Keikyu, one of the typical urban
railways, serves the Yokohama and Yokosuka area from Tokyo with
a complicated but interesting operation pattern.
A Journey into Tokyo in The Morning Rush-hour:
Most Japanese railways have different types of train-service
to make the best use of their tracks; Keikyu is no exception.
They have one of the most complicated systems of train movement
in Japan. To understand this system of trains overtaking each
other, let's start a journey into Tokyo in the morning rush-hour.
We start at Uraga, the last station on the main line, with the
Regular (local) train, leaving the station at 6.59. (It goes all
the way through to Shinagawa, 55.5 km away.) The third stop of
this train is Horinouchi, where we arrive at 7.04. Here we wait
for a fast Limited Express, to which, if you are in a hurry, you
transfer. (As most passengers in the rush-hour are in a hurry,
nearly everybody gets off the local train.) The Regular will arrive
in Shinagawa at 9.13, and the Limited Express at 8.17, nearly
one hour earlier.
The Limited Express leaves Horinouchi at 7.05, and we follow one
minute later. Then we pass along the depot near Kanazawa-Bunko
station, where we stop. We do not wait for a faster train this
time; but passengers who have joined the train at the previous
stations, alight here to wait for another train. Our first long
stop is at Keikyu-Tomioka, where we wait for 9 minutes; a Commuter-rapid-limited-express
and a Limited Express pass and an Express stops. Again, the chance
arises to change to the Express. About one minute after the Express,
we leave Keikyu-Tomioka, and go to Kami-Ooka. Many people leave
the train here, again to wait for faster trains or to change to
the Yokohama municipal subway. For us, there is no time to wait
for an other train, so we go on to Minami-Ota, where we let again
three faster trains pass, one Commuter-rapid-limited-express and
two Limited Express. When the signal has turned green, after the
last Limited Express has passed, we leave Minami-Ota. After 7
minutes we are in Yokohama, Keikyu's busiest station. Here you
can change to JR, Sotestu, Tokyu and the subway, but also of course
to Keikyu's faster trains. As Keikyu's Yokohama station has only
one track per direction, we cannot wait for an other train, and
so we have to go on very fast to Kanagawa-Shimmachi, where we
wait for 9 minutes. First an Express stops at the other side of
our platform, and so the passengers can change. Then a Commuter-rapid-limited-express
passes through the station, followed by a Limited Express that
stops here. The Limited Express leaves at 8.20, and we leave at
8.22. But 5 stations later, at Keikyu-Tsurumi, we have to wait
again to let a Commuter-rapid-limited-express pass, and then we
go to Keikyu-Kawasaki. There we arrive at 8.38, leaving enough
time to go to the other side of the platform and to change to
a Limited Express leaving at 8.41 and to a Express leaving at
8.43. We leave Kawasaki at 8.44, and our next longer stop is at
Heiwajima, where a Commuter-rapid-limited-express passes and a
Limited Express stops. We leave the station at 9.00 just after
the Limited Express, but at Samezu (3 stations later) we have
to wait for an Express, and the passengers can change again to
this faster train. Then we have a green signal until Shinagawa,
where we finally arrive at 9.13. This journey took a total of
2 hours and 14 minutes - much longer that the 73 minutes that
a fast train from Uraga takes. We could have taken a Commuter-rapid-limited-express,
leaving Uraga at 7.06, to have been in Shinagawa at 8.19.
This system behaves differently during the day, when the stops
for overtaking are only at the biggest stations as Kanazawa-Hakkei
(or Kanazawa-Bunko), Kami-Ooka, Kanagawa-Shimmachi and Keikyu-Kawasaki.
Then the local trains are slightly faster, but it is still much
better to change to faster trains at these stations. Keikyu's
local trains (Regular) are very slow compared to the local trains
of other railway. Most passengers take a Regular only to go from
their home station to the next big station to transfer to a faster
train, and back from there in the evening. More important stations
are served by the Express. As the Regulars stop at Keikyu-Tomioka
and Minami-Ota a long time, some Express trains stop at Tsurumi-ichiba,
Idogaya, Gummyoji and Nokendai in the rush-hour to give the passengers
of these stations much faster connections.
