Sendai tram

Sendai urban tram
Original car # 1 in the municipal tram museum
Basic information
Country	Japan
city	Sendai
opening	November 25, 1926
Shutdown	April 1, 1976
operator	Sendai Tourist Office
Infrastructure
Formerly the largest route	16 km
Gauge	1067 mm ( cape track )
Power system	600 V = overhead line

View of the inner city branch

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

The Sendai Tram or Sendai City Tram ( Japanese 市 電 , Sendai-shiden ) was the tram network of the city of Sendai on the island of Honshū in Japan . It has been operated by the municipal transport authority ( 仙台 市 交通局 , Sendai-shi Kōtsū-kyoku ) since it opened in 1926, expanded steadily into the post-war period and discontinued in 1976.

After many years of repeatedly interrupted planning to set up inner-city rail transport, the city was only able to start its tram operation on November 25, 1926. First an inner city ring line was built with a south branch from the main train station to Aramachi ( 荒 町 ). It was not until the 1930s that it was gradually expanded to Nagamachi ( 長 町 ) and then a north branch to the north station and a west branch to the Hachiman Shrine ( 八 幡 神社 ), which was not completed until 1941, was tackled. The short branch line from the south to the center to Bashōnotsuji ( 芭蕉 の 辻 ) was not rebuilt after the destruction of the war, instead a new east branch was built, which branched off immediately north of the main train station to the Haranomachi train station ( 原 町 駅 ). The largest network expansion was thus achieved with 16 km.

Due to the changed transport policy and in anticipation of the construction of a subway, the north branch was first shut down in 1969, the rest of the network completely shut down at the end of March 1976. Until the first underground line went into operation in 1987, only buses then operated; a second line was only opened at the end of 2015.

The Tourist Office operates a museum with original vehicles in the Tomizawa subway depot ( 富 沢 ).

Web links

Commons : Tram Sendai  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official city website on the subject (Japanese)