The Keihan Electric Railway Company, Ltd. (京阪電気鉄道株式会社, Keihan Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), known colloquially as the "Keihan Dentetsu" (京阪電鉄), "Keihan Densha" (京阪電車), or simply "Keihan" (京阪), is a major Japanese private railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. The transit network includes seven lines; four main lines with heavy rolling stock, two interurban lines, and a funicular railway.
It is a subsidiary of Keihan Holdings, Ltd. (TYO: 9045).
Keihan started its operation between Osaka and Kyoto in 1910. It was the first electric railway to connect these two cities, and the first line on the left bank of Yodo River. Keihan later purchased the lines in the Ōtsu area (Ōtsu Lines).
In the 1920s, Keihan built another Osaka-Kyoto line through its subsidiary Shinkeihan Railway (新京阪鉄道, Shin-keihan-tetsudō), which merged into Keihan in 1930. This line is now known as the Hankyu Kyoto Line.
In 1943, with the power given by the Land Transport Business Coordination Act (陸上交通事業調整法, rikujō-kōtsū-jigyō-chōsei-hō) (Act No. 71 of 1938), the wartime government of Japan forced Keihan to merge with Hanshin Kyūkō Railway to form Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway (京阪神急行電鉄, Keihanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu). In 1949, the pre-war Keihan operations, except for Shinkeihan lines, restored independence under the original corporate name. Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway later changed the name to present Hankyu Railway.
The lines operated by Keihan are grouped into Keihan Lines and Ōtsu Lines. The former operates between Kyoto and Osaka with long formation of larger rolling stock. The latter runs Kyoto and Ōtsu with more tram-like cars. The entire network has 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge double track.
As of 1 April 2016[update], Keihan owns a fleet of 693 vehicles (including two funicular cars), as follows.[1]
Train fare varies based on travel distance. As of January 1, 2009, IC cards (PiTaPa and ICOCA) are accepted on the Keihan Lines and the Otsu Lines, but not on the Cable Line. The fare rate was changed on April 1, 2014 to reflect the change in the rate of consumption tax from 5% to 8%.[2]
The name Keihan, which is also used for the Kyoto-Osaka region, is derived from the words Kyoto and Osaka in Japanese, and is a clipped compound of the names, with the reading of the characters changed: Kyōto (京都) and Ōsaka (大阪) are combined to Keihan (京阪), replacing the go-on reading kyō (京) and kun'yomi saka (阪) with the kan-on readings kei (京) and han (阪). This is commonly done in names for regions or train lines, with (as here) the kan-on readings (most common readings in kanji compounds) being used for the compounds, while the place names use other readings. The larger region, including Kobe (神戸, Kōbe), is similarly called Keihanshin (京阪神, Keihanshin), the go-on reading shin (神) replacing the kun'yomi kō (神), and the corresponding Kyoto-Kobe line is the Keishin (京神, Keishin) line.
Keihan also operates (through the subsidiaries) other businesses such as bus, taxi, water bus, hotel, department store and amusement park, mainly in the area along its railway system.
