The Kishū Railway Line is a Japanese railway line between Gobō Station and Nishi-Gobō Station, all within Gobō, Wakayama.
This is the only railway line of Kishū Railway Co., Ltd. , while the company’s main business is real estates and hotels.
The line was opened by Gobō Rinkō Railway in 1931, but it suffered from low riderships.
The current Tokyo-based hotel company, originally not a railway operator, took over the line in 1972, so that it can gain the prestige as a railway company.
Despite its name meaning the railway of whole Kii Province (Kishu, the current Wakayama), the company is the second shortest of normal railways in Japan, next to Shibayama Railway.
Kitetsu is the abbreviation of the company’s name, while the railway line is often called Rinko among locals, taken from the name of the former operator.
