Meitetsu


Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd., publicly trading as Meitetsu, is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan.
Meitetsu, headquartered in Nagoya, is a core company of the Meitetsu Group which is involved in transport, retail, hotels, leisure/tourism and real estate, among other industries.
Meitetsu is famous for its red trains, with almost all trains being either fully red or feature red in combination with white, black or unpainted stainless steel. Apart from special liveries, the only current train type to not feature red is the 2000 series "μ-Sky" trains used on Airport Line Limited Express services which feature a blue and white livery. The 300 series used on the through service to the Nagoya Municipal Subway Kamiiida Line has unpainted stainless steel with a thick pink stripe below a thin red stripe.
As of March 2025, Meitetsu, as one of the largest private railway companies in Japan, operated 20 railway lines, of track, 276 stations, and 1,080 train cars.
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History

Meitetsu was founded on June 25, 1894, as the Aichi Horsecar Company.
Over time, Meitetsu has acquired many small railway and interurban companies in the Nagoya area, many of whom were constructed and operated before and during World War II. For example, Meitetsu acquired its [Meitetsu Kōwa Station|Kōwa Line|Kōwa Line] on the Chita Peninsula from its merger with Chita Railroad on February 1, 1943, and it acquired its [Meitetsu Mikawa Province|Mikawa Line|Mikawa Line] from its merger with Mikawa Railroad.
Meitetsu's red trains include its famous 7000 series "Panorama Car" and the Panorama Car Super, both of which offered panoramic views through their wide front windows. The most recent cars, however, are not solid red but rather brushed steel as in the case of the 4000 series and 5000 series, or white as in the case of the 1700 series and 2000 series.
While the company used to engage in the freight business and still possesses some freight locomotives, it no longer carries freight on a regular basis.

Lines

DirectionNameJapaneseTerminalsLength
Main Nagoya Main Line名古屋本線Toyohashi - [Meitetsu Gifu prefecture|Gifu Station|Meitetsu Gifu]99.8
Eastern Aichi Toyokawa Line豊川線Kō - Toyokawa-inari7.2
Eastern Aichi Nishio Line西尾線Shin Anjō - Kira Yoshida24.7
Eastern Aichi [Meitetsu Gamagōri Station|Gamagōri Line|Gamagōri Line]蒲郡線Kira Yoshida - Gamagōri17.6
Eastern Aichi Mikawa Line三河線Sanage - Hekinan39.8
Eastern Aichi [Meitetsu Toyota, Aichi|Toyota Line|Toyota Line]豊田線Umetsubo - Akaike15.2
Chita Peninsula [Meitetsu Tokoname Station|Tokoname Line|Tokoname Line]常滑線Jingū-mae - Tokoname29.3
Chita Peninsula Airport Line空港線Tokoname - Central Japan Int'l Airport4.2
Chita Peninsula Chikkō Line築港線Ōe - Higashi Nagoyakō1.5
Chita Peninsula Kōwa Line河和線Ōtagawa - Kōwa28.8
Chita Peninsula Chita New Line知多新線Fuki - Utsumi13.9
Western Aichi Seto Line瀬戸線Sakaemachi - Owari Seto20.6
Western Aichi [Meitetsu Tsushima Station|Tsushima Line|Tsushima Line]津島線Sukaguchi - Tsushima11.8
Western Aichi Bisai Line尾西線Yatomi - Tamanoi30.9
Northern Aichi and Gifu [Meitetsu Inuyama Station|Inuyama Line|Inuyama Line]犬山線Biwajima Junction - Shin Unuma26.8
Northern Aichi and Gifu Kakamigahara Line各務原線Meitetsu Gifu - Shin Unuma17.6
Northern Aichi and Gifu Hiromi Line広見線Inuyama - Mitake22.3
Northern Aichi and Gifu Komaki Line小牧線Kami Iida - Inuyama20.4
Northern Aichi and Gifu Takehana Line竹鼻線Kasamatsu - Egira10.3
Northern Aichi and Gifu Hashima Line羽島線Egira - Shin Hashima1.3

Major stations

Major stations in Nagoya

Nagoya Line (east side) and Toyokawa Line

Tokoname Line, Chikkō Line, and Airport Line

Kōwa Line and Chita New Line

Mikawa Line, Toyota Line, Nishio Line, and Gamagōri Line

Nagoya Line (west side), Takehana Line, and Hashima Line

Tsushima Line and Bisai Line

Inuyama Line, Kakamigahara Line, and Hiromi Line

Komaki Line

Seto Line

Rolling stock

Nippon Sharyo has produced nearly every car that Meitetsu operates or has operated, a notable exception being its Class EL120, an electric locomotive, which was produced by Toshiba, but very few units were produced for Meitetsu. The Class EL120 is one of the few locomotives that Meitetsu possesses.
The following are the train types that Meitetsu operates today, as well as selected types that Meitetsu has retired.

Limited express

Commuter

Withdrawn train types

Electric locomotives

Rationalization

Meitetsu inherited many deficit lines as a result of multiple mergers. The railway lines were also seeing competition from cars due to Aichi prefecture's notable automobile industry in cities such as Toyota. Meitetsu has abolished over 15 lines over the past 70 years, while also closing sections with low ridership. Additionally, with the collapse of the asset price bubble in the 1990s, and the privatization of JNR, formation of Central Japan Railway Company, the company also cut the number of companies in its corporate group from 250 to 139.