The is a major private railway in Chiba and Tokyo, Japan. The name Keisei is the combination of contractions of "Tokyo (Capital)" Kei and "Narita" sei which the railways main line connects. The railway's main line runs from Tokyo to Narita and the eastern suburb cities of Funabashi, Narashino, Yachiyo, and Sakura. Keisei runs an airport express train called the Skyliner from Ueno and Nippori to Narita International Airport.

In addition to its railway business, the Keisei Electric Railway Company owns large bus and taxi services and some real estate holdings. It owns a large share of the Oriental Land Company which manages the Tokyo Disney Resort.

History

Keisei was founded on June 30, 1909 and began services on November 3, 1912, initially operating local train service in eastern Tokyo. Its main line reached Narita in 1930 and Ueno in 1933.

Originally a narrow gauge operator, Keisei converted to standard gauge in 1959. In 1960, Keisei began through service with the Toei Asakusa Line, the first interline through service arrangement in Japan.

Skyliner service began in 1973 and started serving the airport in 1978, when the first Narita Airport Station opened (today's Higashi-Narita station).A new underground station was opened in 1991 to provide a more direct connection to terminal 1, and in 1992 service began to terminal 2.

Lines

Keisei operates 102.4 km of railway which consists of one trunk line named the Main Line and five branchlines.

Line name	Japanese	Endpoints	Distance (km)	Type1
Main Line	本線	– (Komaino Junction)	67.2	1
		(Komaino Junction) –	2.1	2
Oshiage Line	押上線	Oshiage – Aoto	5.7	1
Chiba Line	千葉線	Keisei-Tsudanuma – Chiba Chūō	12.9	1
Chihara Line	千原線	Chiba Chūō – Chiharadai	10.9	1
Higashi-Narita Line	東成田線	Keisei-Narita – Higashi-narita	7.1	1
Kanamachi Line	金町線	Keisei-Takasago – Keisei-Kanamachi	2.5	1
Total			102.4
Projected lines
(Chihara Line extension)		Chiharadai – Amaariki	8.2	1
(Narita Rapid Railway)		Keisei Takasago – Narita Airport	51.4	2

Legend

1. "Type" indicates the type of railway business under the Railway Business Act of Japan. Type 1 operator owns and operates the railway while Type 2 operator operates but does not owns the railway.

Subsidiaries

Keisei Group includes:

• Shin-Keisei Electric Railway (Shin-Keisei Line)
• Chiba Newtown Railway
• Hokusō Railway (Hokusō Line)
• Kantō Railway
• Kashima Railway Company (Kashima Railway Line)
• Kominato Railway (Kominato Line)
• Maihama Resort Line (Disney Resort Line)
• Narita Airport Rapid Railway (Narita Rapid Railway)
• Nokogiriyama Ropeway
• The Oriental Land Company
• Tsukuba Kankō Railway (Mt. Tsukuba Cable Car and Mt. Tsukuba Ropeway)

Companies related to Keisei, although not a group member:

• Shibayama Railway
• Tōyō Rapid Railway (Tōyō Rapid Railway Line)

External links

• Official site
• English part of official site

Gallery

File:Keisei Electric RailwayHQ.jpg|Keisei HeadquartersFile:Keisei-3000-2-3001.jpg|Keisei 3000 series commuter trainFile:Shibayama-3600.jpg|3600 series, leased to Shibayama Railway