Kyoto Municipal Subway (京都市営地下鉄)
Kyoto Municipal Subway is operated by the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau. It consists of two lines--the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line and Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line--covering the ten wards (except for Saikyo Ward) and Uji City.
In the ordinance it is denominated as 'Kyoto High Speed Railway.'
Lines
From Takeda Station it runs through the same track as the Kintetsu Kyoto Line. The local train goes to Shin-Tanabe Station, and the express goes to Kintetsu Nara Station.
From Hamaotsu Station the trains on the Keihan Keishin Line are operated through to Uzumasa-Tenjingawa Station via Misasagi Station (but some trains turn around at Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station). However, the trains on the Kyoto Municipal Subway don't operate directly to the Keishin Line (it is impossible to go through to the Keishin Line, because of the difference in the number of cars that can be coupled and the incompatibility of certain equipment).
History
The Subway Construction Project in Kyoto was launched based on the report presented in November 1968 by the Kotsutaisaku Kyogikai, a transport policy council established by the city in the same year. After the construction was licensed in 1972, the work started in 1974 and the subway became operational in 1981. When Kyoto Municipal Subway was inaugurated, its main feature was the elevators provided in four principal stations, which were highly advanced installations for a Japanese subway at that time. This was the result of a campaign launched by wheelchair users and support groups for the disabled, who had since about 1972 presented petitions and lobbied the Kyoto City Assembly and the mayor, Motoki FUNAHASHI, to take measures, although at that time the term "barrier-free" was little known among the people. The city, however, suddenly decided to modify the design of the station and change the initially designed XX platform to the YY platform, anticipating the future installation of elevators in all stations.
May 29, 1981: The Karasuma Line started operating between Kitaoji Station and Kyoto Station.
June 11, 1988: The Karasuma Line started operating between Kyoto Station and Takeda Station.
August 28, 1988: The Karasuma Line started a shared operation with the Kintetsu Kyoto Line (up to Shin-Tanabe Station).
October 24, 1990: The Karasuma Line started operating between Kitayama Station and Kitaoji Station.
July 1, 1993: The Traffica Kyoto Card became available.
May 22, 1997: Oike Station changed its name to Karasuma Oike Station, effective.
June 3, 1997: The Karasuma Line started operating between Kokusaikaikan Station and Kitayama Station.
October 12, 1997: The Tozai Line started operating between Daigo Station and Nijo Station. The Keihan Keishin Line started using the same track from Misasagi Station to Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station.
March 1, 2000: A card compatible with KANSAI THRU PASS became available.
March 15, 2000: The Karasuma Line started operating the direct express trains between Kokusaikaikan Station and Kintetsu Nara Station.
November 26, 2004: The Tozai Line started operating between Rokujizo Station and Daigo Station. Uji City, on the outskirts of Kyoto, saw the opening of its first subway station. A system of station numbering was introduced.
April 1, 2007: PiTaPa was introduced (also introduced to those lines that were sharing the track, such as Kintetsu Railways and Keihan Electric Railway Otsu Line).
January 16, 2008: The Tozai Line started operating between Nijo Station and Uzumasa-Tenjingawa Station. The section shared with the Keihan Keishin Line was extended to Uzumasa-Tenjingawa Station.
Fares
Normal passenger fare for adults (half fare for children, less than 10 yen rounded up)
January 7, 2006: It was revised
January 7, 2006: As a result of the fare revision, Kyoto Municipal Subway, together with Saitama Railway Corporation, became the most expensive subway in terms of base fare among subways in the ordinance-designated cities.
For the details of the discounted fares in case of using a connecting train to the Keihan Keishin Line, please refer to the section on Keihan Electric Railway Fares.
Rolling stock
Karasuma Line
Kyoto Municipal Subway Series 10
Tozai Line
Kyoto Municipal Subway Series 50
For these series the combination of a control device made by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. with a motor by Toshiba is consistently applied, but the Series 10 train uses a body made by Sumitomo Metal Industries and the Series 50 uses a body by Hitachi.
Series 10 and Series 50 are fabricated by The Kinki Sharyo Co., but some trains in Series 10 are fabricated by Hitachi.
Business conditions
In fiscal year 2004, the company ended with a deficit of approximately 19,250,000,000 (19 billion 250 million) yen. Some sources say the company records a loss of approximately 55,000,000 (55 million) yen every day, which amounts to an accumulated deficit of 238,400,000,000 (238 billion 400 million) yen.
Both lines, which run in the ancient capital, have suffered financial and time burdens because, prior to railroading, research on the buried cultural properties (archaeological sites) was required by the Cultural Assets Preservation Act at many of the sites where the company had decided to employ the open-cut method.
As for operation intervals in the daytime, eight trains an hour are operated in connection with the shared lines (Kintetsu Kyoto Line and Keihan Keishin Line), and on weekday afternoons the trains (particularly those on the Tozai Line) are seldom crowded.