Kyoto urban tram

This article covers the disused urban tram network in Kyoto; for the existing network of Keifuku Denki Tetsudō ( Randen ) see tram Kyōto .

Kyoto urban tram
Car 1605, exhibited in Umekōji Park
Basic information
Country	Japan
city	Kyoto
opening	1895
Shutdown	1978
operator	Kyoto City Transport Office
Infrastructure
Formerly the largest route	70.5 km (standard gauge) + 21.1 km (narrow gauge)
Gauge	1435/1067 mm
Power system	600 V = overhead line

Postcard view of the Karasuma- / Shijōdōri intersection around 1915

View of the Kawaramachidōri around 1935

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

The Kyōto City Tram ( Japanese 京 都市 電 , Kyōto-shiden ) was the tram network of the city of Kyōto in the prefecture of Kyōto on the island of Honshū in Japan . It was opened in 1895 by the private company Kyōto Denki Tetsudō ( 京都 電 気 鉄 道 ) and in 1912 by the municipal transport office ( 京 都市 交通 Kyōto-shi Kōtsū-kyoku ) supplemented or taken over by this in 1918. After constant network expansion into the post-war period, operations were gradually discontinued until 1978.

As the first electrical transport company in the country, the private company Kyōto Denki Tetsudō opened its network through the old town of Kyōto between the main station and the festival area from April 1895 on the occasion of the 4th state industrial exhibition and (since February) as a separate line to the south to the then still independent city Fushimi . In the following years, extensions were made in the north to Demachi ( 出 町 ; 1901), in the west to Nijō station ( 二条 駅 ; 1902) in the northwest to Kitano ( 北野 ; 1912), in the south to Inari ( 稲 荷 ; 1904) and Chūshojima ( 中書 島 ; 1914) put into operation; the union of both power supplies took place in 1901.

Independently of this, the city itself began to build a standard-gauge tram network from 1912. Starting from the main train station, an inner ring was first tackled via Shichijōdōri-Ōmiyadōri-Kōindōri-Senbondōri-Imadegawadōri-Kawaramachidōri with axes crossing centrally through the Karasumadōri in north-south and the Shijō- and Marutamachidōri in east-west direction. The narrow-gauge network, together with the 136 existing vehicles, was bought by the city in 1918 and then partly re-gauged and partly discontinued by 1927; only one line from the main train station to Kitano remained in operation until 1961 under the name N-den ( N 電 ).

Although the completion of the eastern part of the ring dragged on until 1927, further routes were built in the north to the new depot and the botanical garden and in the east the loop Marutamachidōri-Higashiōjidōri-Shichijōdōri including the connection to the Shijōdōri. The outer ring started in this way via Higashiōjidōri-Kujōdōri-Nishiōjidōri-Kitaōjidōri was largely completed during the 1930s; the last gaps in the north were not closed until 1943.

The completion of the connection to the intersection axes and the extended inner ring edges dragged on in places until the post-war period, but could be completed in 1958 between Kitano and Kitano-Hakubaichō after the private railway Keifuku Denki Tetsudō ceded its route there to the city. The only exception was the western part of the Shijōdōri, where from 1932 the only urban trolleybus line (again the first of its kind in Japanese local transport) operated; it was extended to Matsuobashi ( 松尾 橋 ) until 1962 and completely discontinued in 1969. In 1954 the loop Imadegawadōri – Shirakawadōri – Marutamachidōri was completed.

At the beginning of the 1950s, there was also a connection between the outer ring and the Keifuku railway lines leading north from Demachiyanagi ( 出 町 mit ) with interconnected lines.

The network thus reached its greatest extent at the end of 1958 with 76.8 km, of which 6.3 km were narrow-gauge lines. Due to the changed transport policy, however, the decline soon set in, as the city administration decided in 1969 to cease operations. The first to hit the narrow-gauge line in 1961, followed by the equally traditional Fushimi route in 1970. As early as 1972, all routes on the Ōmiya, Kōin, Senbon and Shijōdōri were shut down, followed in 1974 by the complete Karasumadōri, and in 1976 by the Marutamachi-, Shirakawa- and Imadegawadōri, and in 1977 the Kawaramachi and western Shichijōdōri were rail-free. In the end there was only the outer ring and its access route to the main train station via the Shichijōdōri; they were shut down with operations on October 1, 1978.

The transport services were taken over by buses and an underground system that has now grown to two lines . After that, only individual tram lines operated by private companies outside the city center remained.

The resumption of inner-city operations, which had been considered several times, has not yet got beyond the planning stage.

In the southwest of the city is in Umekōji Park ( 梅 小路 公園 , Umekōji-kōen ) a memorial pavilion with original trams.

Web links

Commons : Kyoto Urban Tram  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Official Japanese city website on the subject (Japanese)

Remarks

1. ↑ A short overland trolleybus line operated by the Hankyū operated from 1928 to 1932.