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Shibayama Railway
Railway company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Shibayama Railway Company, Ltd. (芝山鉄道株式会社, Shibayama Tetsudō kabushiki-gaisha) is a third-sector railway company in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It operates Japan's shortest narrow-gauge railway line, the 2.2 km (1.4 mi) Shibayama Railway Line between Higashi-Narita Station and Shibayama-Chiyoda Station, largely underneath[citation needed] Narita International Airport.
The railway company was founded on May 1, 1981, and the construction of the line began in 1998. Although issues with land acquirement forced the line to be extended by 0.2 km (220 yards) in 2000, the line opened on October 27, 2002.
Although the Shibayama Railway Company is an independent operator, the line functionally resembles an extension of the Keisei Higashi-Narita Line. All services continue through the mentioned line to stations such as the Keisei Narita Station. Narita International Airport Corporation owns the majority stake in Shibayama Railway as of March 2019. The remainder is owned by others such as the Keisei Electric Railway.
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History
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The Shibayama Railway company was founded on May 1, 1981. The company received an operating permit on June 24, 1988 to run a 2.0 km (1.2 mi) planned line between Seibijyō-Mae Station[a][2] and the Shibatetsu Narita Airport Station.[b] Initially, smaller train sets were planned to operate inside the line only. In 1990, due to demands from the residents, the company applied for a permit to use regular-sized trains; the permit was granted two days after application.[3][4] In 1990, the Shibayama Railway company applied for a permit to operate through service to the Keisei Narita Station via Higashi-Narita, which the Shibatetsu Narita Airport Station was merged to. The application was approved in 1996.[3]
Around this time, the Keisei Electric Railway company built a new line towards the terminal of Narita International Airport using abandoned structures from the Narita Shinkansen plan, which was planned to connect Tokyo Station and the Narita International Airport. This made the route from Keisei Narita Station to the former Narita Airport Station, which had been renamed to Higashi-Narita Station, a new line named Keisei Higashi-Narita Line.[5][6] The line began construction in 1998.[7] However, the planned railway line was forced to be extended by a further 0.2 km (220 yards) due to problems with buying land in 2000. The name of the southern terminus, which had had the placeholder name Seibijyō-Mae, was chosen to be Shibayama-Chiyoda in the same year.[8] The line opened for operation on October 27, 2002.[4]
The construction of the railway was strongly demanded by Shibayama residents,[9] the Transport Ministry, and the Narita Airport Authority, in order to appease residents of the area immediately east of Narita International Airport. The demand was made because the airport property cut off Shibayama's access to Narita City and points west.[8][10]
There was a proposal to extend the line into Chiyoda until 1996. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has recommended an extension into central Shibayama Town.[11]
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Stations and operation
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Although the Shibayama Railway company is an independent operator, the line functionally resembles an extension of the Keisei Higashi-Narita Line, as all trains provide through service to lines owned by Keisei.[12] The line is also operated using equipment and crew leased from Keisei.[13] IC cards are not accepted on this route, unlike most railway lines operated by Keisei.[14] Most Shibayama Railway trains provide local service to Keisei Narita Station past Higashi-Narita, and express trains operate during rush hours through the Keisei Line from Haneda Airport Terminal 1·2 Station.[8] The fare between Higashi-Narita and Shibayama-Chiyoda costs 220 yen for adults and 110 yen for children.[15]
Narita International Airport Corporation owns a 68.40% majority stake in Shibayama Railway as of March 2019. The remainder is owned by Keisei Electric Railway, Japan Airlines, the prefectural government, and others.[16]
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Line
The company operates a single line, the Shibayama Railway Line. The 2.2 km (1.4 mi) line connects Higashi-Narita and Shibayama-Chiyoda.[12]
The Shibayama Railway company advertises the line as the shortest railway line in Japan and gives out certificates for using the line.[12] However, the Kurama-dera Cable is the shortest funicular line in Japan with a length of 207 meters (226 yards),[17] and Seinō Railway operates the shortest freight-only railway line with an operational length of 1.3 km (0.8 mi).[18][19]
Rolling stock
The Shibayama Railway leases its rolling stock from the Keisei Electric Railway company.[20] The company has leased a Keisei 3500 series trainset since 2013. In 2022, the train's wrapping was changed to use red and green stripes, resembling the former 3600 series used on the line until 2013. During the time 3600 series was used by the Shibayama Railway, the train color was changed from Keisei's blue and red color scheme to red and green, the scheme used in the company's logo. This change was reverted when it was returned to Keisei.[21][22]
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Notes
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