Background on the upcoming retirement of dbldeck shinkansen

[bikkuri bahn]

With speed taking priority over capacity, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) will retire all double-decker Shinkansen trains that have carried commuters to and from Tokyo for 30 years.

The Joetsu Shinkansen Line, which connects the nation’s capital with cities in Niigata Prefecture, is currently the only JR East bullet train service with the bilevel cars.

 

 

More, including the economic reasons for retirement:

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201406060010

[Densha]

A background yes, but still not clear when they're going to be withdrawn.

 

But if I'm right the E5's are replacing the E2's on the Tohoku Shinkansen, whereupon the E2's will replace the E4's on the Joetsu Shinkansen right?

[bikkuri bahn]

I think it's quite clear- they no longer fit the needs of the railway, that is, the requirements of customers. There is also the lack of compatibility with other rolling stock in terms of seating space transferability in cases of equipment failure or service disruptions- one of the reasons the 500 series were displaced from the Tokaido Shinkansen.  Coupled with their service life ending, they will be replaced with cascaded E2 trainsets, as you mentioned.

[kvp]

The article mentions that the sales of shinkansen passes are constant over the last few years. So if JR east switches back to single level cars, where do they put the passengers? Or the number of people commuting with shinkansen are already at least 30% percent lower than when the E1 was introduced or just more single level trains are being run to get the same capcity?

[Sacto1985]

I believe that given the large number of E2 trainsets built between 1997 and 2010 (51 out of 53 sets are still in service), I expect the later-production E2's to be heavily transferred to the Jōetsu Shinkansen service probably starting some time in 2015 to replace the retiring E4's. And that could mean possibly faster service, since the Jōetsu line doesn't have steep gradients and with all-E2 service, we could see many sections of the Jōetsu Shinkansen service bumped up to 260 km/h (between Omiya and Takasaki) and 275 km/h (between Takasaki and Niigata).

[200系]

An interesting, though not very detailed article in my opinion. It has been clear that JR East is adjusting it's Shinkansen strategy since the early 2010's, focussing more on speed and comfort on the Tōhoku shinkansen (upping the speed to 300/320km/h, introducing Gran Class) as well as adjusting their fleet in relation to the stagnating passenger numbers (which was already becomming clear even in the late 90's/early 2000's, hence JR East's decission to renewall 12 of the 22 of the 200系 K formations, as opposed to replacing them with new E2系 formations at that moment). This also meant that the double decker shinkansen series wouldn't be replaced by simmilar equipement. and would fade away when they reach the end of their service life.

 

I also think that the mention of the 100系 as the start of the "double decker shinkansen" (which, by the way, would've been the name of the E1系 services, before they decided to go for the Max designation) is slightly incorrect. While the 100系 formations,and the later 200系 H1~H6 formations contained double decker cars, they wheren't used as much as a way to increase cappacity per se as much as they added new amenities for green car passengers (though they did increase the floor space compared to a comparable 16 car 0系 formation). The E1系 and E4系 on the other hand where designed from the beginning to take on the increased number of Tōkyō bound (and reverse in the evening) commuters in the 1990's (as mentioned in the article) hence the 6 abreast seating in the unreserved standard cars.

With this in mind, I think we can say that both the E1系 and E4系 have fulfilled their design role and that it's time to let the E4系 gracefully exit the Japanese railway scene. Though I personally find it sad to see the E4系 go, especially as both the E1系 and E4系 where unique to the JR East shinkansen system, as well as ending a defining era for the Eastern shinkansen system, I'm happy to see that they fulfilled their role and where able to complete their service life.

 

 

A background yes, but still not clear when they're going to be withdrawn.

 

From what I understand JR East will start to retire the remaining E2系 J formations (J51 and up, the E2系1000番台) from the Tōhoku Shinkansen at the 2015 spring timetable revision, this process should be completed somewhere in 2016. Like you said, the displaced E2系 formations will in turn replace the remaining E4系 formations as well as life expired E2系0番台 J1~J15 formations (a few have already been scrapped) on the Jōetsu Shinkansen.So with that in mind, the retirement of the E4系 formations will probably start around March 16 2015 and end somewhere in 2016, this would also coincide with the bulk of the E4系 formations reaching the end of their 17/18 year lifespan.

 

From 2016 on, the Tōhoku shinkansen fleet will probably be: E3系0番台(renewal)/1000番台(Renewal)/2000番台, E5系 and E6系 with the Jōetsu Shinkansen transitioning to an all E2系 fleet, possibly with a few E5系 formations in the future.

 

 

I believe that given the large number of E2 trainsets built between 1997 and 2010 (51 out of 53 sets are still in service)

 

Yes, but with 26 of those reaching the end of their lifespan between 2015 and 2017, it's only the remaining J51~J75 formations (like you said) that will play a role in the future

 

 

since the Jōetsu line doesn't have steep gradients and with all-E2 service, we could see many sections of the Jōetsu Shinkansen service bumped up to 260 km/h (between Omiya and Takasaki) and 275 km/h (between Takasaki and Niigata).

 

JR East had the possibility to increase the service speed when they retired the last 200系 K formations in March 2013 but they chose to keep the max service speed at 240km/h even for the services taken over by the E2系 J formations.

Though I'm not saying it won't happen, but taking into account that the Jōetsu shinkansen has been limited to 240km/h since 1985 (with exception of the down services using the 200系 F90~F93 sub formations between 1990 and 2000, but that was only on a (realtively) short section of the Jōetsu shinkansen), I don't see it happening anytime soon (though I may be wrong ofcourse).

 

-Sander

[miyakoji]

Every time I see a post from 200kei in a shinkansen thread, I think, "this is going to be @#$%&*! awesome." And indeed, it is. As always, thanks!

[JR 500系]

Superb Sander san, ever the shinkansen guru! Walking talking Shinkansen encryopedia!  

 

Does this mean, the E4 is really retiring next year 31 March? Darn i'll missing riding the LAST 2-level Shinkansen...

[Sacto1985]

A couple of comments:

 

1. I expect the oldest E2's--originally built for the Asama service between Tokyo and Nagano--to start leaving service, unless a small number of trainsets are rebuilt to be kept for the continuing Asama service between Tokyo and Nagano even after the full Hokuriku Shinkansen service starts March 2015.

 

2. I still stand by my contention we'll see major speedups in Jōetsu Shinkansen service, mostly because without the slower E4's running on the full length of the service possibly as early as March 2015, this will allow the later-production E2's to run at their fuller speed potential on the Jōetsu line. As such, a top speed of 260 km/h between Omiya and Takasaki (to maintain traffic compatibility with the new E7's now using this line) and 275 km/h between Takasaki and Niigata is now practical.

 

3. This also means we'll see a lot more E5/E6 (and from 2016 H5) trainsets on the Tōhoku Shinkansen line, displacing most of the E2's. The small number of E2's left will only be running the Yamabiko and Nasuno services plus be coupled with the remaining E3's on the Yamagata Shinkansen service.