Seibu Railway

Seibu 10000 series "Chichibu" Limited express train

Seibu 20000 series commuter trainset

Seibu Railway Company, Ltd. (西武鉄道株式会社, Seibu Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha^?) is a conglomerate based in Tokorozawa, Japan, with principal business areas in railways, tourism and real estate. Seibu Railway's operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name "Seibu" is an abbreviation of "west Musashi," referring to the historic name for this area. However it and its holding company hold shares of numerous bus, hotel and tourism operations nationwide.

History

The original Seibu Railway was founded in 1894 and began service on the Kawagoe Railway line between Kokubunji and Kawagoe that December. In the following years, Seibu built and operated a number of other lines based around Shinjuku. In 1943, the company merged into the Musashino Railway company, which had been operating an Ikebukuro - Hanno line since 1915. Musashino Railway renamed itself to Seibu Railway following the merger. The former Seibu network based around Shinjuku and the former Musashino network based around Ikebukuro remain operationally separated today. On December 21 2005, Seibu Railway shareholders voted to remove control of the railroad from Kokudo Corporation and Yoshiaki Tsutsumi who received prison sentences in October for insider trading. The reorganization, completed in February 2006, created Seibu Holdings, Inc., to act as a holding company for both the railway and Prince Hotels. The largest shareholder is United States-based Cerberus Group with a 29.9% share of the new company.^[1]

Railway operations

Map of Seibu network

Seibu's routes total 179.8 km. They fall into two separate groups. Tokorozawa Station is the crossing point of Ikebukuro Line and Shinjuku Line. Seibu Railway is well known for its bright yellow colored trains. However, more recent trains have a blue colored line on unpainted stainless steel or aluminium bodies.

Ikebukuro Line Group

The Ikebukuro Line group includes the Ikebukuro Line and its branches.

• Ikebukuro Line (池袋線): Ikebukuro Station—Tokorozawa Station—Hanno Station—Agano Station (57.8 km) - offers direct "through-service" to Shin-Kiba Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line via the Seibu Yurakucho Line
• Seibu Chichibu Line (西武秩父線): Agano Station—Seibu Chichibu Station (19.0 km)
• Seibu Yurakucho Line (西武有楽町線): Nerima Station—Kotake Mukaihara Station (2.6 km) - connects the Ikebukuro Line and Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line
• Toshima Line (豊島線): Nerima Station—Toshimaen Station (1.0 km)
• Sayama Line (狭山線): Nishi Tokorozawa Station—Seibu Kyujo-Mae Station (4.2 km)

Shinjuku Line Group

The Shinjuku Line group includes the Shinjuku Line and its branches, as well as the Tamagawa Line, which is not a branch of the Shinjuku Line but had been owned by the Shinjuku Line's operator before its merger with the Ikebukuro Line operator.

• Shinjuku Line (新宿線): Seibu Shinjuku Station–Tokorozawa Station–Hon Kawagoe Station (47.5 km)
• Seibu-en Line (西武園線): Higashi Murayama Station—Seibu-en Station (2.4 km)
• Haijima Line (拝島線): Kodaira Station—Haijima Station (14.3 km)
• Tamako Line (多摩湖線): Kokubunji Station—Hagiyama Station—Seibu Yuenchi Station (9.2 km)
• Kokubunji Line (国分寺線): Higashi Murayama Station—Ogawa Station—Kokubunji Station (7.8 km)
• Ahina Line (安比奈線): Minami Otsuka Station—Ahina Station (3.2 km: Freight line, not presently operating)
• Tamagawa Line (多摩川線): Musashi-Sakai Station—Koremasa Station (8.0 km)

People mover

• Yamaguchi Line (山口線): Seibu Yuenchi Station—Seibu Kyujo-Mae Station (2.8 km)

Fares

Single fare(Adult)

Affiliated companies

• Prince Hotels
• Seibu Construction
• Saitama Seibu Lions (baseball team)
• Seibu Real Estate
• Seibu Trading

References

1. ^  The Japan Times (December 22 2005), Seibu Railway shareholders OK reorganizing plan. Retrieved December 22 2005.