JAPAN: Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu) has announced plans to refurbish a withdrawn four-car Series 12200 EMU ahead of the launch of a new service to be marketed as the Ayoyoshi Limited Express.
The railway plans to introduce the service on April 29 next year, targeting the anticipated post-pandemic return to Japan of foreign visitors, and will link Osaka-Namba, Kintetsu-Nara and Kyoto. The train will make an initial morning run from Osaka (departing 09.30) via Nara to Kyoto (arrive 10.50), then two return trips between Kyoto and Kintetsu-Nara, before returning in the late afternoon from Kyoto via Nara to Osaka-Namba (arrive 16.40).
The Series 12200 EMU is being put through a ¥330m refurbishment. Cars 1, 3 and 4 will be fitted with 1+1 armchair seats grouped around tables, while car 2 will have 2+1 seating bays, with trellis screens separating the bays from the centre aisle. Total seating capacity will be 84 passengers, and seat reservations will be necessary. A buffet service of light meals and refreshments will be provided.
The Series 12200 EMUs were ordered from Kinki Sharyo in the late 1960s in anticipation of an upturn in traffic relating to the 1970 Osaka Expo, and form part of a larger family of similar EMUs procured by the railway over several years until the late 1970s. Withdrawals of the oldest trains began in May 2000, but from 2006 onwards the remaining members of the fleet were given an extensive rebuild to extend their service life until February 2021. They were finally withdrawn following the introduction of Kintetsu’s Series 80000 Hinotori EMUs.
