Nankai-Semboku semi-express - Nankai Namba to Izumi-Chūō

[miyakoji]

Here's another great upload by HINTEL1824TRAIN.  This is a zenmen tenbou video of a ride on Semboku 7000 series rolling stock from Nankai Namba, just slightly south-east from JR West's JR Namba (formerly Minatomachi Station), to Izumi-Chūō.  Nankai Namba is elevated, while the ground-level Minatomachi was undergrounded when rebuilt as JR Namba. This service operates as a rapid until Mozu where the change to Semboku's line happens, and then stops at all stations to the end of the line.

 

The English Wikipedia page on Semboku has some interesting information; this line was meant to be planned, constructed, and operated by Nankai to serve the Semboku New Town development, but they had some accidents in the late '60s. The government forced them to buy new trains and infrastructure, so they were low on funds and were slow in developing this line. So Osaka prefecture developed the line through Osaka Prefectural Urban Development Company.

 

The rolling stock resembles JR West's 223 series, although I don't see anything about design commonalities. These are built by Kawasaki, who build some of JRW's rolling stock including the 223s.

 

 

http://maps.google.com/?ll=34.553084,135.51286&spn=0.015251,0.022316&t=m&z=16

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Prefectural_Urban_Development

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semboku_Rapid_Railway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namba_Station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senboku_New_Town

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E9%98%AA%E5%BA%9C%E9%83%BD%E5%B8%82%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BA7000%E7%B3%BB%E9%9B%BB%E8%BB%8A

[bikkuri bahn]

What? No 3000 series, or so I thought until I saw one at Izumi Chuo Station on a semi-express bound for Nanba.  The newer types don't do much for me (though I like the use of the traditional conductor all-clear bell, rather than buzzer)- the 3000 series is my favorite for this line, a contemporary of the Tokyu 8000 series.  Nice footage along the Kouya Line too- lots of my preferred older stainless corrugated stock.  The contrast between the Kouya Line and the Semboku Line is interesting- lots of at-grade running on the former, including the classic grade-crossing-by-the-station setup, and elevated or median running on the latter.

 

Semboku 3000 series at Tengachaya:

[Sacto1985]

Thanks for the video. I'm been trying to convince HINTEL1824TRAIN to do a full contemporary zenmen tenbou video of the Hanshin/Sanyo run from the Hanshin Umeda Station all the way to Sanyo Himeji Station (there's a full video of this route, but that was taken in 1998, well before they completed the elevation of the Hanshin tracks at Hanshin Nishinomiya Station in 2001.