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(Left) and commuter car Odakyū 9000 Series (Right)]] ]] The , or OER, is a major private Railway company in Tokyo , Japan , best known for its Romance Car series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara , Enoshima , Tama New Town , and Hakone . The Odakyū Electric Railway forms the core of the Odakyū Group , which comprises 108 companies (as of October 2005), and also includes the Enoshima Electric Railway , Hakone Tozan Railway , Tachikawa Bus and Tokai Bus. HISTORY The 83 km line from Shinjuku to Odawara opened for service on April 1 , 1927 . Unlike the Odawara line, rarely were pre-WWII Japanese private railways constructed with double-track and fully electrified from the first day of operation. Two years later, April 1 , 1929 , the Enoshima Line was added. The original full name of the railroad was ''Odawara Kyūkō Denki Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha'', but this was often shortened to ''Odawara Kyūkō'' (Odawara Express). The abbreviation ''Odakyū'' was made popular by the title song of the 1929 movie '' Tokyo Kōshinkyoku '' and eventually became the official name of the railroad (Seidensticker, 1990). On May 1 , 1942 , Odakyū merged with the Tokyo-Yokohama Electric Railway company (now Tōkyū ), which controlled all private railway services west and south of Tokyo by the end of World War II . The company regained its independence on June 1 , 1948 , and it obtained a large of Hakone Tozan Railway stocks, instead of separating Keio Inokashira Line for Keio Corporation . Odakyū restarted Non-stop Limited Express service between Shinjuku and Odawara in 1948. In 1950, Odakyū trains ran through to Hakone-Yumoto on Hakone Tozan Line . Odakyū uses Narrow Gauge (1,067 mm) tracks, but Hakone Tozan Railway is on Standard Gauge (1,435 mm), so one track of the section from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto (6.1 km) was changed to a Dual Gauge system. It operated the first Romance Car Odakyū 1710 Series for Limited Express in 1951. After the 1950s, due to rapid Japanese economic growth, Odakyū was faced with an explosive increase of population along with its lines. Commuter passengers had to use very crowded trains every morning, and complained strongly with the delay of improvements from the railway company. Odakyū began construction on the - "Shinjuku Station Great Improvement Project" setting 5 lines and 10 platforms long enough for 10 standard commuter cars (Romance Cars excepted, they have 11 cars) with service on the Chiyoda Line, among others. Plans for a four-track system in 1964 were prevented by residents of Setagaya Ward in Tokyo, as such the system remains uncompleted. The Setagaya Residents' opposition set the stage for a long-term and remarkable case in the courts and legislature. Odakyū could not take main part of transport from Tama New Town Area, though Odakyu started the operation of Tama Line in 1974. In the last ten years, Odakyū has been adding track in both directions from Izumi-Tamagawa Station , on Tama River, the border station of Tokyo, to just outside of Setagaya-Daita Station for expanding the availability of express trains, especially for morning commuter service. The lines between Setagaya-Daita and Higashi-Kitazawa Station are still under construction, however. Odakyū announced that the bottle-neck will be resolved by 2013. Odakyū has shown its high potential technology for mass and rapid transport. It operates all sections of its lines as double (or more) tracks from the day service begins, except for a few rare instances. It sometimes is regarded as a bypass route for the Tōkaidō Main Line from Tokyo to western Kanagawa, also going out to further areas away from Tokyo, although not through Yokohama in wartime. The Romance Car Odakyū 3000 Series SE was tested at speeds of up to 145 km/h in 1957, achieving a world record for Narrow Gauge (1067 mm) lines at the time. These tests also provided important data on high-speed electric Multiple Unit s (EMU), which Japanese National Railways (JNR) used for its limited express EMUs, 151 Series , and 0 Series Shinkansen introduced in the early 1960s. LINES Odakyū has three railway lines, and through service to four lines of other companies. ANNIVERSARY Odakyū celebrated its 80th anniversary in April 2007. Operation Lines
Through Lines
TRAIN CLASSIFICATION
LIMITED EXPRESS SERVICE Commuter service is shown in each lines pages.
LIST OF ODAKYū TRAIN MODELS Active
ODAKYū RAILWAY ON THE COMPUTER The Odakyū Railway has been included in several Japanese Language Train Simulator programs as well as the English Language Microsoft Train Simulator program. ''Microsoft Train Simulator'' includes the railway's Odawara and Hakone Tozan lines, collectively referred to as the "Tokyo-Hakone" route. You can drive two of the trains that travel on the line; the 2000 Series commuter trainset and the Odakyū 7000 Series LSE Romance Car trainset. Several "activities", or scenarios, are included. Various Odakyū addins are available for the BVE Train Simulator, a freeware cab view train simulator for Microsoft Windows. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
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