MAIN PROPOSAL Keikyu is one of five privately operated railways in Tokyo that operates trains on standard gauge track. Using the Toei Asakusa line, Keikyu can offer services to places northeast of Shinagawa, including Oshiage, Sakura, and Narita Airport, while other operators can run their trains south of Shinagawa, to places such as Haneda Airport, Kawasaki, and Kurihama. Within the Tokyo area, Keikyu and the other operators on the standard gauge network use the Keikyu Main and Airport lines to run trains to Shinagawa and Haneda Airport. Shinagawa is one of Tokyo's biggest railway stations, featuring over 22 platforms and being used by over 500000 passengers per day, with 140000 of those using trains on the Keikyu Main Line. Haneda Airport is served by two stations on the Keikyu Airport Line, which see an average of 110000 passengers per day. This route proposal features the section of the Keikyu Main Line within Tokyo prefecture, running from Shinagawa to Kawasaki, and also the branch line to Haneda Airport. Overall, the route would be 18.25km (11.4 miles) long, and feature 20 stations. The list of stations is as follows: SHINAGAWA Kitashinagawa Shimbamba Aomono-yokocho Samezu Tachiaigawa Omorikaigan Heiwajima Omorimachi Umeyashiki KEIKYU-KAMATA Kojiya / Zoshiki Otorii / Rokugodote Anamori-Inari / KEIKYU-KAWASAKI Tenkubashi Haneda Airport Terminal 3 (Haneda Airport International Terminal until 2020) HANEDA AIRPORT TERMINAL 1ยท2 (Haneda Airport Domestic Terminal until 2020) Route map: Major landmarks that can be seen from the route include: Shinagawa Station, Shinagawa Shrine, Statue of Sakamoto Ryoma, Suzugamori Execution Grounds, Oi Racecourse, Ota City General Gymnasium, Kamata Hachiman Shrine, Technoport Kamata, Tama River, Keikyu Kawasaki Electrical Substation, Kawasaki Racecourse, Kawasaki DICE, and JR Kawasaki Station. Platform doors were first installed on the Keikyu network around 2014, where they were installed at Haneda Airport Terminal 3 to prevent luggage trolleys from rolling onto the tracks. Between 2019 and 2021, platform doors were added to more stations on the Keikyu Main and Airport Lines, which necessitated the withdrawl of the old Keikyu 800 Series rolling stock. There is a large variety of standard gauge rolling stock that operates on this route, however I have narrowed down the list of rolling stock to 3 variants of the Keikyu N1000 Series EMUs that would enable players to experience the majority of service types that operate on this portion of the line. Keikyu N1000 (Batch 3-5) (4x 8-car + 8x 4-car) (1041, 1049, 1057 (Keikyu Yellow Happy Train), 1065, 1417, 1421, 1425, 1429, 1433, 1437, 1441, 1445) (Appeared 2005-2006, upgraded displays in 2014) Notes: Batch 3 units were initially built with Siemens-manufactured IGBT-VVVF inverters. Set 1417 was refurbished in March 2019. This set now has LED lighting, LCD-displays above the doors, other LED displays, and was refitted with Toyo Denki-manufactured IGBT-VVVF inverters. Both 1041 and 1049 were among the last Keikyu train sets to be use Siemens IGBT-VVVF. Batch 4 and 5 units feature full-colour LED destination indicators. Set 1065 has refurbished and refitted with Toyo Denki IGBT-VVVF. As of 2020, all 3 batches have very few differences in terms of structure and equipment. Keikyu N1000 (Batch 8-9) (3x 8-car + 10x 4-car) (1097, 1105, 1113, 1449, 1453, 1457, 1461, 1465, 1469, 1473, 1477, 1481, 1485) (Appeared 2008-2009) Notes: Starting from Batch 6, new Keikyu N1000 series rolling stock were constructed from stainless steel instead of aluminium, the four-seat transverse bays at the ends of cars were replaced by longitudinal bench seats and starting from batch 4, until batch 16, all 8-car trains use Mitsubishi IGBT-VVVF inverters. Starting from this batch until batch 20, all 4- and 6-car sets are powered by Toyo-Denki IGBT-VVVF unless noted. Keikyu N1000 (Batch 17-19) (4x 8-car + 10x 6-car) (1201, 1209, 1217, 1225, 1613, 1619, 1625, 1631, 1637, 1643, 1649, 1655, 1661, 1667) (Appeared 2018-2019) Notes: They use LED lighting throughout. Internally, the trains feature a combination of longitudinal and transverse seating; each car has two bays of transverse seating, one at each end. The longitudinal seat partitions were enlarged. All trains have stainless steel bodies painted in a red and ivory livery like batch 16, but also including the side of the doors and windows. Internally, pairs of LCD passenger information screens are provided above each set of doors. On this route, the 8-car trains are typically operated on Airport Express services to and from Haneda Airport, whereas the 4-car and 6-car trains are typically operated as local commuter trains. Sometimes 4-car trains will be coupled to either another 4-car train to make an 8-car train for use on Airport Express services, or they can be coupled to an 8-car train to form a 12-car train. While these 12-car trains are typically only operated on the Limited Airport