Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

File:Murodoh.jpg

Murodō Station of Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus.

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (立山黒部アルペンルート, Tateyama Kurobe Arupen Rūto) is a famous mountain sightseeing route between Tateyama, Toyama and Ōmachi, Nagano, Japan. The whole route opened on June 1, 1971.

Overview

File:Kurobe dam 01.jpg

The route includes a walking on Kurobe dam.

File:20090503yukinoohtani02.JPG

a route in snow as 雪の大谷 (Yukino-ōtani, The gorge of snow)

The route is just 37 km in length, but the vertical interval is as large as 1,975m. It uses 7 different public transports with 5 different modes, namely funicular, bus, trolleybus, aerial tramway, and walking.

The route is carefully built so that the surrounding environment is not damaged. Consequently, three lines go entirely under tunnels. (This is also to protect the lines from snow.) Among them, two are trolleybus lines. Trolleybuses have all gone from Japan, except for these two lines which are still used here as they don't exhaust fumes in the tunnels.

The route goes through Tateyama in the Hida Mountains with a lot of scenic sites, including Kurobe dam. Some stations have hotels around them and are used as bases for mountain climbing or trekking.

The section between Kurobe Dam and Ōgisawa was originally made for construction of the dam, while the section between Tateyama and Kurobeko was for tourists from the beginning. Currently, the route is purely a sightseeing one, only used by tourists. Although this is the only route that directly links Toyama and Nagano, it is impractical for normal users as it takes 6 transfers, roughly 5 hours, and costs ¥8,060 just between Tateyama and Ōgisawa.

Yukino-ōtani is the most famous sightseeing spot from April to June. You can enjoy the greatest snow walls just before Murodō along this route.

Tateyama Kurobe Kankō

The Tateyama Kurobe Kankō (立山黒部貫光) is a public transport company that operates most lines in the route. Its official abbreviation is TKK. The word kankō (貫光) was coined by Muneyoshi Saeki, the first president of the company. According to him, kan (貫) means "time-space", and kō (光) means "outer space", while kan (貫) also (normally) means "to penetrate", as in "to penetrate Tateyama Mountains" and kō (normally) means "light". The word is a homophone to kankō (観光; "sightseeing"), possibly intentionally.

Lines and stations

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Transfer station / terminus	Elevation	Transport mode	Line name	Distance	Location
Dentetsu-Toyama (電鉄富山)	7 m	Railway	Toyama Chiho Railway: Main Line, Tateyama Line 1	34 km	Toyama	Toyama
Tateyama (立山)	475 m				Tateyama
		Funicular	TKK: Tateyama Cable Car	1.3 km
Bijodaira (美女平)	977 m
		Bus	TKK: Tateyama Highland Bus	23 km
Murodō (室堂)	2,450 m
		Trolleybus	TKK: Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus 2	3.7 km
Daikanbō (大観峰)	2,316 m
		Aerial tramway	TKK: Tateyama Ropeway	1.7 km
Kurobedaira (黒部平)	1,828 m
		Funicular	TKK: Kurobe Cable Car 2	0.8 km
Kurobeko (黒部湖)	1,455 m
		Walking	(15 minutes walk on Kurobe dam)
Kurobe Dam (黒部ダム)	1,455 m
		Trolleybus	Kansai Electric Power Company: Kanden Tunnel Trolley Bus 2	6.1 km
Ōgisawa (扇沢)	1,433 m				Ōmachi	Nagano
		Bus	Kawanakajima Bus, Kita Alps Kōtsū, and Matsumoto Electric Railway: Ōmachi Alpine Line Bus 1	18 km
Shinano-Ōmachi (信濃大町)	713 m

¹: Sometimes considered as a part of the route. However, most guided tours use chartered buses for this section.

²: The line goes entirely under a tunnel.

Gallery

• Tateyama cable car 02.jpg

  Tateyama Cable Car

• 

  Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus

• Tateyama ropeway 01.jpg

  Tateyama Ropeway

• Kurobe cable car 01.jpg

  Kurobe Cable Car

• Kansai-electric-trolleybus-300.jpg

  Kanden Tunnel Trolley Bus

See also

• Kurobe dam
• Kurobe Senyō Railway
• Tourism in Japan

External links

• Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route official website
• (Japanese) Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route official website
• (Japanese) Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route corporations official website