Sapporo Municipal Subway 6000 series

The Sapporo Municipal Subway 6000 series was a rubber-tired Japanese city commuter electric multiple unit operated by the Sapporo Municipal Transport Bureau from October 1976 to August 2008 on the Tōzai Line.
==History==
The 6000 series sets were introduced in 1978 as the first train on the nascent Tōzai Line. The first set, 6101, was introduced in October 1976 on the Tōzai Line, initially as a four-car set. The 6000 series sets were the workhorses on the line for many years, being converted to six-car sets due to increasing passenger numbers; these would be the only trains on the line until 1998 when the 8000 series sets began to supplement them in service and ultimately replace them. In preparation for the opening of the extension between Miyanosawa and Kotoni, twenty-four new intermediate cars, numbered the 8300 series, were built and inserted into the sets between 1998 and 1999. These made the sets seven cars long.
The first set, 6106, was retired in July 2002 and scrapped shortly after. The sets were then sequentially retired until the last set, 6116, was retired in August 2008 in preparation for automatic train operation and the installation of platform screen doors; the 8300 series cars from these sets were then inserted into the 8000 series cars and continue to see use today. No 6000 series cars are preserved, although various parts from 6000 series cars have been preserved.
==Design==
The 6000 series sets use a streamlined front end with side-mounted horizontaol dual headlight pods. Prototype set 6101 featured a flatter front end.
==Specifications==
Construction was of steel. The trains used armature chopper-controlled traction systems which produce a buzzing noise. The 8300 series cars use Toshiba or Mitsubishi IGBT drives.
Category:Sapporo Municipal Subway trains
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Kawasaki locomotives