, known colloquially as the , , or simply , is a major Japanese private railway operator in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, and

Shiga is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

Prefectures. The transit network includes seven lines; four main lines with heavy rolling stock, two

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

lines, and a

funicular railway A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

. It is subsidiary of Keihan Holdings, Ltd. ().

History

Keihan started its operation between Osaka and Kyoto in 1910. It was the first electric railway to connect these two cities, and the first line on the left bank of

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

. Keihan later purchased the lines in the

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōtsu is ...

area (Ōtsu Lines). In the 1920s, Keihan built another Osaka-Kyoto line through its subsidiary , which merged into Keihan in 1930. This line is now known as the

Hankyu Kyoto Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Osaka-umeda Station in Osaka and Kyoto-kawaramachi Station in Kyoto. Definition The Kyoto Main Line is often called the for short, and in a b ...

. In 1943, with the power given by the (Act No. 71 of 1938), the wartime government of Japan forced Keihan to merge with Hanshin Kyūkō Railway to form . In 1949, the pre-war Keihan operations, except for Shinkeihan lines, restored independence under the original corporate name. Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway later changed the name to present

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group ...

Lines

The lines operated by Keihan are grouped into Keihan Lines and Ōtsu Lines. The former operates between Kyoto and Osaka with long formation of larger rolling stock. The latter runs Kyoto and Ōtsu with more

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

-like cars. The entire network has

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

Current lines

Keihan Lines

Keihan Main Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by Keihan Electric Railway. The line runs between Sanjō Station in Kyoto and Yodoyabashi Station in Osaka. There are through services to the Keihan Ōtō Line and the Keihan Nakanoshima Line. Trains fro ...

/ Ōtō Line: Yodoyabashi - Demachiyanagi *

Nakanoshima Line The is a railway line operated by the Keihan Electric Railway in Osaka, Japan. It opened on October 19, 2008, and has a ruling grade of 1 in 25 (4%). Services The following services operate on the Nakanoshima line, with through-running to/from t ...

: Nakanoshima - Temmabashi * Katano Line: Hirakatashi - Kisaichi * Uji Line: Chushojima - Uji

Ōtsu Lines

Keishin Line The is an interurban railway line in Japan operated by the private railway operator Keihan Electric Railway. The 7.5 km line connects Misasagi Station in Kyoto and Biwako-Hamaōtsu Station in the neighbouring city of Ōtsu. Train service ...

: Misasagi - Biwako-hamaotsu *

Ishiyama Sakamoto Line The is a railway line in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keihan Electric Railway. Stations History The Otsu Railway opened the Hamaotsu to Awazu section in 1913, electrified at 600 V DC. The line was extende ...

: Ishiyamadera - Sakamoto-hieizanguchi

Other lines

* Cable Line (鋼索線), also called Iwashimizu-Hachimangū Cable (石清水八幡宮参道ケーブル)

Closed lines

: Keishin-Sanjo (Sanjo) - Misasagi

Unbuilt line

*Umeda Line

Rolling stock

, Keihan owns a fleet of 693 vehicles (including two funicular cars), as follows.

Keihan Lines

* 1000 series 7-car EMUs x 6 (introduced 1977) * 2200 series 7-car EMUs x 7 (introduced 1964) * 2400 series 7-car EMUs x 6 (introduced 1969) * 2600 series 7-car EMUs x 7 (introduced 1978) * 3000 series 8-car EMUs x 6 (introduced 2008) * 5000 series 7-car EMUs x 7 (introduced 1970) * 6000 series 7/8-car EMUs x 14 (introduced 1983) *

7000 series 7000 series may refer to: Japanese trains * Chichibu Railway 7000 series electric multiple unit (EMU) * Echizen Railway 7000 series EMU * Hankyu 7000 series EMU * Hokushin Kyuko Electric Railway 7000 series EMU operating for the Kobe Municipal Su ...

