Towada Kankō Electric Railway, which manages rural rail line in Aomori prefecture, held the irregular board of directors to decide to abolish the rail line. The decrease of passengers has forced them to have difficulty in maintaining the rail line.
Opening of Shichinohe-Towada station in Shichinohe town(neighboring to Towada city) last December accelerated the decrease of passengers. Income of its hotel or buses can't afford to supplement the deficit of the rail line any more due to Tohoku Earthquake. The company begged local 3 governments to support financially only to be rejected by the governments at the begining of this month. The governments replied there would be no room to improve the management.
The president of the company commented "We made the decision by the local governments' plan to support us." Official announcement of the abolishment will be delivered on Oct 11,2011. The company has a plan to run alternative buses after abolishing the rail line.
Cited from http://www.asahi.com/travel/rail/news/TKY201110070541.html (asahi.com)
The problem is that Towada Kankō Electric Railway couldn't get the interchange station at the crossing with Tohoku Shinkansen. Connection with main railway(s) is essential for rural railway companies to ensure passengers.
On the other hand, I thought it was a good idea to construct the station along Toyama Chiho Railway Main Line at the crossing with Hokuriku Shinkansen.
