Along with Tobu Railway, Keisei Electric Railway also put into commission a new commuter train. Its name is the EMU 3200 series.
Let me review Keisei Electric Railway to start. It’s one of the major private railway companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Keisei absorbed Shin-Keisei Electric Railway this year, and owns a total of 178.8-kilometer-long railway network in the eastern part of Tokyo and the northern Chiba Prefecture. The Narita airport access express, "Skyliner", is famous for being Keisei's flagship train.
Now, let's head to the main topic. The first set of the EMU 3200 series debuted on February 22nd. Keisei plans to introduce a total of 90 units of the 3200 series. The main concept of the 3200 series is to improve operational flexibility. One trainset is basically composed of 8 cars, but can be operated as 6 or 4-car train as well. As you know, Keisei experienced drastic decreasing of passengers bound for Narita Airport during the COVID-19 calamity. In contrast, number of inbound tourists, who take the Keisei line between from Narita Airport to the downtown Tokyo area, has drastically increased since 2023. The operational flexibility depending on the situation is essential for Keisei. For that purpose, we can see the coupling between driver’s cab side of the leading car and the middle car on the 3200 series (see the photo below). This type of irregular train formation is hardly seen in recent years in Tokyo. Finding such rarity is the greatest pleasure for trainspotters like me.
