Saturday 22 December 2012

The 105 Series and Sunrise in the Fukuyama Area


EMU JR West 105 series stands at Fukuyama Station on the Fukuen Line

After my visit to Okayama City, I headed to the west again. My next destination was Fukuyama, a major city in the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. Fukuyama City with a population of 460,000 plays host to many tourists. The flocking visitors target the nostalgic streets and lovely view of the Seto Inland Sea in Tomonoura, which is located in the southern part of the city.

When I was a child, people on the Seto Inland Sea suffered from severe environmental pollution as a corollary of sharp economic growth. Chemical runoff from industry and agriculture have decimated many habitats and caused toxic red tides in the sea. To be honest, I didn't have a good image of this area.

The situation has been dramatically improved over the last few decades. The efforts of local people, industries and the government have overcome obstacles. The Seto Inland Sea is very clean now. In fact, we can enjoy a wide variety of seafood, such as sea bream, oysters and abalones there again.

In the meantime, I am going to show a local train in the Fukuyama area. That is the EMU JR West 105 series on the Fukuen Line. Connecting Fukuyama and Shiomachi, there are 27 stations over a total operating length of 78km on the Fukuen Line. The whole route is single track, and partially electrified. The EMU 105 series is operated as a two or four car train.

Sunrise at Tomonoura near Fukuyama Station