Keihan 5000 series

The Keihan 5000 series is a Japanese city commuter electric multiple unit operated by the Keihan Electric Railway from December 1970 to September 2021.
==History==
The 5000 series cars were designed in the 1960s from a congestion standpoint; with the rapid urbanization of Kansai, it became clear that the current two- and three-door trains were inadequate to keep up with rush hour traffic as facilities to aid with platform congestion were failing to keep up with the pace of urban development. As such, a train with more than three doors had to be designed.
The trains were also designed at a time when the lines were still using 600V DC overhead lines due to them sharing power with streetcars around the area at level crossings. The trains could be no longer than seven cars to account for voltage drops. As the trains were being designed however, Keihan executives made a decision to bump the voltage up of the line from 600V to 1,500V, and as such a redesign of the trains was needed for them to be able to handle the voltage spikes.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries was thus tasked to manufacture the sets. As funds were being directed to boost the voltage of the lines, it was important to keep costs low for these cars as they were built of an aluminum alloy which was considered more expensive than the steel cars at the time. A total of seven seven-car sets were manufactured, each with the main purpose of alleviating congestion by shortening boarding times due to the multiple doors, of which two sets on each car were labeled "rush doors".
The sets began operation on 26 December 1970 and were used mainly on rush hour services to reduce congestion. Due to the introduction of platform screen doors on the railway however, the special "rush doors" were used less and less until use of the rush doors was completely abolished on 29 January 2021. One additional car was manufactured in 1980 to replace a car damaged in a level crossing accident. The sets were originally slated to be retired in June 2021 due to their incompatibility with newly-installed platform screen doors at various Keihan stations, but delays in construction of the 13000 series cars intended to replace the trains caused their service life to be extended to September 2021. The last set, 5551, was retired on 4 September 2021. 
Two mid sections of various cars from set 5552 are preserved as a recreational center in Tamba-Sasayama; one section was identified as being from car 5652 by a rail enthusiast while the other remains unidentified. These are preserved alongside Kitakyu 8000 series car 8005.
==Design==
The 5000 series use a conventional squared-off design with dual top-mounted headlights as is typical of many Keihan electric multiple units. These feature a simple design. These headlights were later converted into LED fixtures.
==Specifications==
Construction of the cars is of an aluminum alloy; these were the first Keihan trains made of an aluminum alloy. Cars are 18.7 meters long. The sets used resistor control at first, but have since been converted to use field excitation resistance control.
A notable feature of the 5000 series cars is that each car features five doors per side to ease with platform congestion. Two of the doors were labeled "rush doors"; behind each door was a seat lifting mechanism. If the seats were lifted, the rush doors could be used. The rush doors could be differentiated from other doors with their bare aluminum construction. Due to the five doors per car, the cars had to be constructed in a unique way to account for the five door mechanism.
Despite the costs of producing the trains out of an aluminum alloy and the five-door mechanism, the weight savings of the 5000 series compared to other contemporary trains was very noticeable, with well over 3 to 4 tons saved.
==Trivia==
*The 5000 series were the first five-door trains in operation in Japan, as well as the last when the five-door feature was disabled completely on 29 January 2021. While five- and six-door cars resurged in popularity during the 1990s to 2000s, those were removed from the mid-2010s due to the addition of platform screen doors being incompatible with five- or six-door cars.
==See also==
*Gallery
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Keihan trains
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Locomotives