Profile:
Tokyu (full name Tokyo Kyuko Dentetsu = Tokyo Express Electric Railway) is one of the major private railways in Japan with a network of seven railway lines and one tramway line with a total length of 100.7 km. In terms of size of network, Tokyu is the 13th biggest private railway in Japan, but it transports more passengers than any other of the private railways (2.6 million per day). Actually JR East and JR West are the only railway companies in Japan with more passengers than Tokyu. In spite of the many passengers, Tokyu does not have the biggest total daily income (4th of the private railways), but the biggest income per route-km of all Japanese railways: 2.5 million Yen per km and day. But riding on the Tokyu is not expensive, in fact it is one of the cheapest railways in Japan, where you can take a trip up to 3 km for only 110 Yen on some lines. Another feature of the Tokyu is that the average trip length per passenger is only 9.4 km, less than the 14.1 km for the other big private railways.

Tokyu is quite profitable, as there is traffic on most lines in both directions all day long. Many railways centered on big cities suffer the same operating problem, namely that in the peak hours trains running against the flow of the rush run nearly empty. The Toyoko-sen connects two big centers (Shibuya/Tokyo and Yokohama), and is therefore in a very favorable position. Mekama-and Ikegami-sen bring the passengers to JR s Yamanote-sen at one end and to JR’s Keihin-Tohoku-sen at the other end, so they are also quite full throughout the day. A “full train” in Japan does of course mean overcrowding in the morning rush hour: Toyoko-sen reaches a congestion-rate of 199% and the Shin-Tamagawa-sen of 193%. These numbers are among the highest of all private railways in Japan, but much lower than JR s congestion-rates, which are between 200% and 270% around Tokyo. In spite of these rates, Tokyu s trains are very punctual, because the lines have a very simple service pattern.

Tokyu shows once more, that a railway with a network instead of a single line is in a better position, the lines of the network are creating demand for each other. Lessons for the privatisation of British Rail or Deutsche Bahn (German Railways)?

But now back to Tokyu’s railways. As described in the first paragraph, they have some unique features, for which they are quite well known: Very cheap, very many passengers, a short average travelling distance and a close-meshed network of eight lines, serving south-western Tokyo (especially the wards of Setagaya, Meguro and Ota) and parts of Kawasaki and Yokohama.

Tokyu was established as a regional development company in 1922 and has since grown to become one of Japan’s large corporate groupings with a total of 390 companies and 9 foundations, employing 106,000 persons (of which 3800 work for Tokyu s railways). Railways, real estate and department stores have been the main areas for business since the beginning; but since the war, Tokyu has built up a leisure department as a fourth sector. Although Tokyu’s railways are situated only in the southwestern part of Tokyo and in Kawasaki and Yokohama, you can still use their system to get to other parts of Japan by taking one of the long-distance Tokyu buses, e.g. to Izumo, Himeji or Wakayama. If you want to go faster, you can fly by Japan Air System, one of the three biggest airlines in Japan, owned by Tokyu.

Origine of Name:
The name “Tokyu” did not appear from the beginning. In 1922 the Meguro-Kamata Dentetsu (Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway) was founded as the railway section of Denentoshi Ltd., a development and real estate company. In 1935 it merged with the Ikegami Denki Tetsudo. The Tokyo-Yokohama Dentetsu had been founded in 1927 to operate what is today Tokyu’s Toyoko-sen, and in 1938 it took over the Tamagawa Denki Tetsudo, that had already started tramway operation in 1907. Meguro-Kamata-Dentetsu and Tokyo-Yokohama Dentetsu finally merged in 1939 to become what is today Tokyu. But, in 1942 because of the war Tokyo-Yokohama Dentetsu, Keihin Kyuko and Odakyu had to form one railway company in southwestern Tokyo to reduce the costs of railway operation, and Keio followed in 1944. This company was called Tokyo Kyuko Dentetsu, which was broken up again in 1948 to make the four former companies. But the Toyko-Yokohama Dentetsu did not retain its pre-war name and kept the wartime name, which is often shortened to Tokyu. If you want to know why, just try saying “Tokyo Kyuko” very fast for ten times – after a short while you will automatically say “Tokyu”.

