Sunday 6 January 2019

2019 New Year Scene on the Keio-Inokashira Line

1753F of the EMU Keio 1000 series arrives at Eifukucho station on the Inokashira line

On New Year's Day, I visited my mother, who lives on the Keio-Inokashira line. On the way to her home, I came across a train that had a special round plate celebrating New Year on the front. It was 1753F of the EMU 1000 series. The 1000 series is the sole model on the Inokashira line. Replacing the old EMU 3000 series, the 1000 series was launched as the first long (20 meters) body train on the line. It is composed of 5 cars with a VVVF (Variable Voltage and Variable Frequency) electric control system. Each train set has different colors for the front mask and the lines on the side.

What was the new with this model? This is the first renewal of the first batch of trains since they began operation over twenty years ago. In particular, car number 3 was modified from a trailer to a motorcar to prevent racing on a snow day, which has thus changed the composition of these first batch sets from 2 motorcars and 3 trailers (2M3T) to 3 motorcars and 2 trailers (3M2T). In addition, traction motors and the VVVF inverter system have also been changed to high efficiency ones. Currently, 8 of these 10 first batch sets have completed their renewal.

In the meantime, I received news about the Izukyu electric car 103, which I posted on December 29th in this blog. According to Izukyu, electric car 103 will be retired in July this year due to its deterioration. That's a shame.

A special round plate celebrating New Year