Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is 225 km or 139.8 mi long and between 50 and 150 km or 31.1 and 93.2 mi wide. It has a population of 3.8 million. It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima (伊予之二名島), Iyo-shima (伊予島), and Futana-shima (二名島), and its current name refers to the four former provinces that made up the island: Awa, Tosa, Sanuki, and Iyo.
Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2. Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the north, Hyōgo Prefecture to the east, and Hiroshima Prefecture to the west.
The West Japan Railway Company, also referred to as JR West, is one of the Japan Railways Group companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is also one of only three Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index: the others are JR East and JR Central. It was also listed in the Nagoya and Fukuoka stock exchanges until late 2020.
The Shikoku Railway Company, commonly known as JR Shikoku, is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group. It operates 855.2 kilometres (531.4 mi) of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has its headquarters in Takamatsu, Kagawa.
Utazu is a town located in Ayauta District, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 October 2022, the town had an estimated population of 18,687 in 8932 households and a population density of 2300 persons per km². The total area of the town is 8.1 square kilometres (3.1 sq mi).
The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project is a system of bridges connecting the islands of Honshu and Shikoku across the Inland Sea of Japan, which were previously only connected by ferry. It consists of three major connections. All bridges are now controlled by the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company and the Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Agency (日本高速道路保有・債務返済機構). The system consists of three expressways and their respective bridge systems.
The Great Seto Bridge or Seto Ohashi Bridge is a series of double deck bridges connecting Okayama and Kagawa prefectures in Japan across a series of five small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Built over the period 1978–88, it is one of the three routes of the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project connecting Honshū and Shikoku islands and the only one to carry rail traffic. The total length is 13.1 kilometers (8.1 mi), and the longest span, the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge, is 1,100 m (3,600 ft).
The Yosan Line is the principal railway line on the island of Shikoku in Japan, connecting the major cities of Shikoku, and via the Honshi-Bisan Line, with Honshu. It is operated by the Shikoku Railway Company, and is aligned approximately parallel with the Inland Sea coast, connecting the prefectural capitals of Takamatsu and Matsuyama and continuing on to Uwajima. The name of the line comes from Iyo (伊予) and Sanuki (讃岐), the old names of Ehime and Kagawa, respectively.
Okayama Station is a railway station in Kita-ku, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The station is operated by West Japan Railway Company.
The Marine Liner is a rapid train service in Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company and Shikoku Railway Company since April 1988. The Marine Liner links Okayama, the capital city of Okayama Prefecture and a major station on the Sanyō Shinkansen, with Takamatsu, the capital city of Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, via the Great Seto Bridge. Operating at a top speed of 130 km/h, the journey takes approximately 52–63 minutes.
The 223 series is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) in the Kansai region, Chūgoku region and s of Japan. Multiple batches of the model have been built with varying differences, although the overall general appearance remains similar.
The Seto-Ōhashi Line is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company and Shikoku Railway Company in Japan which links Okayama Station in Okayama Prefecture with Takamatsu Station in Kagawa Prefecture via the Great Seto Bridge. It is not a distinct railway line, but an official nickname given to a composite line formed of three different lines.
Dosan Line is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by the Shikoku Railway Company. It connects Tadotsu Station in Tadotsu, Kagawa, and Kubokawa Station in Shimanto, Kōchi. The line links the city of Kōchi with northern Shikoku and the island of Honshū via the Seto-Ōhashi Line. The first section of the line between Tadotsu and Kotohira opened in 1889, Kochi was connected to the northern section of the line in 1935, and the western extension of the line was completed in 1951. The name of the line comes from "Tosa" (土佐) and "Sanuki" (讃岐), the old provincial names of present-day Kōchi Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture, respectively.
The Uno Line is a Japanese railway line which connects Okayama Station in Okayama to Uno Station in Tamano, both in Okayama Prefecture. It is owned and run by the West Japan Railway Company. It is also referred to as the Uno Port Line. Part of the line, between Okayama Station and Chayamachi Station, is known as the Seto-Ōhashi Line.
Kojima Station is a railway station on the Honshi-Bisan Line in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, jointly operated by West Japan Railway Company and Shikoku Railway Company.
Utazu Station is a passenger railway station located in the town of Utazu, Ayauta District, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by JR Shikoku and has the station number "Y09".
Kokubu Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by JR Shikoku and has the station number "Y04".
The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company Limited, abbreviated as JB本四高速 in Japanese or HSBE in English, operates the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto, Nishiseto, and Seto-Chūō expressways and their respective bridges between the islands of Honshu and Shikoku, Japan. It is headquartered in Chūō-ku, Kōbe, Hyōgo Prefecture.
The 5000 series (5000系) is a suburban electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by Shikoku Railway Company in Shikoku, Japan.
The San'yō Main Line is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The San'yō Shinkansen line largely parallels its route. The name Sanyō derived from the ancient region and highway San'yōdō, the road on the sunny (south) side of the mountains.
