Fukui – Echizen tram

Fukui Tram
Old car encounter at the town hall
Basic information
Country	Japan
city	Fukui , Echizen
opening	1924/1933
operator	Fukui Tetsudō KK
Infrastructure
Route length	21.5 km
Gauge	1067 mm ( cape track )
Power system	600 V = overhead line
business
Lines	1

Low-floor vehicles of the type F1000 or "FUKURAM" (フ ク ラ ム) in Takefu

Stuttgart conversion car ex-Kōchi at the former station stop

Network development (continuous = existing, interrupted / dotted = shut down)

The Fukui – Echizen tram is the tram network between Fukui and Echizen on the island of Honshū in Japan . It is operated by the Fukui Tetsudō KK ( Japanese 福井 鉄 道 株式会社 ), Fukutetsu for short ( 福 鉄 ). The Fukui Tetsudō was earlier a subsidiary of the Nagoya Tetsudō (short: Meitetsu); Until 2008 Meitetsu still held a stake of 33.36%, but then gave all shares to public companies (including the Fukui city planning company, Fukui Chamber of Commerce, Takefu Chamber of Commerce).

It consists of only one line, the Fukubu Line ( 福 武 線 Fukubu-sen ), which runs from Echizen - Takefu in the south parallel to the JR Hokuriku main line to Fukui and after crossing the city center in the north at Tawaramachi Station ( 田原 町駅 ) meets the suburban railway line that Echizen Tetsudō meets. On this a few courses continue to Washizuka-Haribara ( 鷲 塚 針 原 ), which is currently the only link between trams and railways in Japan. The route south of Fukui is also licensed as a railroad, but only trams run here. In Fukui itself there is a short branch line to the main train station in the east. Since this is only connected from the north, depending on the direction of travel, turning maneuvers at the Rathaus stop ( 市 役 所 前 , Shiyakusho-mae ) are necessary.

Express trips are also offered on the Fukui – Echizen route, which do not serve all intermediate stations, although the tram section generally stops everywhere.

The overland route between Takefu and Fukui was the first to be built in 1924/25; it was not until 1933 that the route to Fukui station followed, and in 1950 to Tawaramachi. Only at the end of March 2016 was the connection to Echizen Tetsudō. At the same time, the station stop was extended from its previous position in a side street by almost 150 m to the station forecourt. In the meantime, the company operated two separate railway lines north and east of Takefu, which were gradually shut down between 1962 and 1981. From 1959 to 1973 there was even a track connection from the tram network to the line to Ota ( 織田 ). Apart from this and the southward connection of the station branch, no lines have been closed so far.

The vehicle fleet consists of a high-floor single wagon, twelve high-floor articulated cars and two partially low-floor single cars. Three low-floor articulated multiple units have only been procured from Niigata-Transys since 2013. The Echizen Tetsudō has also purchased a similar vehicle for the jointly operated section, which is not three-part, but only two-part. In addition, in 2014 they took over a vehicle originally from Stuttgart from the Kōchi tram under the name "Retram" ( レ ト ラ ム , Retoramu ) for special trips.

Web links

Commons : Fukui Railway  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official Japanese Website (Japanese)

Remarks

1. ↑ including 18 km of railway line
2. ↑ Another copy will follow in 2016.