Little Dancer

The Little Dancer is a low-floor tram brand built by Alna Sharyo, a Japanese manufacturer of trams and light rail vehicles.

Overview

The name "Little Dancer" was chosen by Alna Sharyo for two reasons, firstly to evoke an image of a lively dancer, and secondly for its similarity to the Japanese word "dansa". "Dansa" in Japanese means "step", pertaining to the step-free access that the trams provide. The result is aimed to evoke an image of a lively, cute, and small tram.

Little Dancer trams feature conventional bogies so that it is easier for railway companies and their maintenance staff to adjust to the trams when they are introduced.

Type

There are several variants of the Little Dancer.

Type S

Type S series are a short body type tram with a single section.

• Iyo Railway - 2100 series. (10 sets)
• Iyo Railway - 5000 series. (12 sets)^[1][2]
• Sapporo Streetcar - 1100 series (2 set)
• Railway Technical Research Institute - LH02 (Test car.) (1 set)

• 
  Iyo Railway 2100 series
• 
  Iyo Railway 5000 series
• 
  Sapporo 1100 series
• 
  LH02

Type L

Type L series have an articulated three section body.

• Tosaden Kōtsū - 100 series. (1 set)

• 
  Tosaden 100 series

Type A

Type A series adopt 3 or 5 articulated bodies. (Some of the articulations have no bogies and are floating.)

• Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau - 1000 series (9 sets) and the first Little Dancer type to enter service.^[3][4]
• Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau - 7000 series (4 sets)^[5]

• 
  Kagoshima 1000 series (Type A3)
• 
  Kagoshima 7000 series (Type A5)

Type U, Ua

Type S,L,A series weren't 100% low floor, because the motors attached the bogies. U series devises to position the motor. So, U series are 100% low floor. "U" is an initial of "Ultimate".

• Nagasaki Electric Tramway - 3000 series (3 sets) and 5000 series (3 sets)
• Toyohashi Railroad - T1000 series (1 set)
• Toyama Chihō Railway - T100 series (2 sets)
• Sapporo Streetcar - A1200 series (3 sets)
• Hankai Tramway - 1001 series (3 sets)
• Chikuhō Electric Railroad - 5000 series (4 sets)
• Tosaden Kōtsū - 3000 series (3 sets)

• 
  Nagasaki 3000 series (Type U)
• 
  Nagasaki 5000 series (Type Ua)
• 
  Toyohashi T1000 series (Type Ua)
• 
  Hankai 1001 series (Type Ua)
• 
  Chikutetsu 5000 series (Type Ua)

Type C

"C" is an initial of "Combination".

• Hakodate Transportation Bureau - 9600 series (2 sets)

• 
  Hakodate 9600 series (Type C2)

Type X

The traction motor is downsized to the limit, and the same driving system as the conventional vehicle is adopted.

• Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau - 7500 series (unknown)

• 
  Kagoshima 7500 series (Type X)

Type N

• Nagasaki Electric Tramway - 6000 series (2 sets)

• 
  Nagasaki 6000 series (Type N)

See also

In Japan, three brands compete with Little Dancer:

• Bombardier, ADtranz low floor tram - built under license by Niigata Transys.
• Siemens, Combino - Hiroshima Electric Railway, Japan's largest tram operator, purchased 12 Combinos which entered service as the Hiroshima Electric Railway 5000 series [ja], but due to a structural fault the manufacturer issued a product recall and as of 2023 only three were still in use.^[6][7]
• Green Mover Max - Following the recall and other issues with the Siemens Combino trams, a consortium of Japanese companies - Kinki Sharyo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and Toyo Electric Corporation - designed and constructed a Japanese-manufactured low-floor articulated tram. Hiroshima Electric Railway purchased 10 of these trams between 2004 and 2008 which entered service as the Hiroshima Electric Railway 5100 series [ja].

References

1. INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (2017-09-25). "ゆったり乗車できます 松山・伊予鉄路面電車に新型ＬＲＴ５０００系車両導入". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-21.
2. "伊予鉄道5000形が古町車両工場に搬入される｜鉄道ニュース｜2017年9月1日掲載｜鉄道ファン・railf.jp". 鉄道ファン・railf.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-21.
3. Green, Mariko (2023-09-28). "Welcome to Kagoshima City". CLAIR Sydney (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-21.
4. "1000 Series". Archived from the original on 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
5. "7000 Series". Archived from the original on 2017-06-16. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
6. "Railway Gazette: Combinos withdrawn". www.railwaygazette.com. Archived from the original on 2012-01-01. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
7. tetsumo (2023-06-14). "広電5000形グリーンムーバー 数年以内に置き換えか？ なぜ定着しない海外製車両 - 鉄道模型モールBlog". tetsumo.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-11-17.

External links

• Kinki Sharyo - Hiroshima Electric Railway 5100 Type (Green Mover Max)