Tuesday 7 April 2015

The Fourth Anniversary of Tokyo Railway Labyrinth

EMU JR East E4 series stands at Tokyo Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen
 
Tokyo Railway Labyrinth had its fourth anniversary today. I thank all my blog readers for visiting this website over the last four years. I have been introducing you to the labyrinthine railway routes and their trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area. I think that process is going to go on. In commemoration of the fourth anniversary, I am going to show you a train with the number "4" in the name... the EMU E"4" series. Is it a bit of a stretch?

The EMU JR East E4 series is a duplex shinkansen train launched in 1997. Currently, they are only operated on the Joetsu Shinkansen for limited express trains, Max-Toki and Max-Tanigawa. Joetsu Shinkansen is the main transportation artery between the Tokyo metropolitan area and Niigata Prefecture. The E4 series consists of 8 cars, which can accommodate 817 seats in one set. So, a maximum of 1634 seats are available, when two sets of trains are connected. Although its speed is limited to a maximum of 240km/hour, they are utilized as shinlkanesen trains to transport large numbers of passengers during rush hour.

I sometimes ride the E4 series and found that it's more comfortable than I imagined. The best advantage was its good view from the upstairs window, but the design of this train is not my cup of tea, as it looks like a giant squid in the deep sea.

The EMU E4 series... it is a dependable duplex monster train for daily Tokyo.

 
Side view of the E4 series
 
More information about the EMU JR East E4 series (in Japanese):