I recently visited the Toyo rapid line for the first time in nine years. What's new with this commuter route in a new residential area?
To start, let me quickly review the Toyo rapid line. It was opened in 1996 as a new commuter line in the western part of Chiba Prefecture. The railway operator, namely Toyo Rapid Railway, is a so-called third sector corporation financed by Chiba Prefecture, Funabashi City, Tokyo Metro, Mizuho Bank and so on. Connecting Nishi-Funabashi and Toyo-Katsutadai, the operating length is 16.2 kilometers. The entire route is a double track. Most of the trains are directly operated onto the subway, Tokyo Metro-Tozai line. The EMU 2000 series is Toyo Rapid Railway's sole model on the line. It was launched in 2004 to replace the old model, named 1000 series. 11 sets, 110 cars in total, were built by Hitachi from 2004 to 2006. The 2000 series has almost the same technical specifications as those of the Tokyo Metro 05 series.
Let's head to the main topic. I found that rapid service trains had been abolished on the line. In other words, all trains are now local trains (all-stations trains). It's because passengers, who get on and off trains at rapid service trains-don't-stop stations, have drastically increased in recent years due to housing land development. As a result, local trains had become very crowded. Mass transportation is more important than the speed of trains. Ironically, Toyo Rapid Railway has "rapid" in its name but not in reality.
