New Shuttle

New 2000 series train inside Maruyama Depot, December 2007

The New Shuttle (ニューシャトル Nyū Shatoru,), is a Japanese human-operated rubber-tyred automated guideway transit (AGT) system.

The 12.7-kilometre Ina Line (伊奈線, Ina-sen^?) that runs north from Ōmiya Station in Saitama, Saitama, along Jōetsu Shinkansen through Ageo to Uchijuku Station in Ina in Saitama Prefecture in the Greater Tokyo Area is the only route that is run on the system.

The line is operated by Saitama New Urban Transit Co., Ltd. (埼玉新都市交通株式会社, Saitama Shin Toshi Kōtsū Kabushiki-gaisha^?), a kabushiki kaisha whose major shareholders include the East Japan Railway Company, Tobu Railway, banks, Saitama prefectural government and the cities and the town served.

Ina Line stations

• Ōmiya Station, Ōmiya-ku, Saitama
• Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan Station (ex. Ōnari Station, renamed on 14 October 2007 [1])
• Kamonomiya Station, Kita-ku, Saitama
• Higashi-Miyahara Station
• Konba Station
• Yoshinohara Station
• Haraichi Station, Ageo, Saitama
• Shōnan Station
• Maruyama Station, Ina, Saitama
• Shiku Station
• Ina-Chūō Station
• Hanuki Station
• Uchijuku Station

History

The people of Ina town, on the branch point of the Tōhoku and Jōetsu Shinkansen high-speed railway lines, opposed the latter being routed through their area, complaining that the town would be divided by the new tracks and beset with noise pollution.

To placate the residents, new railway lines were planned. The AGT Ina Line was the solution reached for the area north of Ōmiya Station, where the potential demand was not large enough to run heavy rail lines economically. (Currently, the line generates an operating profit.) A heavy rail line (the Saikyō Line) was the solution reached for the south of Ōmiya Station.

• 1 April 1980: Operating company Saitama New Urban Transit Co., Ltd. (埼玉新都市交通株式会社, Saitama Shin Toshi Kōtsū Kabushiki-gaisha^?) is incorporated.
• 22 December 1983: The section between Ōmiya and Hanuki stations opens.
• 2 August 1990: The remaining section between Hanuki and Uchijuku stations opens.
• 14 October 2007: Ōnari Station is renamed Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan Station when the Railway Museum (Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan) opens.

Gallery

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  1010 series at Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan Station

• 

  1050 series at Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan Station

See also

• List of rapid transit systems

External links

• Company website (Japanese)