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Odakyu Electric Railway Co.,Ltd 小田急電鉄株式会社
Type	Public KK (TYO: 9007)
Founded	June 1, 1948 (from Odawara Express Railway Co., Ltd. established May 1, 1923)
Headquarters	1-3-3, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8309, Japan
Key people	Yorihiko Osuga, Executive President
Industry	Land Transportation
Employees	3,478 (2006)
Website	www.odakyu.jp

The Odakyū Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (小田急電鉄株式会社, Odakyū Dentetsu Kabushiki-gaisha^?), or OER, is a major private railway company in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its Romance car series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone.

The Odakyū Electric Railway forms the core of the Odakyū Group, which comprises 108 companies (as of October 2005), and also includes the Enoshima Electric Railway, Hakone Tozan Railway, Tachikawa Bus and Tokai Bus.

Contents 1 History 2 Lines 3 Anniversary 3.1 Odakyū lines 3.2 Through lines 4 Train classification 5 Limited Express service 6 Rolling stock 6.1 Active 6.1.1 Romancecar sets 6.1.2 Commuter sets 7 Odakyū railway on the computer 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

The 83 km line from Shinjuku to Odawara opened for service on April 1, 1927. Unlike the Odawara line, rarely were pre-WWII Japanese private railways constructed with double-track and fully electrified from the first day of operation. Two years later, April 1, 1929, the Enoshima Line was added.

The original full name of the railroad was Odawara Kyūkō Denki Kidō Kabushiki-gaisha, but this was often shortened to Odawara Kyūkō (Odawara Express). The abbreviation Odakyū was made popular by the title song of the 1929 movie Tokyo Kōshinkyoku and eventually became the official name of the railroad (Seidensticker, 1990).

On May 1, 1942, Odakyū merged with the Tokyo-Yokohama Electric Railway company (now Tokyu Corporation), which controlled all private railway services west and south of Tokyo by the end of World War II. The company regained its independence on June 1, 1948, and it obtained a large of Hakone Tozan Railway stocks, instead of separating Keiō Inokashira Line for Keio Corporation. Odakyū restarted Non-stop Limited Express service between Shinjuku and Odawara in 1948. In 1950, Odakyū trains ran through to Hakone-Yumoto on Hakone Tozan Line. Odakyū uses narrow gauge (1,067 mm) tracks, but Hakone Tozan Railway is on standard gauge (1,435 mm), so one track of the section from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto (6.1 km) was changed to a dual gauge system. It operated the first Romance Car Odakyū 1710 series for Limited Express in 1951.

After the 1950s, due to rapid Japanese economic growth, Odakyū was faced with an explosive increase of population along with its lines. Commuter passengers had to use very crowded trains every morning, and complained strongly with the delay of improvements from the railway company. Odakyū began construction on the - "Shinjuku Station Great Improvement Project" setting 5 lines and 10 platforms long enough for 10 standard commuter cars (Romance Cars excepted, they have 11 cars) with service on the Chiyoda Line, among others. Plans for a four-track system in 1964 were prevented by residents of Setagaya Ward in Tokyo, as such the system remains uncompleted. The Setagaya Residents' opposition set the stage for a long-term and remarkable case in the courts and legislature. Odakyū could not take main part of transport from Tama New Town Area, though Odakyu started the operation of Tama Line in 1974.

In the last ten years, Odakyū has been adding track in both directions from Izumi-Tamagawa Station, on Tama River, the border station of Tokyo, to just outside of Setagaya-Daita Station for expanding the availability of express trains, especially for morning commuter service. The lines between Setagaya-Daita and Higashi-Kitazawa Station are still under construction, however. Odakyū announced that the bottle-neck will be resolved by 2013.

Odakyū has shown its high potential technology for mass and rapid transport. It operates all sections of its lines as double (or more) tracks from the day service begins, except for a few rare instances. It sometimes is regarded as a bypass route for the Tōkaidō Main Line from Tokyo to western Kanagawa, also going out to further areas away from Tokyo, although not through Yokohama in wartime. The Romance Car Odakyū 3000 series SE was tested at speeds of up to 145 km/h in 1957, achieving a world record for narrow gauge (1067 mm) lines at the time. These tests also provided important data on high-speed electric multiple units (EMU), which Japanese National Railways(JNR) used for its limited express EMUs, 151 series, and 0 Series Shinkansen introduced in the early 1960s.

Odakyū has three railway lines, and through service to four lines of other companies.

Odakyū celebrated its 80th anniversary in April 2007. The 50th anniversary of the Romancecar was celebrated in September 2007.

