Following cherry blossoms and azaleas, many kinds of flowers paint the ground in the metropolitan area. Roses are also must-see flowers in this season. I recently visited Keisei Rose Garden on the Toyo Rapid line, and admired the colorful blossoms as well as the sweet fragrances.
Let me quickly review the Toyo Rapid line. It was opened in 1996 by Toyo Rapid Railway Company as a new commuter route in the western part of Chiba Prefecture. Connecting Nishi-Funabashi and Toyo-Katsutadai, the operating length is 16.2 kilometers. The entire route is a double track. The electric system is 1,500 V DC with overhead catenaries. Most of the trains are directly operated onto the subway, Tokyo Metro-Tozai line.
I found that a special plate was displayed on the front of a Toyo Rapid train, Set 2011 of the EMU 2000 series. It was the seasonal campaign to promote tourism to Keisei Rose Garden. The plate has my favorite design and colors... beautiful! For your information, the EMU 2000 series is Toyo Rapid Railway's sole model on the line. It was commissioned in 2004 to replace the old model, the 1000 series. 11 sets, 110 cars in total, were built by Hitachi. The 2000 series has almost the same technical specifications as those of the Tokyo Metro 05 series.
It may be that you want to ask me, "How was your visit to Keisei Rose Garden?" Sorry, I'm running short of space in this post. Please review my previous post in 2013.
