Saturday 10 October 2015

Patoden in Kagoshima City

Electric car 9507 of the 9500 series (Patoden color) in Kagoshima City

A patoden is a special poster train for a road safety campaign. What does a patoden look like? It looks like a police patrol car painted with black and white colors. It also has red colored squares, which resemble warning lamps, on top of the train's face. In many cases, the patoden is a streetcar operated on a shared track of a public road. It means that many car drivers, riders and pedestrians can easily see it. The patoden is eye-catching and is expected to reduce the number of traffic accidents.

For instance, the Transportation Bureau of Kagoshima City Office has a patoden, car number 9507, for their two tram routes. It is sponsored by the Kagoshima Prefectural Police and major auto manufacturers. You can see the slogan, "Let's get rid of traffic accidents!" on the side body of the streetcar. The letters of the KAGOSHIMA PREFECTURAL POLICE are a bit coercive, aren't they?

Car number 9507 was built in 1997 by Aluna Koki. It belongs to the electric car 9500 series. A total of 15 units of the 9500 series were built from 1995 to 2000. Their electric and mechanical equipment, such as DC motors and rheostatic control system, are rather old, since they have been diverted from the retired 800 series, but are still in good condition.

For your information, The Transportation Bureau of Kagoshima City has a total of 13.1 km tram routes in the urban area. The gauge size is 1,435mm and the electric system is 600V DC overhead.

 
Electric car 9510 of the 9500 series (standard color) in Kagoshima City