Many rail-fans currently rumor that the EMU 5300 series will soon be retired from the Toei-Asakusa line. At last, the time has come.
Let me review the Toei-Asakusa line and the EMU 5300 series. The Toei-Asakusa line is the oldest Toei (the Tokyo Metropolitan Government owned) subway line. Connecting Oshiage and Nishi-Magome, its operating length is 18.3 kilometers. Trains on the Asakusa line are directly operated onto the Keikyu, Keisei and the other railways around the line. The EMU 5300 series was commissioned in 1991. It's known as the first model with a variable frequency drive electric control system on the Toei-Asakusa line. 27 sets, 216 cars in total, were built by Hitachi and the others, but most of them had already been replaced by a new model namely the 5500 series. Only one set (5320F) is currently operated on the line.
Sorry for the late description just before their retirement, but have you ever heard of two kinds of cowcatchers on the 5300 series? One is small and the other is large. Please look at the following photo. We rail-fans often call them "long-skirt" and "mini-skirt". The first 14 sets have mini-skirts; while the other 13 sets have long-skirts. I'm definitely fond of the long-skirt as it's more elegant. That long-skirt goes well with the white-colored bodies of the 5300 series.
After operating for 31 years, the 5300 series will be retired from the track in a month or so. Arigato (thanks) and sayonara (goodbye), to the EMU 5300 series.
