Chikuho Electric Railway

[bill937ca]

The Chikuho Electric Railway is a railway line operating tramway system rolling stock. it is part of the Nishitetsu Group, one of Japan.s major private railways.

 

Length: 16 km

Gauge: 1435mm

Power: 600v DC

 

The line dates back to 1950 when Nishitetsu obtained a concession for an express tramway between Kurosaki and Fukuoka via the Chikuho coalfield.  Construction started in 1953. By 1959.9.18 the line reached Chikuho-Nogata. No further extensions were built because of increasing auto ownership, improved roads and JNR plans for electrification and service improvements. Although part of Nishitetsu, the Chikuho Electric Railway has always been a separate company.  (This info came from my beat up little Electric Railways of Japan, Volume 3 Western Japan book, circa 1993).

 

Generally, railway lines in Japan are required to have high platforms (by law) and for some reason this line has an exemption which are rare and hard to get or part of the express tramway concept. In appears this may be a legacy of the 1970s when Nishitetsu operated Chikukho articulated cars through to points on the Kitakyushu tramway.

 

The videos by Train 303 show the line from end to end during Golden Week 2010.  The music only plays at the beginning and end of the presentation. There are zenmen tenbou sequences, as well as sequences along the line and in stations and of rolling stock in the yard. There is the brown / rust ballast often seen on Japanese railway lines, overhead is supported by poles on both sides of the track and catenary is suspended from a crosspiece and most stations are very simple, sometimes only a small shelter. Also note the conductors on the articulated trams. The line is scenic but not particularly urban.

 

For someone who wants to run trams on a railway style line Chikuho Electric Railway is a great prototype.

 

Train 303 video.

 

 

 

Tomytec is offering 2000 series Chikuho Electric Railway  articulated trams:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10442539

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10442538

 

The line is getting new 5000 series low-floor articulated cars, but the traffic density is barely above the 4000 passengers/km a day(according to decade old figures in Wilkipedia), a threshold at which the Japanese government allows conversion to buses.

 

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/筑豊電気鉄道

 

Passenger traffic density (see page 3)  http://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr18/pdf/contents.pdf

Edited February 23, 2017 by bill937ca

[bikkuri bahn]

I highly recommend a visit to this line.  Especially to the terminus at Chikuho Nogata.  Unfortunately, the 2000 series have become scarce with the introduction of the new stock.

[Nick_Burman]

The line is getting new 5000 series low-floor articulated cars, but the traffic density is barely above the 4000 passengers/km a day(according to decade old figures in Wilkipedia), a threshold at which the Japanese government allows conversion to buses.

 

 

I followed the railway in the map, the line travels cross-country related to the prevailing street patterns. Replacing the line with a bus service would be very difficult, not to say inconvenient as several (potential) stops would be several blocks away from the stations they would be potentially replacing - buses would have either to take a very roundabout route or skip stops. The only way the line could be "bustified" directly would be conversion to a BRT using the trackbed.

 

 

Cheers NB

[bill937ca]

I followed the railway in the map, the line travels cross-country related to the prevailing street patterns. Replacing the line with a bus service would be very difficult, not to say inconvenient as several (potential) stops would be several blocks away from the stations they would be potentially replacing - buses would have either to take a very roundabout route or skip stops. The only way the line could be "bustified" directly would be conversion to a BRT using the trackbed.

 

 

Cheers NB

 

They just might do that. Nishitetsu has already converted the former tramway reservation between Daimon and Saiwai-machi in Tobata to busway in April 1986, long before busways were fashionable.

[Kabutoni]

Converting old railway lines to roads is (unfortunately) a very common sight in Japan. Sometimes just to roads, sometimes to bicycle exclusive roads (e.g. former Tsukuba Railway), and sometimes to parks (e.g. Tōkyū Tōyoko line).

[Sacto1985]

I'm not sure if Nishitetsu wants to convert this line to a BRT line. The cost of ripping up the tracks and turning the right=of-way into a surface road for buses could be prohibitive, not to mention the environmental cost.

[Nick_Burman]

Nishitetsu has already converted the former tramway reservation between Daimon and Saiwai-machi in Tobata to busway in April 1986, long before busways were fashionable.

 

Horse of a different colour - PRW section in a dense central city environment, thus financially justifiable. The Chikuho crosses mostly "low density" (by Japanese standards...) suburban developments, it would be difficult to justify the expense of tearing up the tracks and replacing them with a roadway. Just my .5€.

 

Cheers

[Nick_Burman]

I'm not sure if Nishitetsu wants to convert this line to a BRT line. The cost of ripping up the tracks and turning the right=of-way into a surface road for buses could be prohibitive, not to mention the environmental cost.

 Plus the fact that some time ago Chikuho ran an "adopt-a-crosstie" campaign in the communities served by the line to help raise funds for track replacement.

 

 

Cheers NB

[Sacto1985]

By the way, just over 13 months ago YouTube member riyotoyukai posted a zenmen tenbou video of the entire length of this line from JR West Kurosaki Station to the other end at Chikuhō-Nōgata Station:

 

 

An unusual aspect (in my opinion) of Chikuhō-Nōgata is the fact it is an elevated station, as you can see this from this picture from Wikipedia by Wikipedia contributor Soramimi:

 

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AD%91%E8%B1%8A%E7%9B%B4%E6%96%B9%E9%A7%85#/media/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%3AChikuho-Nogata_Station_20160618.jpg

 

They were supposed to extend lhis line further beyond this station, but that project was shelved.

Edited February 26, 2017 by cteno4