Subsidiaries:
Stay at one of their 44 hotels or play golf on Tokyu s 8 golf courses, that are all over the country. These land developments were influenced by the British idea of a “garden city”, and so Denen Chofu and later Tama Denen Toshi were built, which of course can be reached by Tokyu railways or Tokyu buses. Today Denen Chofu is the most distinguished high-class residential area in Tokyo. Other big companies are Tokyu Cable TV, several restaurants, schools and construction companies and Tokyu Sharyo, a railway car maker. Tokyu’s department stores are among the largest in Japan, and many of them can be found in the Shibuya station area of Tokyo. The “109” department stores also belong to Tokyu: They should (even in Japanese) be pronounced “one-oh-nine”, but if you spell the numbers in real Japanese, 10 is TO and 9 is KYU. And if travelling overseas, you will find 15 “Pan Pacific Hotels” and several land development projects around the pacific, all operated by Tokyu.

Museum:
Tokyu has a “Railway and Bus Museum” near Takatsu on the Den-entoshi Line.

Night Bus Service:
If you stay out late in Toyko and miss your last train (Toyoko-sen and Shin-Tamagawa-sen both leave from Shibuya at 0:42 h), you could catch on of the Tokyu night buses. Two buses leave from Shibuya at 1:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. and drive along the Toyoko- and Den entoshi-sen, where they stop at the major stations. The fare is between 1400 and 2100 Yen, but this is still much less than a taxi.

Toyoko-sen:
The Toyoko-sen (sen means “line”) is Tokyu’s most important line, running from Shibuya (one of the big subcenters of Tokyo) to Sakuragicho in Yokohama. It was opened between Tamagawaen and Yokohama (15.1 km) in 1926 and between Tamagawaen and Shibuya (9.1 km) in 1927, and was extended to Takashimacho in 1928 (0.8 km) and to the terminus Sakuragicho in 1932 (1.3 km). The line is 26.3 km long, has 23 stations, and local trains take 45 min to cover the whole line, kyuko-(express ) trains 35 min. 1.1 million passengers travel on the Toyoko-sen each day. It is not only a line for commuters, but also a non-JR-connection between Tokyo and Yokohama, and a very cheap one. If you want to go from Shinjuku to Yokohama all the way by JR via Shinagawa, you have to pay 530 Yen. If you take the Yamanote-sen from Shinjuku to Shibuya and then change to the Toyoko-sen, you only have to pay 410 Yen (150 Yen JR plus 260 Yen Tokyu).

8-car-trains are are allocated to the Toyoko-sen, and all trains run over the whole line (except for those coming from or going to the depot at Motosumiyoshi). The service pattern during daytime is two local trains followed by one express train every 15 minutes. But the expresses on this line are so slow because of the many stops, that one of the local trains is not being overtaken, the other one is wating for the express at Hiyoshi. In the rush-hour there is an express every 10 minutes with 3 local trains in between, and then every local train is overtaken at least once. Stations for overtaking are Kikuna, Hiyoshi and Jiyugaoka. Besides these trains, about every third subway train from the Hibiya-sen, that ends at Naka-Meguro, goes on over the Toyoko-sen to Hiyoshi (or to Kikuna during the rush hour). While the normal Tokyu-cars on this line are 20 meters long and have 4 doors, the cars for the Hibiya-sen are slightly different; they are only 18 meters long and have 3 doors. Tokyu’s 1000 series and Eidan’s 05 series (some of which have 5-door-cars at both ends of the train) can be seen on this service.

Shin-Tamagawa-sen and Denentoshi-sen:
Shin-Tamagawa-sen and Denentoshi-sen are the two newest Tokyu-lines, but they have become the second and third most important lines now. The Shin-Tamagawa-sen starts from Shibuya, but from the underground station, quite far away from the terminus of the Toyoko-sen. The reason for this is, that all trains from the subway Hanzomon-sen continue on the Shin-Tamagawa-sen. This line is 9.4 km long with 7 stations and was opened in 1977, 640,000 passengers travel on it every day now. It replaced a tramway on this route that was closed in 1969, and is now running completely underground. At Futako-Tamagawaen, again all trains continue onto the next line, the Den entoshi-sen. While the part between Futako-Tamagawaen and Musashi-Mizonokuchi had already opened in 1943 as part of the Oimachi-sen (see below), the Den entoshi-sen was built in the 1960s as the catalyst for the development of the new residential area around this line, to be developed by Tokyu. It was opened to Nagatsuta in 1966 with a length of 14.2 km and the next opening dates were Nagatsuta – Tsukushino (2.1 km) in 1968, Tsukushino – Suzukakedai (1.2 km) in 1972, Suzukakedai – Tsukimino (2.3 km) in 1976 and Tsukimino – Chuo-Rinkan (1.2 km) in 1983. Today the Den entoshi-sen is 22.1 km long and 718,000 passengers use the 20 stations every day.

