Trams in Asia - Japan

Japan

See also: List of railway companies in Japan#Trams

The first tramway in Japan was the Kyoto electric railroad built in 1895. By 1932, there were 82 street railway companies in 65 cities, with 1,479 km of track. Like other parts of the world, many Japanese cities had extensive tram systems until the 1960s, when increased motorization made those networks disappear. Tokyo, for instance, had 41 routes in 1962, while only two routes (Toden Arakawa Line and Tokyu Setagaya Line) still survive today.

There are still some cities with relatively well-kept networks. However, not many of them enjoy high riderships. Current tram systems include Sapporo Street Car (Sapporo) and Hakodate City Tram (Hakodate) in Hokkaidō; Tokyo Toden and Tokyu Setagaya Line in (Tokyo), Enoden (Kamakura), Toyohashi Railroad (Toyohashi), Toyama Light Rail and Toyama Chihō Railway (Toyama), Man'yōsen (Takaoka), Randen (Kyoto), Hankai Tramway (Osaka), Okaden (Okayama), and Hiroden (Hiroshima) on Honshū; Iyotetsu (Matsuyama) and Tosaden (Kōchi) on Shikoku; and Nagasaki Electric Tramway (Nagasaki), Kumamoto City Tram (Kumamoto), and Kagoshima City Tram (Kagoshima) on Kyūshū. Some extend into neighboring communities.

Trams were formerly used in Sendai, Yokohama, Kobe, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, etc.

Read more about this topic:  Trams In Asia

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