Lines	Sections	Length (km)	Stations	Oparated date	Minutes by Ltd. Exp./Express (in normal)
Odawara Line	Shinjuku - Odawara	82.5	47	April 1, 1927	68-81 / 92 (fastest Ltd Exp. is 63)
Enoshima Line	Sagami-Ōno - Katase-Enoshima	27.4	17	April 1, 1929	30-32 / 34 (fastest Ltd Exp. is 26)
Tama Line	Shin-Yurigaoka - Karakida	10.6	8	June 1, 1974 (in part) March 27, 1990 (full)	11-12 / 13
Total	3 lines	120.5	80

• Not including the connecting branch between Odawara Line and JR-Central Gotenba Line near Shin-Matsuda Station.
• Odakyū operated the Mukōgaoka-Yūen Monorail Line, between Mukōgaoka-Yūen and Mukōgaoka-Yūen-Seimon (1.1 km, 2 stations), from 1966 to 2001, using a Lockheed Corporation style monorail system.

• Some Odakyū trains from the Tama Line (and a little of Odawara Line, from Hon-Atsugi Station) continue on to the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line and Jōban Line (Yoyogi-Uehara Station - Ayase Station - Toride Station).
• Some Odakyū trains continue on to the Hakone Tozan Line (Odawara Station - Hakone-Yumoto Station).
• Limited Express Asagiri uses the connect branch to JR Central Gotenba Line, and runs between Shinjuku and Numazu Station 8 times on a day.

color	Classification	in Japanese	runs between (reraly)	operation lines
	Limited Express	特急	Shinjuku and Hakone-Yumoto, Katase-Enoshima, Karakida or Numazu	Odakyu Odawara, Enoshima, Tama, Hakone Tozan and Central JR Gotenba Lines
orange	Rapid Express	快速急行	Shinjuku and Katase-Enoshima (Odawara)	Odakyū Odawara and Enoshima Lines
red	Express	急行	Shinjuku and Odawara	Odakyū Odawara, Enoshima, Tama and Hakone Tozan Lines
hotpink	Tama Express	多摩急行	Toride or Ayase and Karakida via Yoyogi-Uehara	Odakyū Odawara, Tama, Tokyo Metro Chiyoda and JR East Jōban Lines
green	Semi Express	準急	Shinjuku and Hon-Atsugi (Hakone-Yumoto)	Odakyū Odawara and Hakone Tozan Lines
sky blue	Sectional Semi Express	区間準急	Shinjuku and Karakida (Shin-Matsuda)	Odakyū Tama Line
blue	Local	各駅停車	Shinjuku and Hon-Atsugi (Hakone-Yumoto)	Odakyū Odawara, Enoshima, Tama and Hakone Tozan Lines

• Only "Limited Express" is charged, and used by Romancecars. The others are free, and used by commuter cars.

Commuter service is shown in each lines pages.

Station	in Japanese	km	Super Hakone	Hakone	Sagami	Asagiri	Enoshima	Homeway	Lines
Shinjuku	新宿	0.0	+	+	+	+	+	+	Odakyū Odawara Line
Mukōgaoka-Yūen	向ヶ丘遊園	15.8	/	*	*	/	/	/
Shin-Yurigaoka	新百合ヶ丘	21.5	/	*	*	/	+	*
Machida	町田	30.8	/	*	*	+	/	*
Sagami-Ōno	相模大野	32.3	/	*	*	/	+	*
Hon-Atsugi	本厚木	45.4	/	*	+	+		+
Hadano	秦野	61.7	/	*	*	/		+
Shin-Matsuda	新松田	71.8	/	*	*			/
Odawara	小田原	82.5	+	+	+			+
Hakone-Yumoto	箱根湯本	88.6	+	+				+	Hakone Tozan Line
Yamato	大和	39.9					+	+	Odakyū Enoshima Line
Fujisawa	藤沢	55.4					+	+
Katase-Enoshima	片瀬江ノ島	59.9					+	+
Odakyū Nagayama	小田急永山	28.3						+	Odakyū Tama Line
Odakyū Tama-Center	小田急多摩センター	30.6						+
Karakida	唐木田	32.1						+
Matsuda	松田	71.8				+			JR Central Gotenba Line
Suruga-Oyama	駿河小山	86.2				*
Gotenba	御殿場	97.1				+
Susono	裾野	112.3				+
Numazu	沼津	121.8				+

marks	trains
"+"	stopped
"*"	partly stopped or passed
"/"	passed

• "Asagiri" runs on the connecting branch line just before Shin-Matsuda from Shinjuku, and stops at Matsuda on Gotenba Line. Matsuda and Shin-Matsuda are treated as one station.
• "Homeway" runs only evening every day, after 18:00 from Shinjuku. There is no service to Shinjuku.

• Odakyū 7000 series LSE
• Odakyū 10000 series HiSE
• Odakyū 20000 series RSE
• Odakyū 30000 series EXE
• Odakyū 50000 series VSE
• Odakyū 60000 series MSE (in service from spring 2008)

• Odakyū 1000 series
• Odakyū 2000 series
• Odakyū 3000 series
• Odakyū 4000 series
• Odakyū 5000 series
• Odakyū 8000 series

The Odakyū Railway has been included in several Japanese language train simulator programs as well as the English language Microsoft Train Simulator program. Microsoft Train Simulator includes the railway's Odawara and Hakone Tozan lines, collectively referred to as the "Tokyo-Hakone" route. You can drive two of the trains that travel on the line; the 2000 series commuter trainset and the Odakyū 7000 series LSE Romance Car trainset. Several "activities", or scenarios, are included.

