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
Iyo Railway 5000 series
Sapporo 1100 series
LH02
Type L
Type L series have an articulated three section body.
Tosaden 100 series
Type A
Type A series adopt 3 or 5 articulation bodies. (Some of articulations have no bogies and be floating.)
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 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 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 7500 series (Type X)
See also
In Japan, the three brand compete with Little Dancer.
- Bombardier, ADtranz low floor tram - Niigata Transys has been licensed to make it.
- Siemens, Combino - Hiroshima Electric Railway, Japanese biggest tram company used to use this tram.
- Green Mover Max - This tram was developed in Japan, too. Hiroshima uses this tram, now.