Meitetsu

名古屋鉄道株式会社 Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.

Meitetsu logo
Type	Public KK (TYO: 9048)
Industry	Private railroad
Founded	June 13, 1921 (1921-06-13)[1]
Headquarters	Nagoya, Japan
Area served	Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture
Website	http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/

Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd. (名古屋鉄道株式会社, Nagoya Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) TYO: 9048, often abbreviated as Meitetsu (名鉄^?), is a railroad company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan.

Some of the more famous trains operated by Nagoya Railroad include the Panorama Car and the Panorama Car Super, both of which offer views through their wide front windows. While the Panorama Super train is used extensively for the railroad's limited express service, the older and more energy-consuming Panorama Car train has already been retired, the last run was on 27 December 2008. In the Tōkai region around Nagoya, it is a central firm of the Meitetsu Group, which is involved in the transportation industry, the retail trade, the service industry, and the real estate industry, etc.

History

While Nagoya Railroad is an old company in its own right, it has acquired many small rail companies in the area surrounding Nagoya, so most lines that belong to modern-day Nagoya Railroad were constructed and operated by other companies which later merged with Nagoya Railroad, mostly in the prewar and wartime period. For example, it acquired its Kōwa Line on the Chita Peninsula from its merger with Chita Railroad on February 1, 1943 and it acquired its Mikawa Line from its merger with Mikawa Railroad.^[2][3] However, the company that became modern Nagoya Railroad was Aichi Horsecar Company, founded on June 25, 1894; 117 years ago (1894-06-25).^[4]

Meiji Mura is the corporate museum of Nagoya Railroad.

As of March 31, 2010, Nagoya Railroad operated 444.2 kilometres (276.0 mi) of track, 275 stations, and 1090 train cars.^[5]

Lines

Meitetsu Panorama Super ( Left ) & Airport Train μ-Sky ( Right )

Meitetsu 7000 series "Panorama Car" train

Meitetsu 5000 series commuter

Direction	Name	Japanese	Terminals	Length (km)
Main	■ Nagoya Line	名古屋本線	Toyohashi - Meitetsu-Gifu	99.8
Gifu West	■ Hashima Line	羽島線	Shin Hashima - Egira	1.3
	■ Takehana Line	竹鼻線	Kasamatsu - Egira	10.3
	■ Bisai Line	尾西線	Yatomi - Tamanoi	30.9
	■ Tsushima Line	津島線	Sukaguchi - Tsushima	11.8
Gifu East	■ Kakamigahara Line	各務原線	Meitetsu-Gifu - Shin-Unuma	17.6
	■ Inuyama Line1	犬山線	Biwajima Junction - Shin-Unuma	26.8
	■ Hiromi Line	広見線	Inuyama - Mitake	22.3
Toyohashi West	■ Chikkō Line	築港線	Ōe - Higashi Nagoyako	1.5
	■ Tokoname Line	常滑線	Jingū-mae - Tokoname	29.3
	■ Airport Line	空港線	Tokoname - Central Japan Int'l Airport	4.2
	■ Kōwa Line	河和線	Ōtagawa - Kōwa	28.8
	■ Chita New Line	知多新線	Fuki - Utsumi	13.9
Toyohashi East	■ Toyota Line1	豊田線	Umetsubo - Akaike	15.2
	■ Mikawa Line	三河線	Sanage - Hekinan	39.8
	■ Nishio Line	西尾線	Shin Anjō - Kira Yoshida	24.7
	■ Gamagōri Line	蒲郡線	Kira Yoshida - Gamagōri	17.6
	■ Toyokawa Line	豊川線	Kō - Toyokawa-Inari	7.2
Independent	■ Seto Line	瀬戸線	Sakaemachi - Owari Seto	20.6
	■ Komaki Line2	小牧線	Kamiiida - Inuyama	20.4

¹ Through operation to/from the Nagoya Municipal Subway ■ Tsurumai Line
² Through operation to/from the Nagoya Municipal Subway ■ Kamiiida Line

