Meitetsu


Nagoya Railroad Co.,Ltd., referred to as Meitetsu, is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan.
Some of the more famous trains operated by Meitetsu include the Panorama Car and the Panorama Car Super, both of which offer views through their wide front windows. While the Panorama Super train is used extensively for the railroad's limited express service, the older and more energy-consuming Panorama Car train has been retired, the last run being on 27 December 2008.
In the Tōkai region around Nagoya, it is a central firm of the Meitetsu Group, which is involved in the transportation industry, the retail trade, the service industry, and the real estate industry, etc.
Meiji Mura is the corporate museum of Meitetsu.
As of March 31, 2010, Meitetsu operated of track, 275 stations, and 1,090 train cars.

Lines

DirectionNameJapaneseTerminalsLength
Main Nagoya Main Line名古屋本線Toyohashi - Meitetsu Gifu99.8
Western Aichi and Gifu Area Tsushima Line津島線Sukaguchi - Tsushima11.8
Western Aichi and Gifu Area Bisai Line尾西線Yatomi - Tamanoi30.9
Western Aichi and Gifu Area Takehana Line竹鼻線Kasamatsu - Egira10.3
Western Aichi and Gifu Area Hashima Line羽島線Egira - Shin Hashima1.3
Northern Aichi and Chūnō Inuyama Line犬山線Biwajima Junction - Shin Unuma26.8
Northern Aichi and Chūnō Kakamigahara Line各務原線Meitetsu Gifu - Shin Unuma17.6
Northern Aichi and Chūnō Hiromi Line広見線Inuyama - Mitake22.3
Northern Aichi and Chūnō Komaki Line小牧線Kami Iida - Inuyama20.4
Chita Peninsula Tokoname Line常滑線Jingū-mae - Tokoname29.3
Chita Peninsula Airport Line空港線Tokoname - Central Japan Int'l Airport4.2
Chita Peninsula Chikkō Line築港線Ōe - Higashi Nagoyakō1.5
Chita Peninsula Kōwa Line河和線Ōtagawa - Kōwa28.8
Chita Peninsula Chita Line知多新線Fuki - Utsumi13.9
Mikawa Toyokawa Line豊川線Kō - Toyokawa-inari7.2
Mikawa Nishio Line西尾線Shin Anjō - Kira Yoshida24.7
Mikawa Gamagōri Line蒲郡線Kira Yoshida - Gamagōri17.6
Mikawa Mikawa Line三河線Sanage - Hekinan39.8
Mikawa Toyota Line豊田線Umetsubo - Akaike15.2
Isolated from all Meitetsu lines Seto Line瀬戸線Sakaemachi - Owari Seto20.6

Major stations

Major stations in Nagoya

has produced nearly every car that Meitetsu operates or has operated, a notable exception being its DeKi 600, an electric locomotive, which was produced by Toshiba, but very few units were produced for Meitetsu. The DeKi 600 is one of the few locomotives that Meitetsu possesses: while the company used to engage in the freight business and still possesses some freight locomotives, it no longer carries freight on a regular basis.
Meitetsu is famous for its red trains, including its famous 7000 series "Panorama Car" which was retired in 2009 after a career lasting nearly half a century. The most recent cars, however, are not solid red but rather brushed steel as in the case of the 4000 series and 5000 series, or white as in the case of the 1700 series and 2000 series.
The following are the train types that Meitetsu operates today, as well as selected types that Meitetsu has retired.

Limited express

While Meitetsu is an old company in its own right, it has over time acquired many small railway and interurban companies in the area surrounding Nagoya. Meaning many lines that belong to modern-day Meitetsu were constructed and operated by other companies, mostly in the prewar and wartime period. For example, it acquired its Kōwa Line on the Chita Peninsula from its merger with Chita Railroad on February 1, 1943 and it acquired its Mikawa Line from its merger with Mikawa Railroad. However, the company that became modern Meitetsu was Aichi Horsecar Company, founded on.