Marine Liner

Every half hour it rides the lower deck of the 13.1 km Great Seto Bridge: the Seto Inland Sea’s only rail crossing, strung across five islands since 1988.

Half commuter rapid, half engineering pilgrimage, the Marine Liner shuttles between Honshu and Shikoku on the lower deck of the Great Seto Bridge, 13.1 km of spans stitched across five islands of the Inland Sea. Fishing fleets and shipping lanes slide past beneath the girders before the train makes landfall at Sakaide. The double-deck panorama car at the Takamatsu end gives the best forward view.

Stations

1. 0 kmOkayama
2. 8 kmSenō
3. 12 kmHayashima
4. 15 kmChayamachi
5. 28 kmKojima
6. 48 kmSakaide
7. 69 kmTakamatsu

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them.

Along the way

• Kojima denim-town approach
• Shimotsui-Seto suspension span
• Island-hopping over Yoshima
• Sakaide’s industrial salt coast
• Takamatsu harbour arrival

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 1950694 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 6 m from it
• The operator publishes this line's timetable: JR West — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Marine Liner?

The Marine Liner runs 72 km from Okayama to Takamatsu.

How long does the Marine Liner take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 55 min for the 72 km. That is an average of 79 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 130 km/h.

Who runs the Marine Liner?

JR West & JR Shikoku, with JR 5000 series + 223-5000 series EMU with double-deck panorama car.

How old is the Marine Liner?

The line has been in service since 1988. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the Marine Liner run?

Every 30 min through the day.

View on the world railway map →

Read more on Wikipedia ↗