Meitetsu Gifu Shinai Line

The Mino Electric Railways opened the first section from Gifu-eki-mae to Izumimachi (merged into Daigakubyoin-mae) on February 11, 1911. The kept extending in stages until it reached Nagara-Bashi in 1912 and Nagarakitamachi on November 20, 1915. The branch line to Chusetsu-Bashi (closed 1948) opened in June 1925, and extended to Chusetsu on July 1, 1953.^[1][2] The Mino Electric railways was merged into the Nagoya Railroad on August 20, 1930.^[3] During the World War II, a train depot on the line was attacked and bombed along with the city of Gifu on July 10, 1945, which resulted in the loss of 14 to 25 cars due to fire. The damage caused the line to lack trains post-war, although it was able to keep the line running by fixing damaged cars and moving cars from the Meitetsu Seto Line. The two bridges crossing the Nagara River were dismantled and rebuilt on August 1, 1948, allowing the previously mentioned extension of the line to Chusetsu.^[4] While the section beyond Inaba-dori was initially single-tracked, the tracks were all duplicated by March 31, 1957.^[5]

From 1955, streetcars around Japan began to be rapidly closed due to the spread of motorization. Gifu City passed a resolution to close the Gifu Shinai Line in 1967, but failed to actually close the line in this attempt due to financial disputes with Meitetsu.^[6] The city then attempted to convert the line to a monorail from 1970, but gave up in 1975 due to high costs.^[7] The main line was closed on June 1, 1988, to prevent road congestion in the Gifu Central Future Expo [ja].^[1][2] The section from Gifu-eki-mae to Shin-Gifu-eki-mae were closed on December 1, 2003, to relocate the tracks, as the prefectural route 54 was being improved. This section never reopened as the entire line closed before the scheduled date of reopening.^[8]

Due to the poor performance of the line, Meitetsu expressed their intent to close the line in January 2003, along with the Meitetsu Ibi Line, Meitetsu Minomachi Line, and Meitetsu Tagami Line. Meitetsu claimed that only a few lines out of their network of 24 lines at the time were making positive revenues and automobiles were doing a better job at connecting central Gifu with the outskirts.^[9] Following this announcement, the city conducted a social experiment from October 27 to November 28, 2003, where cars were banned from going inside tracks in some sections, which total length was 2.1 km. Fences were placed around some stations to ensure safety. These changes did not have enough effect on ridership to stop Meitetsu from deciding the date of the closure of the Gifu Shinai Line on April 1, 2005.^[10]

The southern terminus of the line was the Gifu-eki-mae Station, which as the name suggests in Japanese, was located right in front of Gifu Station. The line then continues to Shin-Gifu-eki-mae Station located nearby Meitetsu Gifu Station, which was called Shin-Gifu Station at the time. After leaving Shin-Gifu-eki-mae, the line ran through the Nagarabashi-dori, a narrow road with high traffic. A branch line branched off from Tetsumeicho Station to Chusetsu Station, while the line, nicknamed the Nagara Line from this point continued further north, passing by the city office of Gifu. Four consecutive 90 degrees curves followed after Inaba-Dori Station. The line then headed north again, crossing the Nagara River between Nagara-Bashi Station and Unukaiya Station. The rest of the line headed straight north to Nagarakitamachi Station the northern terminus, which connected to the Meitetsu Takatomi Line.^[34]

The branch line branched off towards the west, running through the Tetsumei-dori and heading towards Senjudo Station, which connected to the Meitetsu Kagashima Line. After Senjudo, the line turned right towards the north. The branch line crosses the Nagara River between Nishinomachi Station and Souden Station. The line turned left after crossing the river and continued towards Chusetsu Station, the terminus of the branch line.^[35]