Express services when heavy traffic is expected, they are noteworthy as they are the longest non-shinkansen passenger trains to operate in Tokyo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ POTENTIAL DLC / EXTENSIONS Apart from the N1000 Series, there are a variety of other trains that operate over the network, which could be added in updates, as DLC, or as a part of connecting routes. Keikyu 1500 Series (1993 model) (3x 8-car) (Can be broken down into 2x Oriental/Toshiba 8-car, 1x Mitsubishi 8-car) Keikyu 1500 Series (Steel Bodied remodel) (5x 4-car) (Can be broken down into 3x Oriental/Mitsubishi 4-car, 2x Mitsubishi 4-car) Notes: Primarily used on the Keikyu Daishi Line, which connects to the Keikyu Main Line at Keikyu-Kawasaki. Adding the Keikyu Diashi Line would add an additional 6 stations and 4.4km (2.75 miles) of track to the route Keikyu 1500 Series (6-car remodel) (15x 6-car) (Can be broken down into 8x Oriental 6-car and 7x Mitsubishi 6-car.) Notes: One of the most commonly seen units on the route on local services. Keikyu 600 Series (Batch 1) Keikyu 600 Series (Batches 2-3) Keikyu 600 Series (Batch 4) Keikyu 2100 Series Note: 2 door EMU used exclusively on express services. All recieved an upgrade in 2020. Prior to this, where were differences between individual sets, but the majority of the equipment was standardised during the upgrade. Set 2133 is painted blue instead of red. Extra coding may be required as platform doors should not open at the middle of each car, where there would normally be an extra door. Keikyu 800 Series (Cars produced between 1981-1986) (819, 820, 821, 822, 823 (last run train), 824, 825, 826, 827) Note: The 1981 cars were the last be constructed as 3-car trains, while the 1986 cars were the first to be produced as complete 6-car trains. Additional cars were produced in 1982, 1983 and 1986 to lengthen the old 3-car trains to 6-cars. The last of these were withdrawn in 2019 to allow for the installation of platform doors at most major stations, as the 4-door design was incompatable with the platform doors which only allow for 3-door trains. These could only be used if the platform doors were not included in the route (Backdated to 2017-2019.) Keikyu 2000 Series (2011, 2041, 2051, 2061) Note: Originally constructed as 2-door express trains, these were superceded by the Keikyu 2100 Series. These were then converted to 3-door trains and used on the same variety of services as the Keikyu 600 Series. While 2041, 2051, and 2061 are all the same, 2011 is a pre-production model, and as such, has various differences to the other units. 2041 was withdrawn from service and scrapped in 2017, with the rest being withdrawn and scrapped in 2018. 2011 was used on the final service operated by a Keikyu 2000 Series train. Chiba New Town Railway 9100 Series Keisei 3050 Series (Batches 7-8) / Chiba New Town Railway 9200 Series Notes: Almost the same in terms of construction, these trains can be seen on Airport Express Services that run through the Toei Asakusa Line and northeast on the Keisei Sky Access/Hokuso Line to Narita Airport. The Keisei 3050 Series originally carried a blue and silver livery, which was changed to orange and silver in 2019 with the introduction of the Keisei 3100 Series. As these are replaced by the 3100 Series, they are being repainted into the same livery carried by the majority of Keisei's commuter rolling stock. Keisei 3700 Series (Batch 2) / Hokuso Railway 7800 Series (Batch 2) / Chiba New Town Railway 9800 Notes: Keisei 3748 was leased to the Hokuso Railway as Hokuso 7818 from 2015 until 2020, where it was involved in a derailment at Aoto station. This train was returned to service with Keisei in 2021 where it is now operated as a 6-car train, instead of the 8-car train that it started out as. Keisei 3700 Series (Batches 3-5) / Hokuso Railway 7800 Series (Batches 3-4) Notes: Keisei 3778 became Hokuso 7828 in 2018, while Keisei 3768 became Hokuso 7838 in 2021. Keisei 3150 Series Notes: Introduced in 2019, these have gradually been replacing the earlier Keisei 3050 Series on the Airport Express services that are operated with Keisei rolling stock. Toei 5300 Series Note: With the introduction of the Toei 5500 Series in 2018, these have been gradually getting scrapped. 5301 was the first scrapped in August 2018, with 5320 being the last of this type to be in operation as of 2022. Toei 5500 Series The variety of rolling stock that is shown above runs across the majority of the standard gauge commuter network in Tokyo, and could easily be used on other routes on the network. Additionally, the route can be extended in future through the additon of the Keikyu Daishi Line (featured on the route map in grey), the Toei Asakusa line which runs underground from Shinagawa to Oshiage, or the line could be extended south to Yokohama, Kanazawa or the southern terminuses on the Keikyu network. All images taken from Google maps or Wikipedia.
