Keifuku Electric Railroad Co., Ltd. (京福電気鉄道株式会社 Keifuku Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a railroad company based in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (but with offices in Fukui Prefecture) in operation since March 2, 1942.[1] It is a parent company of Keifuku Bus, and an affiliated company of Keihan Electric Railway[2], which owns 42.89% of the company stock. The company's stock is traded on the second section of the Osaka Stock Exchange.
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This railway[3] started service in 1910, operated at that time by Arashiyama Electric Tram Railway (嵐山電車軌道 Arashiyama Densha Kidō). It was transferred to the Kyoto-based electric power generation company Kyoto Dento (京都電燈 Kyōto Dentō). Later it built the Kitano Line.[4]:
The Main Line connects Kyoto's city center (Shijo-Omiya terminal) and scenic Arashiyama area in the western suburb. The Kitano Line is from Kitano Hakubaicho Station near Kitano Tenman-gū to Katabiranotsuji Station in the midst of Main Line. The cable and ropeway lines are for visitors to Mount Hiei on the northeastern edge of the city, together with Eizan Electric Railway's Eizan Main Line.
Formerly the company operated several railway lines in Fukui Prefecture. Some of them are now operated by Echizen Railway.[5]
The Eizan Electric Railway also belonged to Keifuku until 1985.
"Keifuku" is composed of two letters "京" and "福", former denotes Kyoto, latter Fukui. Lines of then Kyoto Dento were in Fukui of its hydraulic source and in the area of supply in Kyoto, thus named after Kyoto and Fukui. Often mistaken is that the company has or had a plan to connect their lines of the two prefectures.
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