Kintetsu
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Kintetsu Corporation (近畿日本鉄道株式会社 Kinki Nippon Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha?, TYO: 9041) is a Japanese corporation. It operates the Kinki Nippon Railway (近畿日本鉄道 Kinki Nippon Tetsudō), the largest private railway in Japan. Also known as Kintetsu (近鉄), its complex network of lines connects Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Tsu, Ise, and Gifu. Kintetsu also operates tourism, real estate, and shipping companies, and has a major rail car-building operation (Kinki Sharyo) that produces trains used in Japan, the United States, Egypt and Hong Kong.
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[edit] Profile
- Corporate Name: Kintetsu Corporation
- Address of the Headquarters: 6-55-1, Uehommachi, Tennoji-ku, Osaka, Japan
[edit] History
Kintetsu began life in 1914 as the Osaka Electric Tramway Company (大阪電気軌道株式会社, Ōsaka Denki Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha), operating a line between Osaka and Nara (now the Kintetsu Nara Line). The modern Kashihara, Osaka, and Shigi lines were completed in the 1920's, followed by the Kyoto Line (a cooperative venture with the Keihan Electric Railway).
In 1938, Kintetsu teamed up with the Kansai Kyuko Railway (関西急行電鉄 Kansai Kyūkō Dentetsu) to operate the first private railway service from Osaka to Nagoya. Kintetsu bought Kansai Kyuko in 1940 and continued the service on its own.
Most of the network's smaller lines were merged into Kintetsu during World War II, and maintained after the end of the war.
The company was renamed Kintetsu Corporation after it merged with the Nankai Railway in 1944: it maintained the name when Nankai regained its independence in 1947.
After the war, Kintetsu branched out and became one of the world's largest travel agencies, opening offices in the United States of America and other countries.
[edit] Lines
- 1,435mm
- Osaka Line (Uehommachi - Ise-Nakagawa)
- Shigi Line (Kawachi-Yamamoto - Shigisanguchi)
- Nagoya Line (Kintetsu-Nagoya - Ise-Nakagawa)
- Yunoyama Line (Kintetsu-Yokkaichi - Yunoyama-Onsen)
- Suzuka Line (Ise-Wakamatsu - Hiratacho)
- Yamada Line (Ise-Nakagawa - Ujiyamada)
- Toba Line (Ujiyamada - Toba)
- Shima Line (Toba - Kashikojima)
- Namba Line (Kintetsu-Namba - Uehommachi)
- Nara Line (Fuse - Kintetsu-Nara)
- Ikoma Line (Ikoma - Oji)
- Kyoto Line (Kyoto - Yamato-Saidaiji)
- Kashihara Line (Yamato-Saidaiji - Kashiharajingu-Mae)
- Tenri Line (Hirahata - Tenri)
- Tawaramoto Line (Shin-Oji - Nishi-Tawaramoto)
- Keihanna Line (Nagata - Gakken-Nara-Tomigaoka)
- 1,067mm
- Minami-Osaka Line (Osaka-Abenobashi - Kashiharajingu-Mae)
- Domyoji Line (Domyoji - Kashiwara)
- Nagano Line (Furuichi - Kawachi-Nagano)
- Gose Line (Shakudo - Kintetsu-Gose)
- Yoshino Line (Kashiharajingu-Mae - Yoshino)
- Iga Line (Iga-Ueno - Iga-Kambe)
- Yoro Line (Kuwana - Ogaki - Ibi)
- Cable Lines
- Ikoma Cable Line (Torii-Mae - Ikoma-Sanjo)
- Nishi-Shigi Cable Line (Shigisanguchi - Takayasuyama)
- 762mm
- Utsube Line (Kintetsu-Yokkaichi - Utsube)
- Hachioji Line (Hinaga - Nishi-Hino)
Kintetsu trains also use the Osaka Municipal Subway Chuo Line and the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line.
[edit] Other major businesses
- am/pm Japan
- Kinki Nippon Rent-A-Car
- Kinki Nippon Tourist Travel Agency
- Kinki Sharyo
- Kintetsu Bus
- Kintetsu Department Stores
- Kintetsu Hanazono rugby stadium
- Kintetsu World Express (Air Freight)
- Miyako Hotels and Resorts
- Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (baseball team, present: Orix Buffaloes)
- Shima Spain Village theme park
[edit] External links
- (English) http://www.kintetsu.jp/english/ Corporate web site of Kintetsu Corporation
- (Japanese) http://www.kintetsu.co.jp/ Railway web site of Kintetsu
- (English) http://www.kintetsu.com/ Travel agency web site
