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Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (Odakyu, 小田急電鉄) is a private railway company. It runs railway and real estate businesses, mainly in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, and is the core company of the Odakyu Group (小田急グループ).
History
Before the Second World War, Odakyu's parent company was Kinugawa Hydroelectric Power (鬼怒川水力電気). It was founded on 1 October 1910. Its president, Toshimitsu Tsurumatsu (利光鶴松), planned several suburban railways. Only some of these plans were built. On 1 May 1923 the company was set up as Odawara Kyuko Railway (小田原急行鉄道). It had been renamed from Tokyo Kōsoku Tetsudō (東京高速鉄道). The Odawara Line (小田原線) opened on 1 April 1927, partly as single track. The Enoshima Line (江ノ島線) opened on 1 April 1929.
The Teito Electric Railway (帝都電鉄) opened in 1933 on what is now the Inokashira Line (井の頭線). On 1 May 1940 Odawara Kyuko Railway merged with Teito Electric Railway. On 1 March 1941 Kinugawa Hydroelectric Power merged with Odawara Kyuko Railway, and the company was renamed Odakyu Electric Railway (小田急電鉄). On 20 September 1941 Gotō Keita (五島慶太) became president. On 1 October 1941 the company handed its power facilities to Nihon Hassōden (日本発送電) and left the power business. Its mining venture in Shandong, China, had strained its finances, and Toshimitsu sold the company's business to Gotō. On 1 May 1942 Odakyu merged into Tokyo Yokohama Electric Railway (東京横浜電鉄), which then became Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway (東京急行電鉄). Japanese Wikipedia calls this the Daitoku (大東急) group.
On 1 June 1948 Odakyu Electric Railway was re-established as a separate company. It took over the business from Tokyo Kyuko. The Inokashira Line went to Keio Teito Electric Railway (京王帝都電鉄). Odakyu added Hakone Tozan Railway (箱根登山鉄道) and Kanagawa Chuo Bus (神奈川中央乗合自動車) as affiliates, and part of the Enoshima Electric Railway shares. Odakyu was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May 1949. On 1 August 1950 Hakone Tozan trains began running into Hakone-Yumoto station. In 1951 Odakyu bought a large stake in Sagami Railway (相模鉄道). On 12 September 1951 the Fair Trade Commission ruled that Odakyu had to release those shares.
On 1 February 1951 the 1700 series Romancecar (ロマンスカー) entered service. On 28 July 1951 the Mukogaoka Yuen aerial cable car opened, and it closed on 14 December 1967. On 22 June 1957 the 3000 series 'SE' Romancecar entered service. On 20 June 1958 it won the Blue Ribbon award (鉄道友の会ブルーリボン賞). On 16 March 1963 the 3100 series 'NSE' entered service. In 1964 Shinjuku station was rebuilt as the line's first station with two levels, one above ground and one below. On 1 July 1968 'SE' trains began running into the Gotemba Line (御殿場線) after its electrification. On 1 June 1974 the Tama Line opened from Shin-Yurigaoka to Odakyu Nagayama. On 31 March 1978 through running with the Chiyoda Line (千代田線) began. On 27 December 1980 the 7000 series 'LSE' Romancecar entered service.
On 22 March 1988 stainless steel 1000 series trains with VVVF control entered service. On 1 October 1988 the Romancard (ロマンスカード) prepaid card went on sale. Work on a four-track (複々線) section between Kitami and Izumi-Tamagawa began on 20 July 1989, and the section was completed on 23 June 1997. On 16 March 1991 the Romancecar 20000 series 'RSE' entered service, and a through service with JR Tokai's Gotemba Line began the same day. On 23 March 1996 the 30000 series 'EXE' Romancecar entered service. On 1 March 1997 all stations got automatic ticket gates. On 14 October 2000 the Pasnet shared card started. On 1 April 2001 the bus business was split off into a separate company, Odakyu Hakone Expressway Bus (小田急箱根高速バス). On 1 August 2003 Hakone Tozan Railway became a wholly owned subsidiary. On 19 March 2005 the VSE Romancecar entered service. On 18 March 2007 PASMO started, and it could be used with Suica. On 15 March 2008 MSE trains began running onto Tokyo Metro's Chiyoda and Yurakucho lines. On 23 March 2013 a section of the Odawara Line between Higashi-Kitazawa and Setagaya-Daita went underground.
In January 2014 the group began adding station numbers to all stations. On 26 March 2016 through running with Tokyo Metro's Chiyoda Line reached JR East lines: Odakyu 4000 series cars ran onto JR East's Joban local line (常磐緩行線), and JR East E233-series cars ran onto the Odawara Line. On 10 September 2017 a fire at a boxing gym beside the line spread to the roof of a local train that had made an emergency stop between Sangubashi (参宮橋) and Yoyogi-Hachiman (代々木八幡). Passengers walked onto the tracks, and no one was hurt. On 3 March 2018 the four-track section between Yoyogi-Uehara and Noborito was completed. On 17 March 2018 the GSE Romancecar entered service, and the express on the JR Gotemba Line was renamed from Asagiri (あさぎり) to Fujisan (ふじさん). On 1 October 2019 Enoshima Electric Railway became a wholly owned subsidiary.
On 19 April 2021 the company opened its first indoor display facility, the Romancecar Museum (ロマンスカーミュージアム). On 11 March 2022 the regular VSE service ended. On 4 April 2022 the company moved from the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange to the Prime Market. On 20 February 2023 the head office was moved in part to Ebina, Kanagawa, and on 28 August 2023 all Shinjuku head office departments moved to Nishi-Shinjuku. On 14 May 2024 the group adopted a group corporate message. On 20 February 2025 the company decided to sell its Sōtetsu Holdings shares, and by March 2025 it had sold all of them except odd-lot shares. On 1 April 2026 the mineral water business moved to Odakyu Hakone.
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Written by an AI from the company's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.