Wednesday 23 August 2017

EMU 70000 Series: New Model on the Tobu Line

EMU Tobu 70000 series arrives at Nishi-Arai Station

Following the new train on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, I am going to show you a gleaming new model on the Tobu Line today. 

On July 7th this year, Tobu Railway, the largest private railway company in the Tokyo metropolitan area, launched a new model, the EMU 70000 series on their Isesaki Line. The 70000 series are directly operated onto the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, so that the 70000 series has many things in common with the Tokyo Metro's new model, the 13000 series, which I posted last time. How similar are the Tobu 70000 series and the Tokyo Metro 13000 series?

Firstly, both models have 20 m-long bodies with eight doors per car. One set is composed of seven cars. This unification is provided for the installation of automated platform gates in the future. Secondly, the positions of priority seats for the aged and physically handicapped are unified between both models. Thirdly, travelling devices, such as the type of steering trucks, are the same to reduce manufacturing costs. On the other hand, both Tobu and Tokyo Metro keep their own basic design concept, for instance, the outer design of the train bodies and the mechanisms of door operating devices.

According to Tokyo Metro, 22 sets of the 70000 series will be built by Kinki Sharyo, and will replace the old 20000 series by 2020, when the automated platform doors start to operate on the Tobu- Isesaki and the Tokyo Metro-Hibiya Line.

EMU Tobu 70000 series stands at Nishi-Arai Station