---
title: "3,000 yen and a hammer: the workshop that keeps a dead railway alive"
locale: "en"
url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/gattango-rail-bike-hida-en"
markdown_url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/gattango-rail-bike-hida-en.md"
category: "craft"
tags: ["railways", "bikes", "Japan", "industrial heritage", "reuse", "making", "maintenance"]
published_at: "2026-08-26T11:55:00.000Z"
author: "Camille Morel"
translation: "https://irz.fr/fr/articles/gattango-rail-bike-hida-fr.md"
---

# 3,000 yen and a hammer: the workshop that keeps a dead railway alive

In Kamioka, Japan, a mining line closed in 2006 carries riders again on electric-assist rail bikes — and the track itself is maintained by paying visitors, one sleeper at a time.

In Kamioka, in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, part of the track maintenance crew is hired from the tourist pool. They pay 3,000 yen for the day to dig ballast, pull fastening spikes by hand, slide a fresh sleeper under a rail lifted with a jack, then sign their sleeper with a marker[11](https://rail-mtb.com/makuragi_changeing)[12](https://rail-mtb.com/%E7%AC%AC17%E5%9B%9E%E6%9E%95%E6%9C%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%8F%9B%E4%BC%9A). A local development NPO runs the operation. And the line they maintain has not seen a train since December 2006.

What these one-day volunteers keep alive is the terrain of a second invention: electric-assist bikes fixed directly onto the rails. Two mountain bikes on a metal frame, a rear tire resting on polished steel, and nearly twenty years after the line closed, the old mining rails still carry people[1](https://www.core77.com/posts/145133/in-japan-an-e-biking-attraction-on-an-abandoned-railway)[3](https://trafficnews.jp/post/108605).

## The freight left

The Kamioka Railway was a mining line first. About 19.9 kilometers between Inotani, on the JR Takayama Line, and Okuhida-Onsenguchi, in a mining country that once ran horse-drawn tramways in the mid-Meiji era[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/). Sixty percent of the route ran through tunnels and over bridges, enough for locals to call it "the subway of Okuhida"[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/).

Opened under Japanese National Railways in 1966, transferred in 1984 to a third-sector regional company, the line lived on zinc: freight from the Kamioka mine accounted for roughly 80 percent of its revenue[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/)[3](https://trafficnews.jp/post/108605). When the mine switched its transport to trucks in October 2004, about a hundred passengers a day were left[5](http://tsushima-keibendo.a.la9.jp/kamioka/kamioka.html). The abandonment decision came in mid-2005; the last train ran on November 30, 2006[4](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%9E%E5%B2%A1%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E7%A5%9E%E5%B2%A1%E7%B7%9A)[5](http://tsushima-keibendo.a.la9.jp/kamioka/kamioka.html).

> Kamioka Railway
> **What the closure left behind**
> - of track between Inotani and Okuhida-Onsenguchi: 19.9 km
> - of the route through tunnels and over bridges: 60 %
> - passengers a day at the end, against 80% of revenue once coming from freight: ~100
> Sources: Gattan Go!! · Trafficnews · Japanese Wikipedia

## A local ironworks

After the closure, residents gathered around the line's former support association refused to watch the rails go to scrap. Their idea fits in a sentence: keep the railway assets "in their original form" by running locally built vehicles on them[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/). A town ironworks drew up the blueprints and iterated until the current rail bike existed (the project's own history page credits the making spirit of mining towns)[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/).

The mechanism is deliberately simple. Two mountain bikes are bolted onto a metal frame; guide rollers ride on top of both rails, and the rear tire of each bike sits directly on the running surface, which turns the pedals into the drivetrain[6](https://rail-mtb.com/en/). The whole fleet got electric assist[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/). The project moved from the volunteer association to a local development NPO, ran year-round from fiscal 2012 with a winter pause for snow, and a second stretch opened along the gorge in 2018[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/)[10](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5981.html).

