Wednesday 2 November 2016

Hana-densha: Flower Electric Car in the Local City

Electric car Mo3203 of the 3200 series, hana-densha, travels on the Azumada Main Line

Hana-densha (Flower Electric Car) is a special event train in Japan. As its name suggests, trains are ornamented with a numerous number of fresh or artificial flowers. Generally speaking, hana-densha is operated on tram routes, because it should be operated with low speed.

Typical hana-densha is seen on the Azumada Main Line of Toyohashi Railway (Toyotetsu). Toyohashi is a local city in Aichi Prefecture, some 290 km west of Tokyo. From October 10th to 16th, Toyotetsu operated a hana-densha in commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the municipal system of Toyohashi City. It was lucky for me that I shot beautiful photos of a hana-densha, decorated with 5,000 colorful artificial flowers.

Toyotetsu is a local private railway company, which operates the Atsumi Line and the Azumada Main Line. The latter of these is a tram route in the downtown area of Toyohashi City. Its route length is 5.4 km. The track is mainly double with some single sections. The electric system is 600 V DC overhead. The gauge size is 1,067 mm.

The streetcar, decorated as the hana-densha, was built by Nippon Sharyo in 1955, under the name of Unit Mo582 of the Meitetsu Mo580 series. After being operated on the Meitetsu lines, it was moved to Toyotetsu in 1980. Unit Mo582 then debuted on the Toyotetsu Azumada Main Line under the new name of Mo3203 of the electric car Mo3200 series in 1981.

Toyotetsu' s hana-densha... it was a beautiful event star in the local city.

Electric car Mo3203 of the 3200 series, hana-densha, leaves Shinkawa Stop