Tobu 6050 series
Tobu 634 series Skytree Train

Data (as of 5 Apr 2025)

*Excluding units stored at sidings and depots, awaiting disposal.

History

The 6050 series had been used mainly for Tobu Nikko and Kinugawa Lines as well as through-services to and from Yagan Railway and Aizu Railway. Tobu rebuilt 6000 series trains with newly built bodies and renamed them 6050 series, with 22 two-carriage units were delivered. In addition, Tobu introduced eleven more units that were made from the ground up, and three of them were trasnferred to Yagan Railway and one was transferred to Aizu Railway shortly after built.

The series was designed for long-distance passengers so that there are only two sets of doors per carriage with transverse seating, and each unit has a (squat) toilet. One of the most distinctive feature is a rollsign inside the train, to make sure that passengers are on a correct part of the train.

The 6050 series trains ran mostly as Section Rapid (Asakusa - Tobu-nikko and Aizu-Tajima, splited at Shimo-Imaichi) until 2017, when 500 series Revaty and 20000 series were introduced. A few of them were used in Nikko and Kinugawa areas, but almost of all services provided by the 6050 series were discontinued in 2022.

In 2012, two units were converted to 634 series Skytree Train, a designated four-car unit for tourists. It had run at weekends and on holidays until 2017, but Tobu found that the number of passengers was far less than anticipated. It is now used mostly for rail tours.

Current Operations & Future Prospects

Just two trainsets are operational on Yagan Railway line, which are used for stopping services on Tobu Kinugawa and Yagan Railway lines between Kinugawa-onsen and Aizukogen-ozeguchi. Yagan Railway has repaired one of the units in 2023, but it is not clear how long it intends to use the series.

The 634 series Skytree Train is used just for a handful of rail tours a year.

Photo

The 634 series Skytree Train. The number 634 was named after the height of Tokyo Skytree (634 metres), and it is a pun of "Musashi" (a province before the westernisation of Japan, which is now Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture.