC might have some issues with your claims :D

[@SpotterCrazyperson]

Great video!

[@tdb7992]

Great video Simon. I'm always amazed by your knowledge on trains. I'm also incredibly jealous of your travels around the world to ride on trains! 😂 Did you enjoy your time here in Australia?

[@Simon-Andersen]

I had a great time in Australia, i wish i had time to explore more than just Sydney and Melbourne! Hope to come back and also hop over to New Zealand at some point

[@DodoGTA]

63 km/h is definitely an interesting distance 😅

[@Simon-Andersen]

fixed thanks!

[@hypatiatv421]

Hey Simon, in Serbia will soon be opened new high speed rail BELGRADE- BUDAPEST. Serbian railways bought 5 new STADLER KISS trains and 5 new CHINESE HIGH SPEED TRAINS. You are welcome to Serbia, it vould be nice to see your opinion about SOKO service. SOKO-HAWK is the name of service which operates on line Belgrade-Novi Sad-Budapest.

[@Simon-Andersen]

I'm looking forward to coming back to Serbia at some point 😁

[@hypatiatv421]

@@Simon-Andersen I am wrong about KISS trains. 2 new KISS trains, you alredy do video about them(SERBIAN RAILWAYS alredy have 3 units of KISS trains). 5 or 7 new CRRC trains, 200km per hoour. And 18 new STADLER FLIRT 4 trains. It is improvement compared to the last contingent of 35 STADLER FLIRT 2. FLIRT 4 has 2xWC, better more comfortable seats and looks litle bit different. Rail line wil be completely finished in Decembr but serbian part mutch earlier, i belive. And will be opened. At the moment, some austrian locomotives tests the rail.Sorry because of awful English.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

I've been back from 🗾since yesterday and I already miss it. I'm thinking more and more about crossing Japan by regional train next year after already having done almost all Shinkansen lines. I think it will make for an interesting trip to travel Between Kagoshima and Sapporo by local and regional trains instead of Shinkansen and while it will take multiple days, It will still be cheaper than a rail pass 😁

[@ramairturbine4326]

This might be the first time a Japanese commuter rail line has been reviewed on KZbin, cool! 新庄 is pronounced Shin-joe. Otherwise the pronunciation was all on point🔥

[@aidenvloggingltd]

Can we have an update on Aalborg plusbus please

[@Simon-Andersen]

Maybe next time I'm in Aalborg anyway

[@timbounds7190]

I haven't got my head round Japanese electrification systems yet! The Shinkansen are 25kv AC, but the suburban trains in Tokyo are 1500V DC, aren't they? So how many lines outside of the cities are DC and which are AC?

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Interesting question, and Wikipedia has an entire lemma devoted to this topic it seems: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_electrification_in_Japan . It looks like there is choice for everybody in Japan

[@Simon-Andersen]

Lots of variation, I can't even comprehend! The article Hans sent seem like a good starting point

[@lzh4950]

Looks like _Shinkansen_ are all 25kV DC, while normal-speed railways in less rural areas are 1.5kV DC (except some subway lines that use 3rd rail instead e.g. Nagoya, Osaka & Tokyo metro's 2 oldest lines), while normal-speed railways in more rural areas e.g. Fukuoka/Hakata-Nagasaki, northern Honshu/Tohoku region use 20kV AC instead (I guess the Chuo line is still considered not as rural as Tohoku, that's why it uses 1.5kV DC). Oh & electricity runs at 60Hz west of Tokyo but 50Hz elsewhere

[@nose10620]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@paulthiel5145]

Confused: how would you know the toilet was "fully functional" by only peeking through the door for 3 seconds? 😆

[@Simon-Andersen]

I can't😆. I used the toilet myself, but i don't think youtube would approve of that kind of footage 😆

[@paulthiel5145]

@@Simon-Andersen 🤣👍🏻

[@alexjenkins1079]

Wonder how cold it was in the mountains compared to in both Yamagata and Sendai In the 30s maybe?

[@juliansmith4295]

Ahhh, Fahrenheit. I was really confused for a minute.

[@Simon-Andersen]

Was about freezing in the mountains with it being around 13-15C in the cities

[@BsBsBock]

That many face masks are disgusting😭😭😭

[@ramairturbine4326]

it's flu season waddya expect

[@valiant8730]

You can't bear tree pollen and Gobi desert dusts.

[@juliansmith4295]

@@ramairturbine4326 Coming from someone whose name starts with BSBS, we can't expect much.

[@samtrak1204]

"Staffed" ticket office. "Manned" ticket office is politically taboo in the good old USA.

[@lzh4950]

Think all gate lines have to be staffed to so that they can check JR Rail passes that might've been bought by foreign tourists, as they aren't readable by the ticket machines