From left to right: “original” style as introduced in 1994 with a dark-grey-painted wipers’ cover, 1995 to 2004 white wipers’ cover without series number and full cross-seating interiors, 2009-circa and onwards withe wipers’ cover with series number and semi-cross seating, Keikyu Blue Sky Train set 606 and a present-day 4-car set with series number and semi-cross seating.
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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!)
The 600 Series was “birthed” in the early 1990s as Keikyu was looking to modernize it’s rolling stock dedicated to “higher-end” commuter services (rapid trains and trough-services), especially in view of the future opening of a connection to Haneda Airport, wich warranted modern and high-quality rolling stock.
Indeed, at the time, Keikyu’s “commuter” fleet was quite obsolescent, especially compared to other railways – outside of the only two relatively “modern” trains, the 1500 and 800 Serieses, the bulk of the fleet was formed of more than 20-year old rolling stock of an even older design, of late-1950s vintage – these two serieses being the “Keikyu-network-only” 700 Series, built between 1967 and 1971 and the 1000 Series, built between 1959 and 1978 – the latter being augurably the “worst offender” and most problematic of the two, as it also formed the bulk of the fleet capable of trough-running services with the Toei Asakusa Line and the Keisei network (the more modern 1500 Series was also designed for trough-services, but it’s comparatively small fleet – 166 cars – was dwarfed by the 1000 Series’ 356 cars total).
Furthemore, Keikyu also lacked any “intermediate” between the classic commuter stock with longitudinal seating and the two-door limited express trains (such as the 2000 Series then in use), wich could not be used for trough-services. As such Keikyu also wanted something that could be used “amphibiously” – good enough for commuter trains during rush hour, but comfortable enough for express services off-peak, and of course, able to run trough-services.
Thus, all these “requirements” were combined togheter into one design: for commuter and subway services, the three-door bodyshell of the 1500 Series was retained, but the front changed to a nice and stylish rouned front, with a side emergency escape door and top-mounted headlights (a distinctive trait of all of Keikyu’s trains, with the 1500 Series being the only exception). Wipers were also interestingly “hidden” behind a cover, so as to improve aereodynamics. In terms of equipment, the 600 Series was also Keikyu’s first rolling stock fitted with three-phase asyncrhronous motors controlled by inverters (the choice falling on Toyo Denki-made GTO-VVVF ones). A “selective door opening” system was also installed, allowing for the central door to remain closed if the train was to be running limited express service (effectively transforming the 600 Series into a 2-door train, as per Keikyu’s limited express practice).
However, the most distinctive trait of these trains is in their interior fittings; first of all, highly unusual for a train intended to (also) run commuter services, especially ones that would also run on subway lines, the seating arrangment was cross-wise thruought the whole train, and secondly, the seats themselves were highly unusual: some of them were movable and could be either folded in and out of essentially “storage boxes” or retracted into other seats as well! Named “Twingle Seats” (a combination of “Twin, Single and Sparkle”), all seats “movements” were powered by compressed air and could be centrally controlled by the conductor via a switch in the driving cab. Likewise, the 600 Series was also fitted with a pair of foldable “strapountin” seats for each door, also pneumatically operated and controlled centrally by a switch in the driver’s cab.
Essentially, the intended practice was to run with “Twingle Seats” retracted on commuter services, so as to increase standing space, and all seats folded out and extended for limited express and other rapid services.
Finally, to denote these as “higher-end” trains, the 600 Series was fitted in the same “limited express” colour scheme, red with a broad white band around the windows, as the 2000 Series rahter than the “commuter” livery of red with a thin white line below the windows (as with the 1500, 1000 and 700 Serieses).
Built by Tokyu Car Co. (set 601) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (set 602), the first two 600 Series sets, formed of eight cars each, were delivered to Keikyu in March 1994, entering regular services shortly afterwards.
Three more sets followed exactly one year later in March 1995, with sets 603 and 605 being built by Tokyu Car Co. and set 604 being built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. These three had a few small differences from the previous two sets, mainly the removal of the “selective door opening” system, wich had immediately proved cumbersome and unpopular.
A third batch of two sets, identical to the previous three, was delivered a few months later in June 1995, with set 606 built by Tokyu Car Co. and set 607 built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Right afterwards, in order to increase visibility during nighttime, the dark grey color of the “wipers’ cover” was changed to the same white as the side window band on all seven trains.
Finally, the fourth and last batch of 600 Series trains was delivered in early 1996, with one 8-car set (set 608) built by Tokyu Car Co. being delivered in February 1996 and six 4-car sets (sets 651 to 656) being delivered in March 1996, with sets 651 to 654 being built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and sets 655 and 656 being built by Tokyu Car Co.
While the 4-car sets retained essentially the same equipment as the previous sets, 8-car set 608 had a few notable differences, primarily a different car arragnment, and the fitting of single-arm pantographs instead of conventional square ones (as on all the 4-car sets and all the other 8-car sets). Set 608 and all 4-car sets were also delivered with white wiper covers right from the start.
Right after delivery, all sets entered service on the Keikyu network on rapid and limited express services trough-running between the Keikyu Main Line and the Toei Asakusa Line onto the Keisei Network, as well as some rapid services in “Keikyu-only” territory. In 1998, with the opening of the Haneda airport station, the 600 Series also became the mainstay of the Airport Line, running between Haneda and Tokyo city center (always via the Toei Asakusa Line).
The success of the 600 Series was quite considerable, with Keikyu later proceeding to order both a limited express-only version (wich would become the iconic 2100 Series) as well as a “local commuter-only” version, wich would become the New 1000 Series.
However, already after a little less than 10 years, the complex (and likely overengineered) “twingle seats” became increasingly difficult to maintain, and furthemore, the all-crosswise seating arrangment of the series, even with the “twingle seats” retracted was still inadequate to handle crush loads during rush hour commuter services.
As such, in 2004 a refitting program was started, with conventional longitudinal seating replacing the “twingle seats” between the three door pairs, leaving cross-seating only at the farther ends of cars. At around the same time, the roller-blind destination indicators were also replaced with multi-color LED displays, and the series’ designation (600) began to be painted on the wipers’ cover, in the same vein as the 2100 and New 1000 Serieses.
All sets were converted to a semi-crosswise seating arrangment by 2005, and by 2014 the whole refurbishment program came to a close, wich besides the LED destination and series number, also included new LED headlights, new air-conditioning units and a few other minor modifications.
One final “modification” came in 2005 for set 606, wich was repainted in an all-over blue livery as the promotional “Keikyu Blue Sky Train” (togheter with a 2100 Series set, repainted in an identical color scheme in the same year) and has been carrying the same livery ever since.
As of today, the “operational” range of the 600 Series has remained mostly unchanged since their introduction; for the eight-car sets the main assignment is of course rapid and express services trough-running with the Toei Asakusa Line, mainly services to and from Haneda Airport and rapid services connecting Haneda Airport to Narita Airport (via the Keisei network) or occasional rapid and express services (and sometimes limited express services, if a 2100 Series train is unavailable) on the Keikyu Main Line, always trough-running with the Toei Asakusa Line.
4-car sets instead rarely run trough-services, being used mostly as “attached formations” for 2100 Series trains running limited express trains in rush hours, or as stand-alone local trains on the Keikyu main line. With the introduction of more and more batches of the New 1000 Series, in recent years some 600 Series were even cascaded to branchlines such as the Daishi Line, running along or even replacing older 1500 Series set.
Depsite the oldest sets having just passed the 30 year mark, no replacement for the 600 Series is currently planned.