Photos:
Competition to JR:
So why, you might ask, does Keikyu have this complicated system?
(Actually, it is not as complex as it sounds.) The conductor makes
many announces as to where to change and to which train, so -
if you understand Japanese - you hardly ever board the wrong train.
At all stations, there are big tables showing where the trains
stop, how long the trains are and where to change. In fact, after
a few days on the Keikyu, you can understand the system quite
well. However, there are two reasons for this complicated system:
The first is due to Keikyu's history as a tram between Shinagawa
and Yokohama until 1930. A tram has many stops, and nearly all
of them have become railway stations today. Thus, there must be
quite slow local trains to serve these stations. Take the section
between Shinagawa and Yokohama as an example: Keikyu has 25 stations,
while JR's Tokaido-line has only 3 and JR's Keihin-Tohoku-line
has 9; both lines being just a few 100 meters away from Keikyu.
Competition to JR is the second reason for the train system: Besides
the slow trains that are necessary, Keikyu must have fast trains,
so that the long-distance-passengers do not use JR on their way
to Tokyo or Yokohama.
JR and Keikyu do not only run parallel between Shinagawa and Yokohama,
but JR's Yokosuka-line goes (from Tokyo, Shinagawa and Yokohama)
to Zushi, Yokosuka and Kurihama, so to the same places as Keikyu.
There is also competition between Haneda-Airport and Tokyo, as
Keikyu's Airport-line goes via the Asakusa Subway to central Tokyo,
and on the same route the Tokyo Monorail can be taken. So Keikyu
must invest all the time to keep its place as a railway in this
area. A good example is the 2000 series, which was introduced
in 1982. The cars are very comfortable with cross seats, only
two doors per car and are much better than JR's cars on the Yokosuka-line.
The 2000 series won the Blue Ribbon in 1983.
Over the last seven years, I have observed the development of
Keikyu quite well. There have been no major changes, but the service
has slowly been upgraded. Firstly, there are now more trains before
and after the rush-hour, thus some passengers can avoid the very
crowded trains if they want. Also, in the rush-hour the Rapid-limited-express
and Commuter-rapid-limited-express are all running as 12-car-trains
between Kanazawa-Bunko and Shinagawa, and the Limited Express
between Kanazawa-Bunko and Kanagawa-Shimmachi. Recently, the northbound
platform of Keikyu-Kamata station was lenghtened to accomodate
the Commuter-rapid-limited-express (normal Rapid-limited-express
does not stop there).
The introduction of the Keikyu Wing was another step to make riding
more comfortable. A second step to a more modern railway was investment
in the track. Nearly the whole Keikyu network has continuously
welded rail, so the ride is smooth. An advanced signaling system,
including 5-indication signals with one special aspect (flashing
yellow over green) at some points, enabled the speed to be increased
to 120 km/h on some parts of the main line. Additional tracks
for overtaking have been built at some stations, so more maneuvers
are possible.
Many kilometers of main line have been raised and put on a viaduct,
so all level-crossings on these sections are no more and Keikyu
can make use of the space under the viaduct. There are new shops
(most of them operated by Keikyu, of course), bicycle and car
parking areas, footpaths, playgrounds and much more. In the stations,
nearly all of the ticket barriers have been replaced by automatic
barriers. Thirdly, there is more English. When I first traveled
on the Keikyu, I had quite some problems to see where I was, as
I could hardly read the Japanese place names. Now, most route-maps
of Keikyu also give the English reading of the names, so making
it easier for foreigners to use Keikyu. There are actually many
Americans using Keikyu as there is a US Navy base at Yokosuka.
Rolling Stock and Car depot:
Keikyu's trains are all for a gauge of 1435 mm, electrified
with 1500 VDC. All cars are 18 meters long and between 2.70 meters
and 2.80 meters wide. They are coloured red with a thin white
stripe under the windows, the 600 and 2000 series have a wide
white stripe over the windows.
