JR East announced that Senseki Line, part of which has been suspended because of Tohoku Earthquake, will be connected to Tohoku Line to run through trains. The travel time between Sendai and Ishinomaki will be shortened by 10 mins, though it had taken at least 63 mins even before the earthquake.
With the movement of tracks between Rikuzen-Otsuka and Rikuzen-Ono on Senseki Line to inland side by 500m, The line between Takagi-machi and Rikuzen-Ono has been suspended. This forces passengers to take bus on the way to/from Sendai from/to Ishinomaki, and the total travel time is about 100 mins. It takes about 70 mins even by using non-stop trains via Tohoku Line and Ishinomaki Line, which is operated in the morning and evening on weekdays.
After the full renovation of Senseki Line, the through trains from/to Sendai to/from Ishinomaki are scheduled to run on Tohoku Line between Sendai and Shiogama and on Senseki Line between Takagi-machi and Ishinomaki. Despite the fact that its distance is almost the same as that of Senseki Line, fewer stations let the trains to run in shorter travel time. In addition to it, Accessibility to Shinkansen from the platforms of Tohoku Line is better than that from Senseki Line. The renovation is said to enable trains to run through Onagawa on Ishinomaki Line.
Citation: http://www.asahi.com/travel/rail/news/TKY201210180610.html (Japanese)
Oh, the access track between Tohoku Line and Senseki Line could be found even before this planning. I took the picture, when I traveled around Tohoku in 2009.
The picture is shown on the following travel diary (Japanese)
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/special-rapid223/20090901#1251797475
