Eizan Electric Railway

Eizan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (叡山電鉄株式会社, Eizan Dentetsu) is a Japanese private railway company whose two lines run entirely in Sakyō-ku in the city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture.

The name of this small railway network is abbreviated as Eiden (叡電), and is derived from the name of its predecessor, the Eizan Electric Railway Division (叡山電鉄部, Eizan Dentetsu-bu) of the Keifuku Electric Railroad. The present company was founded in 1985 as a subsidiary of Keifuku. The purpose of reorganization was to reduce the huge deficit of the Eiden lines, which had been completely isolated from the main Keifuku network since the abandonment of the Kyoto City Tramways in 1978. The split-off was considered to be an urgent matter, awaiting the completion of a long-awaited rail connection between the two networks of Eiden and Keihan. The Keihan Electric Railway was at that time constructing the Ōtō Line to the Eiden terminal at Demachiyanagi. The opening of the Ōtō Line significantly reduced the deficit of Eiden. Later on, in 2002, all shares of Keifuku were transferred from Keifuku to Keihan, of which Eiden became a wholly owned subsidiary. This railway accepts the Surutto Kansai card for payment, but not the PiTaPa card.