It has been difficult to use since the days of the Kashima Railway. Still, if the former Kashima Railway customers had been taken over, wouldn’t there have been a good number of passengers? Some may ask the question. …… Unfortunately, the Kashima Railway at the end of its life can only be said to have lost its demand as a private railway in the suburbs of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Even though it is connected to the JR Joban Line, it is not at Tsuchiura Station, which is the boundary of regular train service, but at Ishioka Station to the north of it. In addition, the Kashima Railway is not usable as a means of commuting to the Tokyo metropolitan area, as it takes nearly an hour from Hokota City to get there at a slow pace. Furthermore, the school districts of Hokota City are different from those of the neighboring cities of Koyata and Omitama, so demand for commuting between the two cities by the Kashima Railway cannot be expected. It was probably unavoidable that the former Ogawa Town (part of present-day Omitama City), which is close to the Joban Line’s Ishioka Station, voiced its opposition to the abolition of the railroad in both the town hall and private sector, while Hokota City was somewhat reluctant to do so.
© Source travel watch