The Tsuruga - Tomura section opened in 1917, and the line was then extended westward to Obama in 1918, Wakasa-Takahama in 1921 and connected to the Maizuru Line at Higashi-Maizuru the following year.
Freight services between Tsuruga and Mitsumatsu ceased in 1997.
The line uses single-car 125 series EMU cars, sometimes substituted by 521 series EMU cars. And the limited express Hanaakari which used KiHa 189 DMU cars.
^区間別平均通過人員および旅客運輸収入(平成26年度) [Average passenger figures and revenue by line (Fiscal 2014)] (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan: West Japan Railway Company. 2015. p. 56. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 17 October 2015.