This would make for a great route. Particularly I'm a fan of the Keikyu "musical trains" (the N1000 I think?) and the wide variety of rolling stock from many different train companies. Not to mention the possibility of through running on the Asakusa line to Narita Airport.
Yes, the N1000 sets produced in batch 1 and 2 were the "musical trains", which used the Siemens GTO-VVVT until they were upgraded between 2017 and 2021, where they were changed to Toyo Denki IGBT inverters.
why not extend this to Narita Airport, making it a Japanese route with the combination of the SFS Hannover Wurzburg Kassel Wurzburg section? A third-party developer for the Japanese route might be Union Workshop. I suggested the Nagoya version of the route the Tonkoname Line 1.067m gauge like my Transperth Mandurah Line
There were three reasons that I did not include the section to Narita Airport in this route proposal. 1. Licencing. As I mentioned, there are five different companies that operate trains across the full Narita - Haneda route. If I were to suggest the entire route, licences with all five operators would need to be negotiated, the base route would require at least 1 train from each company, meaning that when the different variations are included, the route would have to come with 6 different varieties of rolling stock at minimum. 2. Number of stations. The portion of the route proposed here features 20 stations. Adding the full route through to Narita would add another 27 stations if you don't also include the lines to Keisei-Ueno and Keisei Kanamachi. 3. Keeping asset creation manageable. Tokyo is a huge city and the entire line is surrounded by buildings, roads and various landmarks. While it would be reasonable to think DTG could manage to make an 11.5 mile long railway in a dense city to a reasonable standard, also asking for an additional 44 miles on top of that (11.5 miles being underground) would likely lead to a drop in quality across the whole route. Additionally, the route described in the original post would require 3 types of track. Normal cape gauge, normal standard gauge, and high speed standard gauge. As the inclusion of the Keisei Sky Access line would be likely require Keisei-Ueno to be included for the Keisei AE to be used, 2-3 additional types of track would need to be created for this to be made. While I would also like to see the Toei Asakusa Line and the Keisei Sky Access / Hokuso Line to be included in the future, and possibly be connected with each other, I feel that it would be better to make them separate entries that build off each other, rather than make them all a single route.
Thanks for telling me about this. The solution might be merging the Standard Gauge 1.5kv DC Shinagawa Narita airport line with the Keikyu Haneda Airport line if one has both purchased. Once DTG has the correct technology to do that. The merger method might be the same as TSC routes must share the same geographic end point
I thought about proposing this a few times. It being a non-JR route adds another licensing option, plus you get standard gauge and platform barriers, and the rolling stock is nice too. Added to the master list. Here's a 2021 cab ride between Shinagawa and Haneda Airport:
This is a great idea. Or the Odakyu line. Frequent stopping. Excellent. The German electrics don't generally have the huge cityscape......for commuters.
I have some personal investment in the suggestion; I think having the route south out of Yokohama onto the Kurihama line would make a stellar run - from the elevated track running through the dense urban areas and interchanges of Shinagawa and Yokohama Station, across the Tama, and on ground level through increasingly rural areas of Yokohama, down along the bay through beautiful, scenic valleys, through Yokosuka to quiet Miura, with its peeks out over the water, and finally the single-track stretch to Misakiguchi. It's easily my favourite route in the world. At 65km from Shinagawa to Misakiguchi, it would be on the long side, but it'd be a stellar flagship for establishing a foothold in Japanese commuter rail, and as best I can tell from Train Sim Classic reviews on Steam, Japanese routes are consistently solid sellers, even with how huge the DLC roster on that game is. In terms of rolling stock, I think it'd be a stunner if you set it in the mid-2010s, with the veteran 800 series still in service alongside the 80s generation 1500s and 2000s, and the wonderfully expressive 5300s through-running right down to Misakiguchi. Well, full disclosure: That's my planned model railway prototype
