Eizan Electric Railway

The nihongo|Eizan Electric Railway|叡山電鉄|Eizan Dentetsu is a Japanese private railway company whose two lines run entirely in Sakyō-ku in the city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture.

The name of this small railway network is short for nihongo|Eiden|叡電, which itself is derived from the name of its predecessor, the Nihongo|Division of Eizan Electric Railway|叡山電鉄部|Eizan Dentetsu-bu of the Keifuku Electric Railroad. The present company was founded in 1985 as a subsidiary of Keifuku. The purpose of reorganization was to reduce the huge deficit of the Eiden lines, which had been completely isolated from the main Keifuku network since the abandonment of the Kyoto City Tramways in 1978. The split-off was considered to be an urgent matter, awaiting the completion of a long-awaited rail connection between the two networks of Eiden and Keihan . The Keihan Electric Railway was at that time constructing the Ōtō Line to the Eiden terminal at Demachiyanagi. The opening of the Ōtō Line significantly reduced the deficit of Eiden. Later on, in 2002, all shares of Keifuku were transferred from Keifuku to Keihan, of which Eiden became a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Lines

Although the company was established relatively recently, the first section of its routes was opened in 1925: ja-stalink|Demachiyanagi - present-day ja-stalink|Yase-Hieizan-guchi. Its purpose was primarily to serve as a tourist line to Mount Hiei. At that time it was operated by Nihongo|Kyoto Electricity|京都電燈|Kyoto Dentō, the predecessor of Keifuku as a railway operator.

The Kurama Line was built by the jointly owned company Nihongo|Kurama Electric Railway|鞍馬電気鉄道|Kurama Denki Tetsudō in order to provide access to Kurama temple and Kibune shrine in the hills north of Kyoto, from present-day ja-stalink|Takaragaike (up into the mountain) to ja-stalink|Kurama. The first section, present-day Takaragaike to ja-stalink|Ichihara was opened in 1928, with the extension to ja-stalink|Kurama the following year.

This railway accepts the Surutto Kansai card for payment, but not the PiTaPa card.

;__ Eizan Main Line (叡山本線):Demachiyanagi — Yase-Hieizanguchi: 5.6 km;__ Kurama Line (鞍馬線):Takaragaike — Kurama: 8.8 km

Rolling stock

For service
*"Deo 700" series "Deo 710" type, "Deo 720" type, "Deo 730" type 1-car
*"Deo 800" series 2-car
*"Deo 900" series 2-car named "Kirara"
*"Deo 600" type 2-carFor maintenance
*"Deto 1000" type

ee also

*List of railway companies in Japan

External links

*ja icon [http://www.keihannet.ne.jp/eiden/ Official website]