Tourism Japan’s last trolleybus ceases operation

[thomas]

Japan's last trolleybuses (トロリーバス), which ceased operation last year on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, were removed from service on the 10th of this month in a transport operation carried out at Murodō (located in Tateyama Town, Toyama Prefecture, elevation 2,450 metres).

Trolleybuses, though shaped like ordinary buses, are classified as a type of railway vehicle known as "trackless trains" (無軌条電車 mukijō densha), receiving their electric power from overhead wires known as "trolley lines." While less costly to install than streetcars, they were widely adopted in urban areas after WWII. However, they gradually disappeared from cityscapes, with the final urban operation ending in 1972 in Yokohama.

Because trolleybuses produce no exhaust and are environmentally friendly, Tateyama Kurobe Kankō Co. introduced them in 1996 to run the section between Murodō and Daikanbō. However, with the ageing of the vehicles and growing difficulty in sourcing replacement parts, the service was discontinued at the end of November last year. From this year, it has been replaced by electric buses. With this transition, a chapter spanning nearly a century since Japan's first trolleybus service began in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1928 has come to a close.

The removal work was conducted previously on 17 October last year and again on the 3rd of this month. On the 10th, the remaining three of the total eight vehicles were lifted by crane onto trailers and transported overland to a local factory in the prefecture that handles vehicle dismantling.

Hayakawa Shinobu, the chief technician of the company's Murodō transport division, who had long been responsible for maintaining and operating the trolleybuses and who witnessed the removal, remarked: "The trolleybus made its final journey to the work site using its onboard battery, and it never broke down—not even at the very end. Although I'm filled with sadness, I carry many memories with me and hope to move forward into the next era," he said, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.

Translated from:

国内最後のトロリーバス、廃車場へバッテリーで自走…「最後の最後まで壊れずにいてくれた」 (読売新聞オンライン) - Yahoo!ニュース

搬出され、宙に浮くトロバス（１０日、富山県立山町で） - Yahoo!ニュース(読売新聞オンライン)

news.yahoo.co.jp

 

[johnnyG]

I've been thru the tunnel up there a few times. Yeah, nostalgia and so on, but electric buses will be fine.

 

[mdchachi]

View attachment 130325

Japan's last trolleybuses (トロリーバス), which ceased operation last year on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, were removed from service on the 10th of this month in a transport operation carried out at Murodō (located in Tateyama Town, Toyama Prefecture, elevation 2,450 metres).

Trolleybuses, though shaped like ordinary buses, are classified as a type of railway vehicle known as "trackless trains" (無軌条電車 mukijō densha), receiving their electric power from overhead wires known as "trolley lines." While less costly to install than streetcars, they were widely adopted in urban areas after WWII. However, they gradually disappeared from cityscapes, with the final urban operation ending in 1972 in Yokohama.

Because trolleybuses produce no exhaust and are environmentally friendly, Tateyama Kurobe Kankō Co. introduced them in 1996 to run the section between Murodō and Daikanbō. However, with the ageing of the vehicles and growing difficulty in sourcing replacement parts, the service was discontinued at the end of November last year. From this year, it has been replaced by electric buses. With this transition, a chapter spanning nearly a century since Japan's first trolleybus service began in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1928 has come to a close.

The removal work was conducted previously on 17 October last year and again on the 3rd of this month. On the 10th, the remaining three of the total eight vehicles were lifted by crane onto trailers and transported overland to a local factory in the prefecture that handles vehicle dismantling.

Hayakawa Shinobu, the chief technician of the company's Murodō transport division, who had long been responsible for maintaining and operating the trolleybuses and who witnessed the removal, remarked: "The trolleybus made its final journey to the work site using its onboard battery, and it never broke down—not even at the very end. Although I'm filled with sadness, I carry many memories with me and hope to move forward into the next era," he said, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.

Translated from:

国内最後のトロリーバス、廃車場へバッテリーで自走…「最後の最後まで壊れずにいてくれた」 (読売新聞オンライン) - Yahoo!ニュース

搬出され、宙に浮くトロバス（１０日、富山県立山町で） - Yahoo!ニュース(読売新聞オンライン)

news.yahoo.co.jp

We rode them last year and there were posters about it being the last season for these vehicles. I got a commemorative sticker too. At the time it wasn't clear to me what would replace them. Electric buses makes sense.