A Historical Study of Elevated Railway Planning on the Sobu Railway Extension

The First Elevated Railway in Japan

Abstract

The Sobu Railway extension between Ryogoku and Kinshicho on the eastside of former Tokyo City is the first elevated railway in Japan. It used simple steel girders erected on a masonry substructure and completed a route of about 1.5km in 1904. This paper describes the planning phase of this elevated railway based on official documents in the Meiji Era, such as the record of the proceedings of Railway Conference, Urban Improvement Committee and others. From the results of this study, Sobu Railway had a makeshift plan to change the elevated railway to a horizontal railway due to financial difficulties.