Various Odakyū addins are available for the BVE Train Simulator, a freeware cab view train simulator for Microsoft Windows.

• Transportation in Greater Tokyo

• Seidensticker, Edward (1990). Tokyo Rising : the city since the great earthquake. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0-394-54360-2.

• (English) Odakyū Electric Railway
• (English) Evolution of Railway Technology (prominently mentions Odakyū 3000 series SE Romance Car trainsets)

v • d • e 16 major private rail operators of Japan
East Japan	Keikyū · Keiō · Keisei · Odakyū · Seibu · Sōtetsu · Tōbu · Tōkyū · Tokyo Metro
West Japan	Meitetsu · Kintetsu · Nankai · Keihan · Hanshin · Hankyū · Nishitetsu

v • d • e Odakyū trainsets
Commuter	Odakyū 1000 series • Odakyū 2000 series • Odakyū 3000 series • Odakyū 4000 series • Odakyū 5000 series • Odakyū 8000 series
Romancecar	Odakyū 60000 series MSE • Odakyū 50000 series VSE • Odakyū 30000 series EXE • Odakyū 20000 series RSE • Odakyū 10000 series HiSE • Odakyū 7000 series LSE • Odakyū 3100 series NSE • Odakyū 3000 series SE

v • d • e Odakyū lines
Odakyū lines	Odawara • Enoshima • Tama
Related lines	Enoden • Hakone Ropeway • Hakone Tozan • Hakone Tozan Cable Car
Major stations	Machida • Odawara • Sagami-Ōno • Shimo-Kitazawa • Shinjuku • Shin-Yurigaoka • Tama-Center

v • d • e Mass transit in the Tokyo area (# of lines indicated in parentheses)
JR lines	■Yamanote • ■Chūō • ■Chūō-Sōbu • ■Jōban • ■Keihin-Tōhoku • ■Keiyō • ■Saikyō •■Shōnan-Shinjuku • ■Sōbu Rapid • ■Tōkaidō • ■Utsunomiya • ■Yokosuka
Tokyo Metro lines	○Chiyoda (C) • ○Fukutoshin (F) • ○Ginza (G) • ○Hibiya (H) • ○Marunouchi (M) • ○Namboku (N) • ○Tōzai (T) • ○Yūrakuchō (Y) • ○Hanzōmon (Z)
Toei lines	Subway: ○Asakusa (A) • ○Ōedo (E) • ○Mita (I) • ○Shinjuku (S) • Guideway: Nippori-Toneri • Streetcar: Arakawa
Major / semi-major lines	Keikyū (5) • Keiō (7) • Keisei (7) • Odakyū (5) • Seibu (13) • Shin-Keisei • Sōtetsu (2) • Tōbu (12) • Tōkyū (8)
Other lines	Tama Monorail • Tokyo Monorail • TWR • TX • Yurikamome
Suburban, JR	■Hachikō • ■Kawagoe • ■Mito • ■Musashino • ■Nambu • ■Narita • ■Negishi • ■Ōme • ■Ryōmō • ■Sagami • ■Sōbu Main • ■Sotobō • ■Takasaki • ■Tōgane • ■Tsurumi • ■Uchibō • ■Yokohama
Suburban, Non-JR	Chiba Monorail • Nagareyama • New Shuttle • Saitama • Seaside Line • Shōnan Monorail • Yokohama MM • Yokohama Subway (2, 3 in 2008)
Terminals	Akihabara • Chiba • Ikebukuro • Kawasaki • Kita-Senju • Ōmiya • Ōtemachi • Shibuya • Shinagawa • Shinjuku • Tokyo • Ueno • Yokohama
Miscellaneous	Shinkansen (commuter) • PASMO • Passnet • Suica • Transportation in Greater Tokyo

v • d • e Transit in the Hakone, Izu Peninsula, and Mount Fuji area
Izuhakone Railway Group	Daiyūzan Line • Hakone Komagatake Ropeway • Jukkokutōge Cable Car • Lake Ashi Excursion Ship • Sunzu Line
Odakyū Group	Hakone Ropeway • Hakone Sightseeing Cruise • Hakone Tozan Cable Car • Hakone Tozan Line
JR Lines	Gotemba Line • Itō Line • Minobu Line • Tōkaidō Main Line • Tōkaidō Shinkansen
Others	Atami Ropeway • Fujikyū Line • Izu Kyūkō Line • Katsuragiyama Ropeway • Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway • Shimoda Ropeway
Miscellaneous	Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park • Shizuoka Airport • Transportation in Greater Tokyo