Hiroshima Evening Rush

A short video with several typical Japanese tram scenes. Its evening rush hour and the now retired 2009, comes around the corner to the transfer point between lines 2, 3, 6 and 8. The next scene shows 2008 pulling away from a stop and the conductors position in car 2008 as the conductor leans out of his window. The final scene starts with the operator of car 2009 pointing and calling the signal.

All Hiroden 2000 series cars were retired in October 2009.

Toyama Centram Extension Opens

Toyama’s Centram (Central Toyama Light Rail Transit) extension opened December 23, 2009. The Centram line is designated as Line 3 and runs as a one-way loop from the Toyama JR station. Cars run every 10 minutes from 0900 to 1930. A round trip takes 18 minutes. The three new LRVs are numbered 9001, 9002 and 9003. Each car has a different paint scheme.

Toyama now has three tram lines operated by Chitetsu. Line 1 runs from the Chitetsu South Toyama station to the Toyama JR Station. Line 2 runs from Chitetsu South Toyama station to the University via the Toyama JR station. The Portram is a separate LRV line that terminates on the other side of the Toyama JR station.

Here is opening day video by Cattram.

More videos by mallowchan7090:

9003 pulls out of the Chitetsu tram depot behind Chitetsu’s South Toyama station.

Snow Sweepers (Sasara) in Hokkaido

Streetcar lines in Hakodate and Sapporo continue to use snow sweepers (aka sasara) during the winter to clear streetcar tracks when it snows.

A bamboo brush mounted on the ends of a maintenance car sweeps snow out of track right down into the groove in the pavement. A plow can’t do this.

Here is 2009 detail footage of snow sweepers in operation in Sapporo by You Tube poster 676kay676.

These are the brooms in operation at the depot on a Hakodate snow sweeper. You Tube video by x103Hakodate.

All Japanese snow sweepers that I have seen are single truck cars, many of which formerly were passenger cars.

Toden Arakawa Line Split Switch

This morning I came across this video of a split switch on the Arakawa line at Oji Eki-mae Station.

As far as I can tell this is a split switch rather than a derailment. All the wheels appear to still be on the rail which means it isn’t a derailment. A split switch is when the front truck goes one way through the switch and the rear truck goes another way. This can be caused by a switch malfunction, wheel flange issue or operator error when operating over an electric switch.

Oji Station is a four level complex with Tokyo Metro below the surface, the Toden Arakawa line at the surface, an elevated station for JR East’s Keihin-Tōhoku Line suburban trains and the elevated Tohoku Shinkansen trains passing the station without stopping.

Centram LRVs arrive

The first You Tube videos of the new Centram LRVs testing in Toyama have appeared. There is one car in black, one in sliver and one in white. The videos are by mallowchan7090.

The Centram extension is set to open in December 2009.

Toyama Chiho Railway Streetcar Extension

Work is proceeding on the extension to the Toyama Chiho Railway streetcar line. The details of this project were covered here.

Uraken.net has photos of the construction here. The Centram trams which are of the same general design as the Portram trams, but with a different interior arrangement began arriving in November.

Like most articulated streetcars, these cars are shipped in pieces with final assembly occurring at the Toyama carbarn. Here is a scene during the delivery of the black LRV. You Tube video by mallowchan7090.

This Japanese language page has photos of the Centram cars being delivered and assembled. Color scheme includes cars in white, black and silver.

Tosa Electric Railway (Tosaden)

The Tosa Electric Railway as it is known in English, dates back to 1904.  Modemo has recently released a model of the Tosaden 600 series car. The line has several interesting features and is worth a look.

Tosaden has 3 lines which total 25.3 km making it the second largest streetcar system by length in Japan. The Gomen line is 11.2 km from Gomen-machi to Harimaya-Bashi; the Ino line is 10.9 km from Harimaya-Bashi to Ino and the Eki-Sambashi line is 3.2 km from Kochi ekimae to Sambashi-dori-go-chrome.

There are 72 active cars of which 63 are regular service cars, one is an illumination car and 8 are heritage cars most of which are of foreign origin. The cars are rear-entrance, front exit, one-man operated cars. Like many streetcars in Japan, the Tosaden cars have hand controls, recorded stop announcements and electronic indicators inside the car.

The track gauge is 1067mm and power is 600V DC overhead.

There are many interesting aspects to Tosaden operations that are not commonly seen outside Japan or sometimes in Japan. Many Tosaden cars carry a red diamond with Hiragana script painted in white which are route indicators. Videos by Dotaku.

The Tosaden features token staff control, single track operation with passing loops in narrow streets, single track side of the road operation, double track side of the road operation and until the mid-1990s some trips featured 600 series two-car multiple unit trains.

This video shows the single track section in the street near the end of the Ino line. Traffic runs on the left in Japan, however in this video the streetcar is in a contraflow tram lane on the right side. At about 7:20 minutes you will see the exchange of the token staff between the two operators at Asakura Station. The car with the staff may proceed over the single track section. The single track section up to Asakusa includes automatic block signals which you will see if you watch closely. Video by Ayokoi.