More than 100,000 people pedaled the line in eight years of operation, over 40,000 rides a year before COVID[3](https://trafficnews.jp/post/108605).

> Illustration: Crowd on the platform of Okuhida-Onsenguchi for the last operating Sunday of the Kamioka Railway, autumn 2006. The last operating Sunday of the Kamioka Railway, autumn 2006: the trains stop, the rails stay. Credit: [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/).

## Designed for two rails

The current fleet reads like a list of constraints, each solved once[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/).

The base vehicle pairs two riding positions with a central wooden bench: two mandatory pedalers, measured at least 145 centimeters tall, one passenger between them, with a child seat or dog cage as an option[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/). For people with no pedaling partner, the NPO developed a sidecar rig balanced for a solo rider, funded by a grant from the local credit union. Groups of four get a giant tandem whose own site warns about the downside: the long wheelbase makes every curve a workout, plan to sweat. And those who only want the view ride a wooden trailer pulled by a staff motorcycle, for 1,200 yen[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/).

Two courses share this fleet. The town course runs about 2.9 km one way between the former Okuhida-Onsenguchi and Kamioka-Kozanmae stations, fifty minutes to an hour round trip, briefing and break included[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/). The canyon course, the demanding one, links the former Urushiyama station to Futatsuya tunnel: 3.3 km one way through tunnels and bridges, including the red truss bridge above the second Takahara river[5](http://tsushima-keibendo.a.la9.jp/kamioka/kamioka.html)[8](https://rail-mtb.com/course/keikoku/). Departures go out in small groups with guides at the front and rear, and at the turnaround everyone dismounts while the vehicles are pivoted[9](https://hida.travel/destination/gattan-go/21)[10](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5981.html). One operating rule is unusual enough to appear in the sales conditions: if a bear is spotted on the track, every later departure of the day is cancelled[8](https://rail-mtb.com/course/keikoku/).

> Illustration: Family on a central-bench rail bike: two pedalers and one passenger on the wooden seat, autumn in Kamioka. The central-bench model: two pedalers at 145 cm minimum, one passenger in the middle. This is the base Gattan Go!! vehicle. Credit: [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/).

## The tourist's hammer

One problem remains, invisible on photos: a track with no operator does not preserve itself. Sleepers rot, spikes rust, and no railway company has this work on its schedule anymore.

The NPO's answer is an annual workshop, the makuragi kokankai, literally the "sleeper exchange gathering". The principle: charge amateurs to do the real maintenance work, by hand, supervised by the staff. You meet at the station, ride a rail bike to the section being treated, then run through the full track-layer sequence: dig the ballast around the tired sleeper, pull the spikes, lift the rail with a jack, remove the old piece, insert the new one, drill fresh holes, hammer the spikes back in, check the gauge[11](https://rail-mtb.com/makuragi_changeing). Last step, not standard railway practice: everyone writes their name on their sleeper[11](https://rail-mtb.com/makuragi_changeing).

The 2022 edition, the thirteenth, brought together 37 participants from four different prefectures, Gifu but also Nagano, Toyama and Shizuoka[13](https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/484286). The seventeenth ran on June 7, 2026 with about thirty spots, day, bike rental, bento and insurance included[12](https://rail-mtb.com/%E7%AC%AC17%E5%9B%9E%E6%9E%95%E6%9C%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%8F%9B%E4%BC%9A). In November, the workshop will cross the tunnel for the first time and replace sleepers on the canyon course[14](https://rail-mtb.com/event).

> Makuragi kokankai
> **Replacing your own sleeper**
> - Clear the ballast around the worn sleeper.: Dig
> - Pull spikes and sleeper with a jack.: Lift
> - Insert the new sleeper, drill fresh holes.: Fit
> - Hammer the spikes, write your name.: Sign
> Sequence documented by Gattan Go!! since the 13th edition

## A transmissible gesture

Kamioka compares poorly to spectacular rail-to-trail conversions. Here, nobody paved anything or pulled the rails out: the preserved value is the rail itself, with its physical constraints. The vehicle design follows from them entirely: no steering, no balance to find for the middle passenger, an imposed width, known gradients. It is the same reasoning as the Colombian motobalinas covered earlier by Core77, motorcycles adapted to run on disused tracks: you do not design a vehicle, you answer an infrastructure[1](https://www.core77.com/posts/145133/in-japan-an-e-biking-attraction-on-an-abandoned-railway).

The other transferable part is the funding of maintenance. A local NPO has neither a railway operator's track budget nor a planner's grants. The annual workshop turns a cost line into a product: participants pay to perform the maintenance, leave with a skill, and the track stays usable for another twelve months. The 2026 program repeats the formula: a guided walk off the rails on the old mining paths with the LOST LINE PROJECT, a night ride during the NPO festival, and therefore the first sleeper workshop on the gorge course[14](https://rail-mtb.com/event)[15](https://rail-mtb.com/lostlineproject_urushiyamaderail/).

The limits are real. The model runs on a short, seasonal linear asset, closed in winter for snow, dependent on volunteers, good weather and the absence of bears on the track[8](https://rail-mtb.com/course/keikoku/)[10](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5981.html). It says nothing about preserving high-speed lines, and nothing about commercial profitability either: the stated balance sheet fits in prices from 3,000 to 8,000 yen per vehicle and a list of local development awards, including a special 2012 Japan Railway Award for "revived rails"[2](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/)[7](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/).

But for anyone who makes or maintains things, Kamioka leaves two clean ideas. First, an orphan infrastructure survives if someone designs objects to its measure, rather than the other way around. Second, the maintenance gesture can become the experience itself: exactly what separates an exhibited heritage from a living one. The next sleeper fitted in the gorge will probably carry a name in marker: the name of someone who paid to sweat.

## References

1. [Core77, Rain Noe, In Japan, an E-Biking Attraction on an Abandoned Railway, August 20, 2026](https://www.core77.com/posts/145133/in-japan-an-e-biking-attraction-on-an-abandoned-railway)
2. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, 誕生の経緯 (project history, Japanese)](https://rail-mtb.com/about/history/)
3. [Trafficnews, 廃線が「観光客年4万人」の一大スポットに, July 7, 2021](https://trafficnews.jp/post/108605)
4. [Japanese Wikipedia, 神岡鉄道神岡線 (abolition decision dates)](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%9E%E5%B2%A1%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E7%A5%9E%E5%B2%A1%E7%B7%9A)
5. [Tsushima Keibendō, photo archive of the Kamioka Railway](http://tsushima-keibendo.a.la9.jp/kamioka/kamioka.html)
6. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, English overview (rail bike mechanism)](https://rail-mtb.com/en/)
7. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, Town Course page (fleet and pricing)](https://rail-mtb.com/course/machinaka/)
8. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, Canyon Course page](https://rail-mtb.com/course/keikoku/)
9. [Hida City Tourism, Rail Mountain Bike: Gattan Go](https://hida.travel/destination/gattan-go/21)
10. [japan-guide.com, Kamioka Railway Cycling (Rail-MTB Gattan Go)](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5981.html)
11. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, 13th sleeper exchange report (Japanese)](https://rail-mtb.com/makuragi_changeing)
12. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, 17th sleeper exchange, June 7, 2026](https://rail-mtb.com/%E7%AC%AC17%E5%9B%9E%E6%9E%95%E6%9C%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%8F%9B%E4%BC%9A)
13. [Chunichi Shimbun, 古くなった枕木交換、貴重な体験, June 6, 2022](https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/484286)
14. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, 2026 events](https://rail-mtb.com/event)
15. [Rail Mountain Bike Gattan Go!!, LOST LINE PROJECT in Hida Kamioka [Urushiyama DeRail]](https://rail-mtb.com/lostlineproject_urushiyamaderail/)