In 1894, a
spur line connecting Shiriuchi (now ) on the
Tohoku Main Line with Hachinohe (now ) was completed. This line was soon extended south to the now-defunct Minato Station. After the nationalization of the Nippon Railway in 1907, the spur line was renamed the Hachinohe Line in 1909. From 1924, the line's name was written with its current
characters, and the southern terminus of the line was extended to in Iwate Prefecture. The following year it reached , and in 1930 it reached its present southern terminus of where it connected to the
Sanriku Railway Kita-Rias Line, which links Kuji with in southern Iwate. Freight operations were phased out at most stations between 1982 and 1986. With the privatization of the
Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987, the Hachinohe Line came under the control of the
East Japan Railway Company (JR East), with remaining freight operations transferred to the
Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) at
Hachinohe Freight Terminal.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The line was damaged by the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and services were suspended on the section between and , with a number of vehicles trapped at Kuji Station. Services over the entire line resumed on March 17, 2012.
2025 Sanriku earthquake The Hachinohe Line sustained significant damage from the
2025 Sanriku earthquake on 8 December 2025. A bridge pier sustained damage from the earthquake, causing service on the entire line to be suspended and replaced by buses. On 22 December, train service resumed between Kuji and Same, while bustitution still continued between Same and Hachinohe. Service on the full line was resumed on 30 December 2025. ==See also==