These two videos show the single track side of the road operation with a token staff exchange between operators. The large cylinder shape loop is the staff and the token for a particular block is located in the base. Videos by webmk.

A 600 series car on a stretch of single-track side of the road track. Video by webmk.

This is the double track side of road operation with first a 600 series car and then a 700 or 800 series car. Video by webmk.

The workhorses of the fleet are the 30 cars of the 600 series built between 1957 and 1964 by the company shops and Naniwa Koki. By my calculations, this is the largest single class of streetcars currently on a Japanese streetcar system with 31 cars originally built and 30 cars currently active. Air conditioning was added starting in the 1980s, destination signs were change to LED in 2003 and recent reports indicate musical horns have been added. At one time these cars were operated in multiple unit service and many 600 cars still have couplers.

The second largest group of cars are the 17 cars of the 200 series built between 1950 and 1957, but 15 of these cars are now non-air conditioning cars as they do not have the body strength to support roof top air conditioning units.

The long stretches of side of the road operation and the single track running on the Ino line give Tosaden the appearance of a rural tramway.

M14 Koami-cho

Koami-cho is a Hiroden tram stop on the Hiroden Main line located in Koami-cho, Naka-ku,  Hiroshima.

This is a short stretch of four lane street, with no sidewalks and two reserved streetcar tracks in the center of the street. There are several places in Japan where you can find streetcar lines running along streets without sidewalks. The stops are just pavement painted green and outlined with a white line. Tall buildings line the streets in this neighbourhood. Hiroden lines 2 and 3 operate here.

Line 2 links JR Hiroshima Station with Miyajima and is operated with various classes of articulated light rail cars.  Line 3 links Nishi-Hiroshima Station with Hiroshima Port and is a mainstay of Hiroden’s  older cars of the 350, 700, 750, 800,  and 900 classes.

In the aftermath of the atomic bomb attack, service to this stop was suspended from June 10, 1944 and restarted on August 15, 1945.

Just west of Koami-cho is a streetcar and pedestrian only bridge.  The video starts by facing west in the  general direction of the JR Nishi-Hiroshima station.  Automobile traffic is routed a couple of blocks south to a main arterial road, but the streetcars and LRVs continue across this bridge.

The You Tube videos are by Nimo5.

Hiroden 900s

Now on to Japan’s largest tram system, the Hiroshima Electric Railway. Today, Hiroden, as the system is known to the public operates everything from heritage cars, fleets of growlers to modern articulated LRVs.

The 900 class cars were built in 1957 by Osaka Sharyo  for Osaka.  After the Osaka lines closed 15 cars were sold to Hiroden in1969. These cars remain in the colors of their former system.

Route 0 is a special routing designation.  I believe this car is pulling out from the depot, using a non-revenue turnout to access the short Route 9 shuttle.

The You Tube video is by Nimo5 and was filmed October 25, 2009.

Meitetsu Tanigumi Line

One of the first Japanese traction systems I became familiar with on You Tube were the former 600 volt Meitetsu interurban and tram lines around Gifu.  Very much classic traction lines, sadly the last of these lines were abandoned on March 31, 2005 but not first without much recording of the action.

The Nagoya Railway or as it is known in Japan, Meitetsu, is the third largest railway system in Japan after JR (Japan Rail) and Kintetsu. In the mid-80s Meitetsu operated 539.7 km of line, but Japan’s lost decade Meitetsu is down to 445.4 km of track.

The Nagoya Railway emerged out of a collection of independent interurban lines built before World War II. The Tanigumi line was opened on April 6, 1926 by The Tanigumi Railway on a line between Tanigumi and Kurono and was  taken over by the Nagoya Railway during 1944. At Kurono, passengers transferred to the Ibi line destined for Gifu and which had been Meitetsu operated since 1930.

Cars 751, 752, 754, 755, 758 and 759 were built in 1928 by Nippon Sharyo and continued to run until closure. Track gauge was 1067mm. Overhead was 600 V DC.

As the Japanese characterize it, the Meitetsu Tanigumi line was abolished on September 20, 2001. This line was a classic single track interurban in the Japanese style.  There were high platforms at stations, token coil exchanges at passing loops along single track sections, Meitetsu’s bright red livery and roman numerals on the 1920s rolling stock.

Here are several You Tube videos of the Tanigumi line and the Meitetsu 750s taken around 2001.

There was a three car commemorative run of 750s operated by Meitetsu on July 1, 2001.  These scenes are at Kurono Station where passengers from the Ibi Line transferred to the Tanigumi line.

Here’s the action at Kita Nobata station with the station master controlling the token coil exchange with a lot less formality than seen on JR lines. Railfans clearly out number the passengers.

With the lost decade recession taking its toll on Japan’s corporations and with Meitetsu operating in the heart of Toyota country, Meitetsu was left with several  branches that were not of much value,  including the Tanigumi line with its sparse traffic.