As mentioned above, Hanzomon-sen, Shin-Tamagawa-sen and Den entoshi-sen form just one line because all trains operate over all three lines. Local trains from Shibuya to Chuo-Rinkan take 51 min, faster trains run only as far as Nagatsuta (local trains take 40 min to get there): rapid trains (kaisoku) make 11 stops and take 32 min, and express trains (kyuko) make 7 stops, 30 min. The daytime service-pattern is 8 local and 2 rapid trains per hour, but before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. there are express trains but no rapid trains. In the busiest hours of the morning, there are up to 26 trains, of which 10 are expresses. All trains have 10 cars, and again you can see Eidan subway cars together with Tokyu cars, this time with the Eidan 8000 series for the Hanzomon-sen.

Kodomo-no-kuni-sen:
The Kodomo-no-kuni-sen is just a 3.4 km long branch line from Nagatsuta (on the Denentoshi-sen) to Kodomo-no-kuni (“Children s land”), a big amusement-park. The line opened in 1967 at the same time as the park, which is operated by Tokyu. 1400 passengers use it per day, and the trains (2 cars long and operated by one man only) run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Oimachi-sen:
The Oimachi-sen was opened between Oimachi, where it connects with JR s Keihin-Tohoku-sen, and Ookayama (4.8 km) in 1927, and extended further 5.6 km to Futako-Tamagawaen in 1929. The extension from there to Mizonokuchi (opened in 1943), where it meets JR’s Nambu-sen (JR’s station is called Musashi-Mizonokuchi), is now part of the Den entoshi-sen. Today the Oimachi-sen is 10.4 km long, has 15 stations and 350,000 passengers per day. Only local trains operate on this line, which takes 21 min. There are 18 trains in the rush hour and 8 trains per hour during daytime off-peak hours. All trains have 5 cars.

Mekama-sen:
The Mekama-sen was opened in 1923. It runs 13.1 km from Meguro (on JR s Yamanote-sen) to Kamata (JR s Keihin-Tohoku-sen) and has 15 stations, and carries 302,000 passengers per day. Here too, only local trains operate, 4 cars each, and take 26 min to cover the whole line. 18 trains run in the rush hour, but some of them only between Okusawa and Meguro, and 8 trains per hour run along the whole line over the day.

Ikegami-sen:
The Ikegami-sen is Tokyu s oldest railway line, opened between Ikegami and Kamata (on JR’s Keihin-Tohoku-sen) in 1922, and exteded to Gotanda in 1928, where it connects with the Yamanote-sen. It is shorter than the Mekama-sen, only 10.9 km, but also has 15 stations, that are sometimes no further away than 600 meters from each other. The Ikegami-sen has some small underground sections nowadays, so that Tokyu can make use of the new space created above ground by the removal of track. There are Tokyu stores over some of the underground stations, e.g. at Nagahara. Only 3-car local trains operate on this line taking a total of 23 min to cover the whole line, which 223,000 passengers use per day. In the rush hour there are 21 trains, but every second train runs only between Gotanda and Yukigaya-Otsuka. During the day there are 8 trains per hour, serving the whole line.

Gauge and Electrification:
All the above mentioned lines are 1067 mm gauge and have been classified as “railways” since the beginning. Their voltage was originally 600 VDC, but this was converted to 1500 VDC after the war: Toyoko-sen in 1952, Mekama-sen in 1955, Ikegami-sen in 1957 and Oimachi-sen in 1958. Shin-Tamagawa-sen and Den entoshi-sen have been using 1500 V from the beginning.

Tokyu Tramway:
The Setagaya-sen is the last survivor of the Tokyu tramway network, that consited of three lines until 1969. Today, only the section from Sangenjaya (at the Shin-Tamagawa-sen) to Shimotakaido (connection to the Keio-sen), which is 5.1 km long and has 10 stations, and is served in 16 min. The Setagaya-sen is different from the rest of the network in many ways: It is not included in the Tokyu fare system, and so there is a flat fare of 130 Yen. The trains still use 600 V and their gauge is 1372 mm, as on all trams in Tokyo. 53,000 passengers use the line every day. It is in a good condition, compared to many other trams in Japan, but as trams in Japan are not allowed to run more than 40 km/h, not much can be done to make the trams faster. There is no rail connection to any other railway. The stations have low platforms, so that you have to climb up into the cars. All cars are coupled to two-car-trains, and the drivers and conductors collect the fare when you get into the car.

