Tobu 8000 series

Data (as of 12 Jan 2024)

History

The 8000 series is one of the most famous train in Japan for the number of carriages introduced, as 712 is the biggest number among all trains in history of private railways. It was initially introduced to deal with skyrocketing demand in Tokyo in the 1960s. Each unit consists of two, three, four or six coaches, and there were also eight-carriage units in the past. It is also worth noting that Tobu retained all of them until 2004, meaning that the company did not withdraw any of them for more than 40 years. However, many of them were scrapped as the time went by, and approximately 500 carriages have already been disposed of so far.

The 8000 series was designed as an ordinary commuter train, with four sets of doors per carriage and longitudinal seating. The original livery was dark beige and orange, but repainted pale beige to reduce costs of painting in 1974, and repainted again to white with blue bands from 1985. Tobu refurbished almost all units in 1986-2007, and the front end of units which were refurbished after 1987 became almost identical to that of 6050 series.

The 8000 series has been used on the entire Tobu network except Kawagoe Line, which was permanently closed in 1983. Some of them were used even for long-distance journeys between Asakusa and Aizukogen-ozeguchi (which took more than three hours) in the 1980s despite seating was longitudinal and there was no toilet. Some units were converted to be compatible with driver-only operation when reallocated to branch lines. However, the series were withdrawn from Isesaki Line (Asakusa area) by 2010 and Tojo Line (Ikebukuro area) by 2015, respectively.

Current Operations & Future Prospects

The 8000 series runs Isesaki Line between Tatebayashi and Isesaki (Gunma Prefecture), Tojo Line between Ogawamachi and Yorii (Saitama Prefecture) and Daishi, Kameido, Kiryu, Koizumi, Noda, Ogose and Sano Lines. They are mostly used for small branch lines, but considerable number of services on Noda Line are still provided by the 8000 series. A six-car unit with the original front end has been preserved by Tobu Railway Museum and used for rail tours, but it had been temporarily reallocated to Noda Line services since 2023.

Those on Noda Line will be replaced with brand new trains from financial year 2024. Other units are 40-50 years old as well, but they are likely to be in service until the mid or even late-2020s.

Photos

Considerable number of 8000 series still serve Noda Line.

The original style on Tojo Line (retired in 2011).

The original livery.

The original-style 8000 series (ivory).