500系 Shinkansen retirement

[Shinkansenrailfan]

Hi all, recently I came across an article about Kyoto's JR West museum. I couldn't read Japanese well but from the numbers and Kanji , I thought I saw the report talking about the 500系 Shinkansen's retirement in Spring 2016.

 

I'm not very sure of what I've seen. But I'm sure they said mentioned the words 「500系新幹線」and 引退 in it.

 

As I don't have other sources to look into , or read Japanese fluently , I would need help is asking for the actual retirement timing of the 500系 Shinkansen. I'm unable to catch it this year so hopefully I am able to next year.

[gr-ex]

I'd think that's highly unlikely considering they were only refurbished a few years ago.

 

From what I've read about this it's just the railway museum opening in Spring 2016 and they are going to showcase the 500 because of it's speed etc.

 

Anyone else shed any light on this?

[miyakoji]

Shinkansenrailfan, do you still have the link? I looked at the English and Japanese wikipedia articles, I don't see anything about the full retirement of the series. As gr-ex wrote, JR West's new museum will open around that time.

[katoftw]

Probably more to do with the retirement from Nozomi service in 2010.  Probably a display in the museum about this.

[Shinkansenrailfan]

I'd think that's highly unlikely considering they were only refurbished a few years ago.

 

From what I've read about this it's just the railway museum opening in Spring 2016 and they are going to showcase the 500 because of it's speed etc.

 

Anyone else shed any light on this?

Shinkansen trains usually lasts up to 20 years. I do foresee their retirement latest by 2017.

[Shinkansenrailfan]

Shinkansenrailfan, do you still have the link? I looked at the English and Japanese wikipedia articles, I don't see anything about the full retirement of the series. As gr-ex wrote, JR West's new museum will open around that time.

Its not an internet link. I found the source from a report from the magazine Diamond Weekly for 2014 9/20. There is a special report on the JR West's opening of the museum.

[Sacto1985]

I do think the 500 Series will retire by 2017 at very latest, mostly because of their unique body design. The 700-7000 Hikari Rail Star trainsets could probably continue operating until 2020, thanks to the fact there are plentiful spare parts for that trainset.

[NuclearErick]

 
参考資料　あくまでメモ程度と思ってください。
・新幹線の全般検査は、１２０万キロ以内、もしくは３６ヶ月以内に行う事が省令で定められている。
 

編成名                Ｖ編成改造日               全検出場日                   全般検査期限                   備考

 

Ｖ２                      2009.01.14                 2012.01.16                  2015.01.15

 

Ｖ３                      2008.03.28                 2014.01.19                  2017.01.18                       カンセンジャーラッピング

 

V４                       2008.10.27                 2011.10.17                  2014.10.16

 

Ｖ５                       2008.05.20                 2014.04.16                  2017.04.15

 

Ｖ６                       2008.09.02                 2011.11.26                  2014.11.25

 

Ｖ７                       2010.05.10                 2012.08.22                  2015.08.21

 

Ｖ８                       2010.06.29                  2013.01.??                 2016.01.??

 

Ｖ９                      2010.02.24                   2012.05.15                 2015.05.14

 

i found this

i think is the dates of inspection 1.200.000KM or 36 months

 

maybe the retirement will be close of those dates

Edited September 28, 2014 by NuclearErick

[JR 500系]

That's sad news... The 500 series remains a special place in my heart as the coolest train in the world... Sad to see it go if it's true...

[Mudkip Orange]

Maybe they can ship one to us, seeing as how the HOU-DAL line is going to be built by JR Tokai anyway...

[cteno4]

Sorry mudkip, a 500 series is way to advanced technology and too fast for us to use in the states...

 

Jeff

[Sacto1985]

Sorry mudkip, a 500 series is way to advanced technology and too fast for us to use in the states...

 

Jeff

 

Actually, according to the Texas Central Railway proposal, they will be using the 700-I trainset, essentially an N700A trainset geared to run as fast 330 km/h (205 mph). That's faster than the 500 Series trainset, which had a speed limit of 300 km/h (186 mph).

[cteno4]

N700a no way not till at least 2050 or later!

 

Jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

Actually, according to the Texas Central Railway proposal, they will be using the 700-I trainset, essentially an N700A trainset geared to run as fast 330 km/h (205 mph). That's faster than the 500 Series trainset, which had a speed limit of 300 km/h (186 mph).

 

Exactly.

 

You cascade one or two 500s to TXC and use them on College Station stopping services during parts of the day where there's sufficient demand for a HOU-DAL express. This is of course presuming that the HSR College Station is laid out to allow overtaking... which I certainly hope it is, seeing as how JRC is supposed to be doing a decent chunk of the engineering work.

[kvp]

Considering the 500 series is an old train by modern japanese standards that has very little luggage, head and legroom even for japanese people and most of the cars are already scrapped, then using a more spacious and fully standardised modern stock on the Texas HSR would be cheaper to operate and better for the travellers.

 

A while ago i was thinking about the possibility of using japanese trains in Hungary, since the shinkansen network is fully compatible with the Hungarian standard electrified network (from an electric, track and loading gauge standpoint) and only the ATC boxes have to be swapped, but the shinkansens use high platforms, while all Hungarian stations have low platforms (execpt 75% of the metro lines) and the cost of shipping and maintaining the Japanese trains here would be much higher than building new trains locally.

 

For american general HSR, i think Amtrak is doing it right. They bought a bunch of high power, high speed electric locomotives that can be used with standard high speed coaches and also allow high speed freight. If more power is required, the locomotives support multiple working, so more than one could be used on a train. Not to mention the fact, that they are allowed to operate on non grade separated lines, which is a cheap way to get HSR on already existing routes.

 

So, i think while it would be funny and great to have Japanese used stock in Europe or in the USA, it's not financially viable.

[Mudkip Orange]

Amtrak's way makes sense in the NEC and its logical extensions. (e.g. Portland, Maine to Atlanta, GA and possibly FL).

 

However, out hurr in the west, the infrastructure was never as beefy as the east... no four-track Pennsy-style mains... and the freight traffic is actually heavier, since the general tendency over the last 250 years has been for the American population center to move west and south. The existing lines into and out of cities like Houston, Denver, Fort Worth, and others are packed with freight. So too LA, but LA benefits from Metrolink having gotten a foothold during the doldrums of the 70's and 80's.

 

Such a system could never be implemented today, which is why Denver is constructing all new track in existing corridors, whether it's LRT (South) or SEPTA-spec EMU (East, North). Houston may also go this route if the Missouri City LRT extension is approved... that was envisioned as commuter rail 20 years ago, but there's no room left on the UP and the cost of building additional tracks for a recalcitrant private entity isn't much cheaper than new-alignment LRT owned outright.

 

TxC's plan makes the most sense here - new tracks independent of the legacy rail network, its congestion and FRA regs.