Keisei AE series (1973)

The Keisei AE series (Airport Express) is a limited express electric multiple unit operated by the Keisei Electric Railway from December 1973 to June 1993.
==History==
The AE series sets were designed in anticipation of the opening of the New Tokyo International Airport (now known as Narita International Airport), scheduled to open in spring 1973; in preparation for this, five sets were manufactured in 1972, each six cars long. The sets's nicknames and designations of Skyliner and AE respectively were decided through polls. The sets were intended to begin operation in 1972 in preparation for the airport's opening, but many of these plans had to be halted due to the Sanrizuka Struggle, which pushed back the airport's opening by some years. Test runs were supposed to be scheduled in February 1973 but a timed explosive being set on a bridge put paid to that attempt.
The sets only entered service on 30 December 1973, with their front nameplates reading "limited express" as opposed to Skyliner, operating a non-stop limited express service between Ueno and Narita; one round trip was made initially a day but this was later increased to three after complaints from Keisei employees. Then-Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda then announced that the New Tokyo International Airport was to open on 30 March 1978 after numerous years of delays, thereby marking the start of the Skyliner services; these plans had to be thwarted when a number of radicals from the Sanrizuka-Shibayama Union to Oppose the Airport breached the control tower and destroyed much of the equipment using a crowbar, leading to heavy damages and the opening of the airport to be further delayed to 30 May the same year.
A few weeks before the airport was due to open, a number of radicals from the same union breached Sogo Depot and sprinkled gasoline on set AE21; the set was damaged by AE29 was burned down and had to be scrapped. A car from set AE61 that was being built at the time was then swiftly renumbered and inserted into AE21 as a replacement car, while a new car for AE61 was manufactured. When the airport finally opened, the AE series sets began Skyliner services a day after the airport opened although they were considered "slow". The sets were eventually diverted to other services once their use on the Skyliner diminished. From 1990 the sets were extended to eight cars each, with excess 6-car sets scrapped; these were then supplemented by but eventually replaced by the then-new AE100 series sets introduced in 1990. In the sets's final months they were mainly used as backup sets to supplement newer sets which were down for inspection. After some special events, the last set, AE61, was retired in June 1993. Underfloor equipment from the AE series was then reused in the construction of the 3400 series sets constructed by Daiei Sharyo.
The sets are the recipient of the 1974 Blue Ribbon Award. One car, AE61, is preserved at Keisei's Sogo Depot.
==Design==
The AE series sets use a heavily raked and semi-streamlined design. The sets feature Keisei's corporate livery of Future Blue with Human Red on a Global White body with a front-mounted sign displaying service information. The cars's original livery was a cream body on brown accents.
==Specifications==
Construction of the cars is of steel. The sets use field chopper-controlled traction systems; these are noted for producing a howling noise.
==Trivia==
*The sets are officially designated the "AE Cars" by Keisei; it was not until 2010 when the "AE series" nomenclature became official.
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Keisei trains
Category:Nippon Sharyo locomotives
Category:Tokyu Car locomotives