I visited the Ina line of Saitama New Urban Transit Company (hereafter "the New Shuttle") for the first time in four years. What's new with this AGT line?
To begin with, let's quickly review the New Shuttle. The New Shuttle is a rubber-tyred automated guideway transit (AGT) system in Saitama Prefecture, about 30 kilometers north of Tokyo. Its route length is 12.7 kilometers between Omiya and Uchijuku stations. The track is mostly double, but partly single. The route was opened in 1983 beside the JR East's Joetsu Shinkansen track. Unlike the other AGT lines such as the Yurikamome, Nippori-Toneri Liner and Seaside Line, a driver operates each train. It's not a driver-less operation.
I found that many trains had been retired from the track for the past four years. For example, set 1151 of the EMU 1050 series disappeared in March, 2020. I liked this red-colored vehicle, but would no longer be able to see it. The remaining two sets of the 1050 series are still on active duty, but chances for traveling on the track are getting less and less because of degradation over time. Another news is the increasing number of the latest model, the EMU 2020 series. Five sets of the 2020 series are being operated on the line. They have green (set 21), orange (set 22), pink (set 23), yellow (set 24) and purple-colored (set 25) stripes... very colorful. I show you the newest set, named set 25, debuted in February, 2020. Please look at the picture above.
To be continued...
