E4 Series Shinkansen
Double-deck Shinkansen with world's highest seating capacity.
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The E4 series was a double-deck Shinkansen high-speed train operated by JR East in Japan from December 1997 until October 2021. Marketed under the name Max, it was the second double-deck Shinkansen type and used lightweight aluminium construction. Its 16-car formations offered 1,634 seats, the highest capacity of any high-speed train configuration worldwide.
History
The first E4 series Shinkansen set arrived at Sendai Depot on 8 October 1997, and began carrying passengers on the Tohoku Shinkansen from 20 December that year. From 18 March 2007, every car was designated no-smoking.
A March 2011 announcement stated the entire fleet would be retired around 2016. Regular service ended on 1 October 2021, with full retirement on 17 October 2021. Starting in 2014, the remaining 24 sets received a new paint scheme matching the E1 series, featuring a toki pink stripe between white upper and blue lower body sections.
Fleet list
Between 1997 and 2003, Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries produced 26 eight-car E4 Series trainsets. Four of these were tailored for the Nagano Shinkansen: P51 and P52 handled steep gradients to Karuizawa, while P81 and P82 could switch between 50 Hz and 60 Hz power supplies for Nagano.
The fleet’s retirement started in July 2013 with sets P2 and P3. A final farewell run took place on 1 October 2021, and the last set was officially taken out of service on 30 March 2022. One preserved car, E444-1 from set P1, now sits in the Niigata City Niitsu Railway Museum after a road move from Niigata Depot on 20 June 2017.
More in Passenger Trains Running at Least at 200 Km/h in Commercial Operations
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: E4 Series Shinkansen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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