There are rumours surfacing that the 35.3 km section of the Oito Line between Minami-Otari and Itoigawa Stations operated by JR West might be axed and it will be under discussion between them, Niigata and Nagano Prefectures in March, that particular section of the line is JR West's third worst in ridership for 2020 (50 passengers/day/km) after Geibi Line between Toujou and Bingo-Ochiai (9) and Kisuki Line between Izumo-Yokota and Bingo-Ochiai (18) while having the worst revenue at 10 million Yen.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/9e5f028e5c1ee67ce89a16165b9f4524c32c3550