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Meitetsu

Japanese railway company

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
5 min read
Source updated July 21, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd. (名古屋鉄道株式会社, Nagoya Tetsudō Kabushiki Gaisha), publicly trading as Meitetsu (名鉄), is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan.

Meitetsu, headquartered in Nagoya, is a core company of the Meitetsu Group which is involved in transport, retail, hotels, leisure/tourism and real estate, among other industries.

Meitetsu is famous for its red trains, with almost all trains being either fully red or feature red in combination with white, black or unpainted stainless steel. Apart from special liveries, the only current train type to not feature red is the 2000 series "μ-Sky" trains used on Airport Line Limited Express services which feature a blue and white livery. The 300 series used on the through service to the Nagoya Municipal Subway Kamiiida Line has unpainted stainless steel with a thick pink stripe (the line colour of the Kamiiida Line) below a thin red stripe.

As of March 2025, Meitetsu, as one of the largest private railway companies in Japan, operated 20 railway lines, 444.2 kilometres (276.0 mi) of track, 276 stations, and 1,080 train cars.

01History

Meitetsu was founded on June 25, 1894, as the Aichi Basha Tetsudo, meaning Aichi Horsecar Company.

Over time, Meitetsu has acquired many small railway and interurban companies in the Nagoya area, many of whom were constructed and operated before and during World War II. For example, Meitetsu acquired its Kōwa Line on the Chita Peninsula from its merger with Chita Railroad on February 1, 1943, and it acquired its Mikawa Line from its merger with Mikawa Railroad.

Meitetsu's red trains include its famous 7000 series "Panorama Car" (which was retired in 2009 after a career lasting nearly half a century) and the Panorama Car Super, both of which offered panoramic views through their wide front windows. The most recent cars, however, are not solid red but rather brushed steel as in the case of the 4000 series and 5000 series, or white as in the case of the 1700 series and 2000 series.

While the company used to engage in the freight business and still possesses some freight locomotives, it no longer carries freight on a regular basis.

Line map
Line map
The Meitetsu limited express network
The Meitetsu limited express network

02Lines

Direction Name Japanese Terminals Length (km)
Main Nagoya Main Line 名古屋本線 Toyohashi - Meitetsu Gifu 99.8
Eastern Aichi (Mikawa) Toyokawa Line 豊川線 Kō - Toyokawa-inari 7.2
Nishio Line 西尾線 Shin Anjō - Kira Yoshida 24.7
Gamagōri Line 蒲郡線 Kira Yoshida - Gamagōri 17.6
Mikawa Line 三河線 Sanage - Hekinan 39.8
Toyota Line 豊田線 Umetsubo - Akaike 15.2
Chita Peninsula Tokoname Line 常滑線 Jingū-mae - Tokoname 29.3
Airport Line 空港線 Tokoname - Central Japan Int'l Airport 4.2
Chikkō Line 築港線 Ōe - Higashi Nagoyakō 1.5
Kōwa Line 河和線 Ōtagawa - Kōwa 28.8
Chita New Line 知多新線 Fuki - Utsumi 13.9
Western Aichi (Owari) Seto Line 瀬戸線 Sakaemachi - Owari Seto 20.6
Tsushima Line 津島線 Sukaguchi - Tsushima 11.8
Bisai Line 尾西線 Yatomi - Tamanoi 30.9
Northern Aichi and Gifu Inuyama Line 犬山線 Biwajima Junction - Shin Unuma 26.8
Kakamigahara Line 各務原線 Meitetsu Gifu - Shin Unuma 17.6
Hiromi Line 広見線 Inuyama - Mitake 22.3
Komaki Line 小牧線 Kami Iida - Inuyama 20.4
Takehana Line 竹鼻線 Kasamatsu - Egira 10.3
Hashima Line 羽島線 Egira - Shin Hashima 1.3
Meitetsu 1000 series "Panorama Super" (left) and 2000 series "Airport Limited Express [μSky]" (right)
Meitetsu 1000 series "Panorama Super" (left) and 2000 series "Airport Limited Express [μSky]" (right)

03Major stations

Major stations in Nagoya

Nagoya Line (east side) and Toyokawa Line

Tokoname Line, Chikkō Line, and Airport Line

Kōwa Line and Chita New Line

Mikawa Line, Toyota Line, Nishio Line, and Gamagōri Line

Nagoya Line (west side), Takehana Line, and Hashima Line

Tsushima Line and Bisai Line

Inuyama Line, Kakamigahara Line, and Hiromi Line

Komaki Line

Seto Line

Meitetsu 5000 series commuter train
Meitetsu 5000 series commuter train
Meitetsu 7000 series "Panorama Car" train
Meitetsu 7000 series "Panorama Car" train

04Rolling stock

Nippon Sharyo has produced nearly every car that Meitetsu operates or has operated, a notable exception being its Class EL120, an electric locomotive, which was produced by Toshiba, but very few units were produced for Meitetsu. The Class EL120 is one of the few locomotives that Meitetsu possesses.

The following are the train types that Meitetsu operates today, as well as selected types that Meitetsu has retired.

Limited express

Commuter

Withdrawn train types

Electric locomotives

Line map of Meitetsu closed lines
Line map of Meitetsu closed lines

05Rationalization

Meitetsu inherited many deficit lines as a result of multiple mergers. The railway lines were also seeing competition from cars due to Aichi prefecture's notable automobile industry in cities such as Toyota. Meitetsu has abolished over 15 lines over the past 70 years, while also closing sections with low ridership. Additionally, with the collapse of the asset price bubble in the 1990s, and the privatization of JNR, formation of Central Japan Railway Company, the company also cut the number of companies in its corporate group from 250 to 139.

Tamatsu-ura Station, one of the stations that were closed due to low passengers
Tamatsu-ura Station, one of the stations that were closed due to low passengers
Watch videos about MeitetsuExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Meitetsu”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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