Openings

The eastern section of the line from Aizu-Wakamatsu to Aizu-Yanaizu opened in 1928. The eastern section was extended to Aizu-Miyashita in 1941 and to Aizu-Kawaguchi in 1956. At that time, the Tagokura Dam was under construction and a light railway was built to link Aizu-Kawaguchi with the construction site in order to transport construction material. In 1963, after the dam was completed, the construction railway was upgraded and opened to Tadami as part of the eastern section.^[5]

In the meantime, the western section of the line, from Koide to Oshirakawa, had opened in 1942. In 1971, the two sections were connected with the opening of the passenger only line between Oshirakawa and Tadami.^[5]

Closures

Freight services ceased between 1980 and 1982.^{[citation needed]}

Damage from heavy rain storms in July 2011 forced the section of the line between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Ōshirakawa to be closed. The section between Tadami and Ōshirakawa was reopened on 1 October 2012, but the restoration of the remaining section between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami proved more problematic.^[8] Eventually, JR East reached an agreement with Fukushima Prefecture under which the prefecture would buy the rail infrastructure and land while hiring out its operation to JR East.^[9] After 11 years with a replacement bus service, the closed section resumed operations on 1 October 2022.^[6]

In 2013, Tagokura Station, between Ōshirakawa and Tadami, was closed.^[10] And in 2015, Kakinoki Station, between Irihirose and Ōshirakawa, was also closed.^[11] Both of these closures were due to very low usage.

Former

• KiHa 40 series - Until July 2020^[12]
• KiHa 58 series