Major stations

Meitetsu Limited Express Network

Major Stations in Nagoya City

• Meitetsu-Nagoya Station
• Kanayama Station
• Jingū-mae Station

Nagoya Line (East Side) and Toyokawa Line

• Toyohashi Station
• Higashi-Okazaki Station
• Chiryū Station
• Toyokawa-Inari Station

Tokoname Line, Chikko Line and Airport Line

• Central Japan International Airport Station
• Tokoname Station
• Ōtagawa Station (Tokai City)

Kōwa Line and Chita New Line

• Chita-Handa Station
• Kōwa Station (Mihama Town)
• Utsumi Station (Minami Chita Town)

Mikawa Line, Toyota Line, Nishio Line and Gamagori Line

• Toyota-shi Station (Toyota City)
• Hekinan Station
• Nishio Station
• Kira-Yoshida Station (Kira Town)

Nagoya Line (West Side), Takehana Line and Hashima Line

• Sukaguchi Station (Shinkawa Town)
• Meitetsu-Ichinomiya Station
• Meitetsu-Gifu Station
• Shin-Hashima Station

Tsushima Line and Bisai Line

• Tsushima Station
• Yatomi Station

Inuyama Line, Kakamigahara Line and Hiromi Line

• Iwakura Station
• Inuyama Station
• Shin-Kani Station

Komaki Line and Kami Iida Line

• Komaki Station
• Kamiiida Station

Seto Line

• Sakaemachi Station
• Owari-Seto Station

Rolling stock

Nippon Sharyo has produced nearly every car that Meitetsu operates or has operated, a notable exception being its DeKi 600, an electric locomotive, which was produced by Toshiba, but very few units were produced for Meitetsu. The DeKi 600 is one of the few locomotives that Meitetsu possesses: while the company used to engage in the freight business and still possesses some freight locomotives, it no longer carries freight on a regular basis.

Meitetsu is famous for its red trains, including its famous 7000 Series "Panorama Car" which was retired in 2009 after a career lasting nearly half a century. The most recent cars, however, are not solid red but rather brushed steel as in the case of the 4000 Series and 5000 Series, or white as in the case of the 1700 Series or 2000 Series.

The following are the train types that Meitetsu operates today, as well as selected types that Meitetsu has retired:

• Limited Express
  • 1000 Series
  • 1700 Series
  • 2000 Series
  • 2200 series
• Commuter
  • 100/200 Series
  • 300 Series
  • 3500 Series
  • 3300 Series
  • 4000 Series
  • 5000 Series (2008)
  • 5300 Series
  • 5700 Series
  • 6000 Series
• Withdrawn train types
  • 1600 Series
  • 7000 Series
  • 5000 Series (1955)
• Electric locomotives
  • DeKi 300
  • DeKi 400
  • DeKi 600

References

1. ^ 鷲田, 鉄也 (September 2010), (in Japanese)週刊朝日百科, 週刊歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線 (Japan: Asahi Shimbun Publications, Inc.) (8): 21, ISBN 9784023401389 
2. ^ 鷲田, 鉄也 (September 2010), (in Japanese)週刊朝日百科, 週刊歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線 (Japan: Asahi Shimbun Publications, Inc.) (9): 10, ISBN 9784023401396　 
3. ^ 佐藤, 信之 (19 June 2004), "高度経済成長期の鉄道整備―昭和30～40年代" (in Japanese), 地下鉄の歴史首都圏・中部・近畿圏, グランプリ出版, p. 129, ISBN 4-87687-260-0 
4. ^ 鷲田, 鉄也 (September 2010), (in Japanese)週刊朝日百科, 週刊歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線 (Japan: Asahi Shimbun Publications, Inc.) (8): 20, ISBN 9784023401389 
5. ^ 鷲田, 鉄也 (September 2010), (in Japanese)週刊朝日百科, 週刊歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線 (Japan: Asahi Shimbun Publications, Inc.) (8): 1, ISBN 9784023401389 

External links

• Nagoya Railroad (English Official Site)
• Nagoya Railroad (Japanese Official Site)
• Museum Meiji Village