People have often examined the idea of moving the section to a route whereby the train crosses Kanegasaka pass along National Route 176 without stopping at Tanikawa Station because of the following three reasons: operation through Tanikawa Station in this section means an indirect path to run the train between Sasayamaguchi Station and Kaibara Station, the train can't pick up speed due to many sharp curves along Kawashiro Gorge, and this section has difficulties from the perspective of disaster prevention such as in the case of a landslide; accordingly, it seems very difficult to build a new route, given the manner in which this section has been used.
なお、篠山口駅から柏原駅までの間は谷川駅を経由するため遠回りをしており、さらに途中の川代渓谷は急曲線続きで速度が上がらず、たびたび崖崩れが発生し防災上も問題があることから、過去に何度か谷川駅を通らない鐘ヶ坂176号線沿いに鐘ヶ坂を越えるルートへの移設が検討されてきたが、現在の利用状況では新線の建設は困難と考えられる。