The Tamagawa Denki Tetsudo opened the first tramway in today’s Tokyu area in 1907: The line between Shibuya and Futako-Tamagawaen was 9.1 km long and took exactly the same route, that the Shin-Tamagawa-sen (shin means new) uses today. The gauge of this line was 1067 mm, but to transport gravel from the Tama River into the city, it was regauged in 1920 to 1372 mm to enable through-running with the city-owned tram system. This connection was closed in 1938 with the opening of the subway Ginza-sen, but the gauge of 1372 mm remained the standard size for the trams. Three branch lines were opened later: in 1924 from Futako-Tamagawaen northwards to Kinuta-Honmura (Kinuta-sen, 2.2 km, all single track), in 1925 from Sangenjaya to Shimo-Takaido (today s Setagaya-sen, 5.1 km), and in 1927 from Futako-Tamagawaen to Mizonokuchi. The line to Mizonokuchi was regauged to 1067 mm and classified as a “railway” in 1943 and became part of the Oimachi-sen. The Tamagawa-sen and the Kinuta-sen closed in 1969, and the former being replaced by the Shin-Tamagawa-sen in 1977, the latter being served by buses now.

Through Service with Subway:
There have not been many changes in the Tokyu network since the opening of the Shin-Tamagawa-sen in 1977, although it has become a lot more efficient, especially by extending train lengths and increasing train frequencies. But as traffic is growing year by year, more must be done. One of the biggest problems is that the capacity of Shibuya station (Toyoko-sen) can hardly be increased, neither can the number of trains on this line. To relieve the congestion at Shibuya station (and also on the Ginza subway line), through-running with the subway Hibiya-sen had already started in 1964. The trains leave the Toyoko-sen at Naka-Meguro, two stops before Shibuya, and then go underground to central Tokyo, but this route has now also reached its capacity. The through service of the Shin-Tamagawa-sen with the Hanzomon-sen had started in 1978 relieving some of the pressure on Shibuya. A similar service will start around 1998, when the subways Namboku-sen and Mita-sen will be extended from their current termini at Komagome and Mita to Meguro to connect with the Mekama-sen there.

Toshin (City-center) sen:
Tokyu’s new Meguro station is now under construction; it had been parallel to JR s station since 1923, but will become an underground station to enable through-running with the Namboku-and Mita-sen. Much must be done on the Mekama-sen, as there are today only 4-car-trains running on the line, and the cars are just 18 meters long. The line will be completely rebuilt between Meguro and Denen-Chofu, to take the standard train size of 8-car-trains with 20-meter-cars. New underground stations at Ookayama and Denen-Chofu are already being built with better connections to the other lines. The track on the Toyoko-sen will be doubled between Denen-Chofu and Hiyoshi to make trains faster, but this is also necessary to get more capacity. Today there are only trains from Hiyoshi to Shibuya and into the Hibiya-sen, but in a few years it will be possible to ride through to the Namboku-sen and Mita-sen without changing trains. Then Tokyu will have through-running with 4 subway lines, more than any other railway in Tokyo. An interesting fact is, that the Namboku-sen and the Mita-sen will share the new subway tunnel between Seishoko-mae (under construction) and Meguro. The two subway lines belong to different companies (Eidan and Toei), that have never had the joint use of any of their facilities.

MM21:
There will also be big changes at the southern end of the Toyoko-sen. The construction of a new city center southeast of Yokohama station, called “Minato Mirai 21” (MM21), brings the need to build a railway there. Therefore, the Toyoko-sen will be moved underground between Higashi-Hakuraku and Yokohama (2.1 km, including a new underground station at Yokohama), and the last part of the Toyoko-sen (2.1 km between Yokohama and Sakuragicho) will be closed. All trains on this line will then (maybe from 2000) continue on from Yokohama over the new line, which will be 4.1 km long and have stations at Minato-Mirai-Chuo, Kencho-mae and Motomachi. Only Tokyu trains will run on this line, called MM21-sen, but the owner will be a new company, Yokohama Kosoku Tetsudo (Yokohama High Speed Railway). This company is a joint venture between the city of Yokohama, the prefecture of Kanagawa, Tokyu, the Japan Development Bank and Mitsubishi.

Tokyu’s rolling stock looks very much the same on all lines: silver with a red belt. In the past, the trains were dark green, just as the trams on the Setagaya-sen are today. But this livery was changed to silver from 1960 with the appereance of the 6000 series, the red belt was added later. The last green railway cars of 3000 and 5000 series were withdrawn in the late 1980s.

Tokyu’s first railway in 1923 had wooden cars, but the first steel cars came into service only two years later, with the DEHA 100 series. In the 5200 series, the Tokyu had the first stainless steel cars in Japan, built in 1952. Ten years later, the cars for the 7000 series were all stainless. In 1987, the 9000 series was introduced using a VVVF-inverter (variable voltage, variable frequency). This technique has also been used for the 1000 and 2000 series. In 1936 eight stream-lined gasolin-railcars came into service as express trains on the Toyoko-sen, but because of shortage of fuel their operation was stopped in 1938.

