Examples of Railroads and Roads Sharing Structures First, we would like to introduce a rare example of a railroad and a road sharing the same tunnel. This is the Shin-Gojyugawa Tunnel, located in the Tsuruoka side of Iragawa Station on the Hetsu Main Line. It is close enough to be seen from the station, but one has to make a slightly larger detour to reach the tunnel. This tunnel was built when the upstream track was newly constructed on the mountain side of the Hetsu Main Line when the line was double-tracked. Half of the north side (sea side) is a track, and the other half is a road, leading to a temple on the mountain side of Gojyugawa Station. If there is shared use of tunnels, there is likely to be shared use of bridges, but this is one of the many examples of “what existed in the past”. One of the older examples was the Futago Bridge, where the Tokyu Denentoshi Line and National Route 246 were co-located. Looking at old photos, you would be surprised to see a big train running over the road (and a single track). It is a bottleneck no matter how you look at it, but a new Denentoshi Line bridge was built on the south side to eliminate the co-location. There was also the Inuyama Bridge, which was shared by the Nagoya Railroad Inuyama Line and the Kasugai-Kakamigahara Line on Prefectural Road No. 27. Only the road was relocated by constructing a new road bridge, and the old bridge continues to be used exclusively by the railroad. The pavement has been removed, but there are still remnants of the road. A similar example that existed until relatively recently was the famous Murayama Bridge shared by the Nagano Electric Railway Nagano Line and National Route 406. The bridge was completely rebuilt in the form of a road bridge and a railroad bridge installed separately, and the old bridge no longer exists. However, there is a “Murayama Bridge Memorial Park” on the east side of the bridge, where visitors can reminisce about the old days. It is not far on foot from Murayama Station.
Mole station whose platform is in a tunnel If it were merely a “station in a tunnel,” there would be a subway station. However, it is natural that a subway station should be in a tunnel. A station with a “subway” sign even though it is an elevated station would be a better story, but such stations are not that rare. Therefore, the definition of a mole station is “a station entirely inside a mountain tunnel. There have been many cases where a station has run into a tunnel when a platform was extended, but there are few cases where a station was built inside a mountain tunnel from the beginning. One famous example from the past is Tsutsuishi Station on the Hokuriku Main Line (now part of the Echigo Tokimeki Railway and Nihonkai Hisui Line). When the Hokuriku Main Line was double-tracked, the tracks were relocated to a mountainous area and tunneled through to avoid damage from natural disasters. As a result, the relocated Tsutsuishi Station was placed inside the tunnel. However, Tsutsuishi Station is not the only mole station. Yunishigawa Onsen Station on the Noiwa Railway and Aizu Kinugawa Line is located close to the Tokyo metropolitan area. Here, visitors can soak in a hot spring and have a meal while visiting the station.
© Source travel watch
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