7-car EMUs x 4 (introduced 1989) * 7200 series 7/8-car EMUs x 3 (introduced 1995) * 8000 series 8-car EMUs x 10 (introduced 1989) * 9000 series 7/8-car EMUs x 5 (introduced 1997) * 10000 series 4/7-car EMUs x 6 (introduced 2002) * 13000 series 4/7-car EMUs x 8 (introduced 2012) File:Keihan Electric Railway - Series 2630 - 01.JPG, Keihan 2600 series File:Keihan 3000 rapid limited express RAKURAKU owada.jpg, Keihan 3000 series File:Keihan8000 Premium car connection.jpg, Keihan 8000 series File:Keihan8551.jpg, Keihan 8000 series Premium car File:Keihan 10000 series 10051 Katanoshi Station.jpg, Keihan 10000 series File:Keihan 13001 Uji Line 20120414.jpg, Keihan 13000 series

Ōtsu Lines

* 600 series 2-car EMUs x 10 * 700 series 2-car EMUs x 5 * 800 series 4-car EMUs x 8 (introduced 1997) File:Keihan800-hot-ksm.jpg, Keihan 800 series

Former rolling stock

* 1900 series 5-car EMUs (introduced 1963) * 8030 series 8-car EMU (introduced 1971)

Fares

Keihanbus yamashina-office introduction photo

Train fare varies based on travel distance. As of January 1, 2009, IC cards (

PiTaPa is a contactless smart card ticketing and electronic money system used in the Kansai region (and may also be used in some areas of Okayama Prefecture, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Shizuoka Prefecture) of Japan. The name ''PiTaPa'' is an acronym of ...

and

ICOCA The card is a rechargeable contactless smart card used on the JR West rail network in Japan. The card was launched on November 1, 2003 for usage on the Urban Network, which encompasses the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe (Keihanshin). It ...

) are accepted on the Keihan Lines and the Otsu Lines, but not on the Cable Line. The fare rate was changed on April 1, 2014 to reflect the change in the rate of consumption tax from 5% to 8%.

Keihan Lines (Keihan Main Line, Oto Line, Nakanoshima Line, Katano Line, Uji Line)

*Additional fare when taking or passing the following lines :Oto Line: 60 yen :Nakanoshima Line (Nakanoshima - Oebashi): 60 yen *When using commutation tickets, Naniwabashi Station is treated as the same station as Kitahama Station, and Oebashi Station as that as Yodoyabashi Station.

Otsu Lines (Keishin Line, Ishiyama Sakamoto Line)

Cable line

:200 yen

Etymology

The name ''Keihan'', which is also used for the Kyoto-Osaka region, is derived from the words

and

in Japanese, and is a

clipped compound ''Clipped'' is a video featuring five tracks by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. First released in 1991, it contained three tracks from ''The Razors Edge (AC/DC album), The Razors Edge'' and two from ''Blow Up Your Video''. In 2002 a DVD ve ...

of the names, with the reading of the characters changed: and are combined to , replacing the

go-on are one of the several possible ways of reading Japanese kanji. They are based on the classical pronunciations of Chinese characters of the then- prestigious eastern Jiankang (now Nanjing) dialect. ''Go-on'' preceded the readings. Both ''go-on ...

reading and

kun'yomi are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequen ...

with the kan-on readings and . This is commonly done in names for regions or train lines, with (as here) the kan-on readings (most common readings in

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

compounds) being used for the compounds, while the place names use other readings. The larger region, including , is similarly called , the go-on reading replacing the kun'yomi , and the corresponding Kyoto-Kobe line is the line.

Other businesses

Keihan also operates (through the subsidiaries) other businesses such as bus, taxi,

water bus A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or ...

, hotel, department store and amusement park, mainly in the area along its railway system. *

Keihan Cable Line The , officially the , is a Japanese funicular line in Yawata, Kyoto, operated by Keihan Electric Railway. The line opened in 1926 as a route to Iwashimizu Shrine. Riders in January, the season of hatsumōde (New Year's Day visit to shrine), acc ...

Keihan Bus The is a bus company within the Keihan Group which was established on 22 July 1922 as Momoyama Motor Co.,Ltd.(''桃山自動車株式会社'') of the Keihan Electric Railway bus department. And, service areas are which are run by Keihan Electri ...

References

External links

Keihan Electric Railway

Keihan Electric Railway
{{Authority control Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange Railway companies of Japan Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Rail transport in Shiga Prefecture Rail transport in Kyoto Prefecture Rail transport in Osaka Prefecture 600 V DC railway electrification 1500 V DC railway electrification