Keihan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. is a Japanese railway operator in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga Prefectures. It is known as "Keihan", "Keihan Dentetsu" or "Keihan Densha". It is subsidiary of Keihan Holdings, Ltd..
History
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. In the 1920s, Keihan built another Osaka-Kyoto line through its subsidiary Shinkeihan Railway, 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, the wartimegovernment of Japan forced Keihan to merge with Hanshin Kyūkō Railway to form Keihanshin Kyūkō Railway. 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.
Lines
The linesoperated 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 double track.
Current lines
Keihan Lines
Keihan Main Line/Ōtō Line: Yodoyabashi - Demachiyanagi
Train fare varies based on travel distance. As of January 1, 2009, IC cards 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%.
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: and are combined to, replacing the go-on reading and kun'yomi with the kan-on readings and. This is commonly done in names for regions or train lines, with the kan-on readings being used for the compounds, while the place names use other readings. The larger region, including Kobe, is similarly called Keihanshin, the go-on reading replacing the kun'yomi, and the corresponding Kyoto-Kobe line is the Keihan Keishin Line line.
Other businesses
Keihan also operates other businesses such as bus, taxi, water bus, hotel, department store and amusement park, mainly in the area along its railway system.
