New version! Old one still avaliable on the “Legacy addons” page
From left to right: Denentoshi Line 5000 Series, Toyoko Line 5050 Series, Meguro Line 5080 Series, 5050-4000 Series “Shibuya Hikarie” set 4110 (Toyoko Line), 5000 Series “Green Frog Revival” set 5122 (also Toyoko Line) and the Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Y500 Series for the Minatomirai Line. Also included in the pack (but not pictured) are the 5000 Series and the 5050-4000 Series in the standard Toyoko Line livery.
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All the necessary dependencies are either included in this package or are avaible on the DLS. Soundscript by Rizky_Adiputra.
(Consists are included! Don’t bother with placing individual cars!)
By the early 2000s Tokyu’s rolling stock situation was pretty good, with most trains in service being relatively modern and up-to-date, altough not entirely recent (except the small fleet of 3000 Series trains introduced in 1999 for trough-services between the Meguro Line and TRTA’s Namboku Line and Toei Subway’s Mita Line, the newest train in Tokyu’s fleet was the 2000 Series, introduced a decade earlier in 1991).
However, all of Tokyu’s rolling stock had been built until then following the traditional “built to last forever” principle, wich while being a sound and reliable concept, it was beginning to be a bit of a hamper to the modernization of the company’s network.
Meanwhile, JR East’s Shin-Keiretsu-Densha concept and specifically the E231 Series, introduced at around the same time as the natural “successor” of the 209 Series, was becoming the sensation of the moment within the Japanese railway scene, due to it’s revolutionary concept and unexpensiveness. Hence, Tokyu Corporation felt compelled to trial this new rolling stock concept, considering the good results the company already got from the 3000 Series (wich was partially based on the 209 Series) and the fact that it’s own rolling stock manufacturing subsidiary company, Tokyu Car Co., togheter with Kawasaki Heavy Industries was already manufacturing Shin-Keiretsu-Densha type trains for JR East, and thus was already well acquainted with the concept.
Classified as the “5000 Series”, Tokyu’s first Shin-Keiretsu-Densha type train was introduced on the Denentoshi Line in May 2002, in order to increase the number of available trains for the commencment of trough-services with the Tobu Iseaki Line (via the TRTA Hanzomon Line) and at the same time to displace to other lines the other serieses that weren’t equipped with for trough-running.
Altough based on the E231 Series design, the 5000 Series used the same narrow bodyshell as the older 209 Series (in order to be compatible with the narrower loading gauge of subway lines), altough with a slightly different, more rounded and modern-looking FRP front mask, wich also fetaured a front emergency escape door (again, to be compatible with subway lines) and top-mounted headlights.
An initial order was placed for six 10-car sets (01 to 06), wich were built and delivered between 2002 and 2003, followed by fourteen more (07-17 and 20-22) built between 2005 and 2008 and fitted with the soon-to-became infamous six-door “standing-room-only” cars. Finally, two additional sets (18 and 19) were delivered in 2009, however, due to the abundance of trains on the line, never entered regular services – being kept in storage out-of-services togheter with sets 21 and 22.
After the Denentoshi Line, the second line to get 5000 Series trains was Tokyu’s original line, the Toyoko Line, wich started recieving it’s own dedicated variant, the 5050 Series, in April 2004. On this line the 5050 Series had an important objective – to replace all non-trough-service equipped trains (specifically the 8000 and 8090 Serieses) in preparation for the commencment of trough-services with the underground Minatomirai Line, a southwards extension of the Toyoko Line built to subway standards wich opened in 2004.
The 5050 Series is nearly identical to the Denentoshi Line’s 5000 Series, with the only notable differences being the shorter formation (8 cars instead of 10), lack of 6-door cars, slightly different livery (a pink line denoting the Toyoko Line, instead of a acqua blue one) and the presence of full-colour LED destination indicators, a world first.
A total of 28 8-car sets were manufactured for 15 straight years, between 2004 and 2019, including two as replacement for withdrawn sets, specifically one scrapped in 2017 after having collided with a Minatomirai Line train in 2014 and the other transferred to the Yokohama Minatomirai Railway as a replacement for the afromentioned damaged train.
These were also joined in 2010 by the four surplus Denentoshi Line 5000 Series sets (18, 19, 21 and 22), wich were accordingly shortened to eight cars and adapted to Toyoko Line specifications, but retained their original “5000 Series” designation and car numbers.
Another batch of 5000 Series-derived trains, the 5050-4000 Series was delivered to the Toyoko Line starting from 2012 – these are eleven sets built specifically for the commencment of trough-services with the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line, wich eventually began in 2013.
However they differ little from standard 5050 Series trains – the main difference is only in the formation: unlike standard 5050 Series trains, the eleven -4000 Subseries sets are formed as 10-car sets, meaning they can only stop at certain Toyoko Line stations, and as such are limited to rapid and express services only.
Finally, the third line to get 5000 Series-derived trains was the Meguro Line, wich started to recieve it’s own dedicated variant, the 5080 Series, from March 2003. These were intended to supplement the existing 3000 Series on trough-services with the Namboku and Mita subway lines and as such are fitted with specialized signalling equipment, namely CS-ATC, TASC (for the Tokyu Meguro Line and the Mita Line) and ATO for the Namboku Line and the Saitama Rapid Railway. Formed as six-car sets, a total of 10 sets were built between 2003 and 2008.
In the near future, with the commencment of trough-services with the Sotetsu network (via the under-construction Tokyu Shin-Yokohama Line), all ten 5080 Series sets will be refurbished and lenghtened to eight cars, using part surplus intermediate cars from the Oimachi Line 6000 Series (itself derived from the 5000 Series family) and part newly-built cars.
Nearly all trains in the 5000 Series family were delivered fitted in the same standard livery – unpainted steel with red bands and a thin line denoting the line served (acqua blue for the Denetoshi Line, pink for the Toyoko Line and dark blue for the Meguro Line), but a few trains were fitted in special liveries to commemorate special events related to Tokyu Corporation.
Out of the various sets that were fitted with special liveries, the most notable two are surely 5000 Series set 5122 (one of the surplus Denentoshi Line sets moved to the Toyoko Line) and 5050-4000 Series set 4110.
The former was repainted in 2017 in an all-over green livery reminescent of the “original” Tokyu 5000 Series trains of 1954 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the opening of the Toyoko Line, while the latter was delivered new from the factory in April 2013 fitted with a special yellow, black and red livery to mark the first anniversary of the opening of the “Shibuya Hikarie” department store (owned by Tokyu itself), located above the new Tokyu Shibuya station, wich had been relocated underground following the commencment of trough-services with the Fukutoshin Line.
As of today, nearly 70 5000 Series sets of various sub-series are in operation thruought Tokyu Corporation’s network, outnumbering any other series in Tokyu’s fleet. Thanks to their reliability, inexpensiveness of manufacturing and maintainance, the 5000 Series has been particularily successful in modernizing Tokyu’s network as a whole, proving the viability of the Shin-Keiretsu-Densha concept not only for JR Group companies, but for major private railways as well.
Furthemore, thanks to their distinctive appearance and “ubiquitousness” (as they can also be found on Tobu and Seibu Railway networks as well as three different subway lines) the 5000 Series family has become an icon of Tokyu Corporation, and will contine to run for several decades, even as it’s more advanced successor, the 2020 Series, is being introduced in increasing numbers.
