Japan's population has entered into a decreasing phase. Railway companies can't keep their arms crossed in this situation. They are in competition to attract passengers, and have to improve the value along their lines. Otherwise, the residents will move to other places on other companies' lines. Tobu Railway is no exception. In March, 2014, Tobu gave a nickname of their "Noda line" to "Urban Park line" for the above purpose.
Wait, what? I didn't get the joke. The Urban Park line is NOT located in an "urban" area. The local city name, "Noda", was deleted from the line name. I wonder why some Japanese are eager to use English words for their shops, restaurants, companies... even for railway stations and railway lines' names. According to a survey conducted by Nikkei in 2020, 75 percent of local people still use the old name, Noda line.
Aside from whether it's a good name or bad name, one thing I can say for sure is that Tobu has been enhancing the passenger service of the Urban Park line for the last several years. For instance, they launched a brand-new train, the EMU 60000 series. In the previous Noda line era, only second-hand trains such as the 8000 series were introduced onto this local line, but now, the 60000 series grew into the largest fleet on the line. 18 sets, 108 cars in total, are currently operated on the Urban Park line.
Tobu Railway continues trials and errors for improving the value of their lines.
EMU Tobu 8000 series: the oldest model operated on the Urban Park line