Tokyu rolling stock as of September 1994:

series	built     number   number  trains      car      doors  per car
        between     of       of    length      length          in service
                   cars    trains                              on line
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
70      1942-44	    8	     4	   2 cars      13.96 m	  3    Setagaya
80      1950	    6        3     2 cars      13.96 m    3    Setagaya
150     1964        4        2     2 cars      13.96 m    3    Setagaya
1000    1988-92    33       11     3 cars      18 m       3    Ikegami
1000    1988-92    80       10     8 cars      18 m       3    Toyoko and 
                                                               subway Hibiya
2000    1993-      30        3    10 cars      20 m       4    Den entoshi
                                                               Shin-Tamagawa &
                                                               Subway Hanzomon
7000    1962-66     2        1     2 cars      18 m       3    Kodomo-no-kuni
7200    1967-73     2	     1     2 cars      18 m       3    Kodomo-no-kuni
7200    1967-73    20        5     4 cars      18 m       3    Mekama
7200    1967-73    12        4     3 cars      18 m       3    Ikegami
7600    1967-73     9        3     3 cars      18 m       3    Ikegami
7700    1962-66    56       14     4 cars      18 m       3    Mekama
8000    1969-73   152       19     8 cars      20 m       4    Toyoko
8000    1969-73    85       17     5 cars      20 m       4    Oimachi
8500    1975-88    40        5     8 cars      20 m       4    Toyoko
8500    1975-88   400       40    10 cars      20 m       4    Denentoshi
                                                               Shin-Tamagawa &
                                                               Suway Hanzomon
9000    1987-90     5        1     5 cars      20 m       4    Oimachi
9000    1987-90   112       14     8 cars      20 m       4    Toyoko

Each car has its own number and so can be clearly distinguished from other cars. The system of numbering the cars in a train is shown here.

Toyoko-sen, 9000 series: 8 cars, of which the second, fourth, sixth and seventh have a motor:

    9001 - 9201 - 9701 - 9301 - 9801 - 9401 - 9601 - 9101 (* to Sakuragicho)
    9002 - 9202 - 9702 - 9302 - 9802 - 9402 - 9602 - 9102 and so on.

Toyoko-sen, 1000 series: 8 cars, of which all cars except first and last have a motor:

    1001 - 1251 - 1201 - 1351 - 1301 - 1451 - 1401 - 1101 (* to Hiyoshi/Kikuna)
    1002 - 1252 - 1202 - 1352 - 1302 - 1452 - 1402 - 1102 and so on.

Of the 11 trains of this series, 2 trains have 4 cabs and can be divided in the middle. Because every cab has one of the small numbers, 1001 to 1013 are used by the Toyoko-sen.

Ikegami-sen, 1000 series: 3 cars, the second has a motor. The numbers for these trains follow those from the same series of the Toyoko-sen, so using 1014 to 1024 for the ten trains.

    1014 - 1214 - 1314 (* to Kamata)
    1015 - 1215 - 1315 and so on.

Mekama-sen, 7700 series: 4 cars, of which the second and fourth have a motor:

    7901 - 7801 - 7951 - 7701 (* to Kamata)
    7902 - 7802 - 7952 - 7702 and so on.

Old Tokyu-cars are normally sold to other private railway companies. Tokyu is quite sucessful in selling its cars, most of the cars are of the 18-meter-type with 3 doors. Today you can find the 2000 series at Chichibu Railway, the 3000 series at Towada Kanko Railway, the 3500 series at Toyohashi Railway, the 5000 series at Kumamoto Electric Railway, Fukushima Kotsu, Matsumoto Electric Railway, Nagano Electric Railway and Gakunan Railway, and the 7000 series at Hokuriku Railway and Mizuma Railway. Ueda Kotsu uses the 5000 and 7200 series and the Konan Railway uses several cars of the 3000, 6000 and 7000 series.

Information about Tokyu was taken from the following sources: “Tokyu” by Michikazu Miyata, Hoikusha Books; The Railway Pictorial, July 1994; Toshi Kotsu Nenpo 1994 (Urban Transportation Yearbook). I also thank Naoaki Okada in Tokyo for sending me lots of information on Tokyu, especially about the history and the rolling stock.

This article was originally published in “Bullet-in” No. 13, the magazine of the Japanese Railway Society. It was updated and slightly shortened for the publication in the Internet.

The articles and photos contained here all copyright Oliver Mayer.