Line length 13.1 km (8.1 mi) | Track gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | |
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200 kumamoto electric railway 200 series emu
The Kumamoto Electric Railway (熊本電気鉄道, Kumamoto Denki Tetsudō) is a public transport company in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is abbreviated as Kumamoto Dentetsu (熊本電鉄) or Kumaden (熊電). The company was founded in 1909. The company operates railway and bus lines.
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18 aug 2012 kita kumamoto sta kumamoto electric railway company
Lines
A short section of the Fujisaki Line shares its track with public road, like a tram line.
Rolling stock
History
The forerunner of the company, Kikuchi Tramway (菊池軌道), was established in on 15 August 1909, and opened the 914 mm (3 ft) gauge steam-hauled line from Ikeda Station (池田駅) (close to the present-day Kami-Kumamoto Station) to Sendanbatamachi Station (千反畑町駅) (present-day Fujisakigū-mae Station) on 1 October 1911. On 27 August 1913, the line between Ikeda and Waifu Station (隈府駅) (later named Kikuchi) was opened.
From 31 August 1923, the line was converted to 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge and electrified at 600 V DC.
The current section of the Kikuchi Line between Kita-Kumamoto and Kami-Kumamoto opened on 1 October 1950, resulting in two lines between those stations, the original via Fujisakigū-mae and the new line. In June 1953 the original line from Kami-Kumamoto to Fujisakigū-mae closed. The 13.5 km Miyoshi to Kikuchi section closed on 16 February 1986 due to falling patronage.