Tobu Railway

Tobu is one of the oldest railway companies in Japan. It was established in November 1897 and began operation between Kita-Senju and Kuki in August 1899. The Tojo Railway was founded in 1911 as a separate company, but shared its president and head office with Tobu.[1]

In 1905, Nezu Kaichirō became the president of Tobu Railway and successfully helped to grow the company to one of the largest private rail operators in the Kanto region.[2]

Tobu was the first railway in the Kanto region to adopt quadruple tracks, on the Kita-Senju to Takenotsuka sector in 1974.[3] The Tobu Dobutsu Koen (Tobu Animal Park) opened in 1981.[4]

Diagram of the Tobu network, showing main lines to right and Tojo Lines to lower left

Tobu has two isolated networks which are connected by the Chichibu Railway for ferrying of its rolling stock.

The Tobu Main Line network has a tree topology starting at Asakusa in Tokyo, with the Isesaki line as the trunk, and the Tobu Kameido Line, Daishi Line, Tobu Urban Park Line, Tobu Sano Line, Koizumi Line, Tōbu Kiryū Line, and Nikkō Line forming the branches, with further branches into the Tobu Utsunomiya Line and Tobu Kinugawa Lines. It offers surcharged, seat-reserved limited express services from Tokyo to Nikkō and Kinugawa.

The Tojo Line runs northwest from Ikebukuro in Tokyo to central and western Saitama Prefecture. A branch, the Ogose Line, runs to Ogose from Sakado.

Tobu's terminals in Tokyo are at Asakusa (Main Line express services), Oshiage (most other Main Line services) and Ikebukuro (Tojo Line). The Skytree and Isesaki Lines interoperate with the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line and the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line to serve central, southwestern Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, while the Tojo Line interoperates with the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line, Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line, Tokyu Toyoko Line and Minatomirai Line to serve central and southwest Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.

Main lines

Name	Symbol	Stations	Length
Skytree Line		Asakusa – Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen	41.0 km (25.5 mi)
Kameido Line		Hikifune – Kameido	3.4 km (2.1 mi)
Daishi Line		Nishiarai – Daishimae	1.0 km (0.62 mi)
Isesaki Line		Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen – Isesaki	75.1 km (46.7 mi)
Sano Line		Tatebayashi – Kuzū	22.1 km (13.7 mi)
Koizumi Line		Tatebayashi – Nishi-Koizumi, Ōta – Higashi-Koizumi	12.0 km (7.5 mi)
Kiryū Line		Ōta – Akagi	20.3 km (12.6 mi)
Nikkō Line		Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen – Tōbu Nikkō	94.5 km (58.7 mi)
Utsunomiya Line		Shin-Tochigi – Tōbu Utsunomiya	24.3 km (15.1 mi)
Kinugawa Line		Shimo-Imaichi – Shin-Fujiwara	6.2 km (3.9 mi)
Urban Park Line (Formerly Noda Line)		Ōmiya – Kasukabe – Funabashi	62.7 km (39.0 mi)

Tobu Tojo lines

Name	Symbol	Stations	Length
Tojo Line		Ikebukuro – Yorii	75.0 km (46.6 mi)
Ogose Line		Sakado – Ogose	10.9 km (6.8 mi)

As of 1 April 2016, Tobu Railway operates a fleet of 1,890 electric multiple unit (EMU) vehicles, the third largest fleet for a private railway operator in Japan after Tokyo Metro (2,728 vehicles) and Kintetsu (1,905).[5]

• Small, Charles S. (January 1966). "Smoke Over Sano: An illustrious breed slowly vanishes far from home". Railway Magazine. Vol. 112, no. 777. pp. 13–15.
• Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄: 全国私鉄149社局掲載 データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-4-87366-874-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tobu Railway.

• Tobu Group website (in Japanese)