Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus

Seven trolleybuses lined-up at Ōgizawa Station in 2011. Trolleybus operation ended in 2018 after 54 years.
Battery-powered buses at Ōgizawa Station in 2019

The Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus (関電トンネル電気バス, Kanden Tonneru Denki Basu) is a Japanese electric bus line between Ōgizawa Station, Ōmachi and Kurobe Dam Station, Tateyama. The line does not have any official name. The 6.1-km line runs in a tunnel for 5.4 km, the approximately 700-metre above-ground section consisting of around 300 metres of open roadway at and near Ōgizawa station and 400 metres covered by a snow shelter on the approach to the tunnel.[1] Opened in 1964 as a trolleybus line, it was one of the last two trolleybus lines that existed in Japan.[2] The line is a part of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, together with another trolleybus line, the Tateyama Tunnel Trolleybus. The line closed in November 2018 for renewal, and all of the trolleybuses have been replaced by the new battery-electric buses.[3] All of the overhead wiring was removed and new charging pads were installed at the Ōgizawa terminal.

  1. ^ Haseldine, Peter (September–October 2017). "Through the Mountains by Trolleybus". Trolleybus Magazine. No. 335. UK: National Trolleybus Association. pp. 176–182. ISSN 0266-7452.
  2. ^ Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. ISBN 0-904235-18-1.
  3. ^ "関電トンネルにおけるトロリーバスの電気バスへの変更について". Kansai Electric Power Company. Retrieved 15 December 2018.