2000 series: first built in 1982, total of 72 cars, of
which six 8-car-trains and six 4-car-trains are formed. Two doors
per car, cross seats. Used for Rapid-limited-express and Commuter-rapid-limited-express
only.
600 series: built since 1994, total of 40 cars (more are
being delivered), of which five 6-car-trains are formed. Three
doors per car, cross seats. Can run in subway lines. Used for
all services expect for local trains.
1500 series: first built in 1985, total of 166 cars, of
which thirteen 8-car-trains, one 6-car-train and fourteen 4-car-trains
are formed. Three doors per car. Some cars can run in subway lines.
Used for all trains except for Rapid-limited-express.
1000 series: first built in 1958, total of 244 cars, of
which eight 8-car-trains, five 6-car-trains, thirty one 4-car-trains
and thirteen 2-car-trains are formed (some of the 2- and 4-car-trains
are coupled to form 4-, 6- and 8-car-trains). Three doors per
car. Some cars can run in subway lines. Used for all kind of trains
(but for Rapid-limited-express only during the rush-hour).
800 series: first built in 1978, total of 132 cars, of
which nineteen 6-car-trains and eight 3-car-trains are formed.
Four doors per car. Used for local and Express-trains.
700 series: first built in 1967, total of 84 cars, of which
twenty-one 4-car-trains are formed. Four doors per car. Used for
local trains, mainly on the Daishi-line.
Of Keikyu's old cars, de51 (1924) and de1 (1930) have been
preserved in the Kurihama workshop. Most of the other cars have
been scrapped when they were life-expired, but some have been
rebuilt (sometimes new bogies for 1067 mm) and sold to other private
railways: Cars of the 400 series are now running on the Konan
Railway (Aomori-Prefecture), Iyo Railway (Shikoku) and Sobu- Nagareyama
Electric Railway (near Chiba), cars of the 230 and the former
600 series (of course not from the new 600 series) are running
on the Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railway in Shikoku. Keikyu
has three depots in Kanagawa-Shimmachi, Kanazawa-Bunko and Kurihama.
Each of this depot has about the same size and takes care for
about 250 cars. The main workshop is in Kurihama.
Photos:
Tips for Railfanning Keikyu:
When visiting the Keikyu, here are some tips. To watch the
train operation, it is best to go to Keikyu-Kawasaki, to Kanazwa-Bunko
or to Shinagawa. At Shinagawa, you can also see many different
cars of the through-service with Asakusa subway line. For taking
photos, the best place is Minami-Ota, as there are four tracks.
When a fast train stops at a big station where a local train waits,
the driver and the conductor of the local train help to lead the
passengers to the fast train and to the exits. This can often
be observed seen at Keikyu-Kawasaki and Kami-Ooka. Announcements
at stations are often made by the conductors of the trains stopping
there; they use wireless microphones for this. When you change
to Keikyu, it is the best to use Shinagawa and Yokohama stations.
At both stations you can change from JR to Keikyu directly without
leaving the station. Buy a through ticket at your first station,
so you do not have to buy a new ticket at Shinagawa or Yokohama
again, thus saving time (but not save money!). At Yokohama you
can also change from Tokyu to Keikyu directly by walking through
JR's main concourse.
Modelling the Keikyu:
Kato offers the Keikyu 800 series: a 3-car-set (cat. no. 10-058)
and an additional 3-car-set (10-059) (N-gauge). Green Max has
a kit to build the Keikyu 600 series, which comprises of a basic
set of 4 cars (1/150).
Postscript:
I used the following sources to write this article: "Keikyu"
by Mitsuo Yoshimura, Hoikusha Color Books; "Private Railways
of Japan, their Networks and Fleet", by Yasuo Wakuda; JRS
member Naoaki Okada in Tokyo sent me information about the rolling
stock.
The rail map and track layout were drawn by Hiroshi Naito.
