By TATSUYA SHIMADA/ Staff Writer
September 25, 2021 at 16:55 JST
Visitors to JR Omiya Station in Saitama Prefecture close to Tokyo snap photos of the Max Shinkansen train that will be retired from service on Oct. 1. (Tatsuya Shimada)
Visitors to JR Omiya Station in Saitama Prefecture snapped photos and children waved at the “Max” double-decker E4 model Joetsu Shinkansen train that will be retired from service on Oct. 1.
The Joetsu Shinkansen is the last line to use the double-decker trains.
The E4 series consisted of eight double-decker cars. But its coupling device enabled it to become a 16-car train capable of seating 1,634 passengers, making it the world’s highest-capacity high-speed train.
But with the extension of Shinkansen lines to the Hokuriku and Hokkaido regions in the north, the emphasis shifted from high capacity to speed, leading East Japan Railway Co. to decide to stop operating its fleet of double-decker trains.
Initially, the Max Shinkansen trains were to have been retired in fiscal 2020, but this was extended until this autumn because the Max trains were used in place of some Hokuriku Shinkansen trains damaged in flooding brought on by a typhoon in 2019.
Osaka hotel reverses fortunes with room for train buffs
September 24, 2021
Disconnected: Pay phones to disappear from all bullet trains
April 14, 2021
New bullet train Alpha-X hits top speed of 382 kph in test run
October 28, 2020
Tohoku bullet trains resume operation with fewer trains
February 24, 2021
Shinkansen driver abandons post to answer call of nature
June 4, 2021
Mature, friendly look the boast of new Kamome Shinkansen
September 14, 2021
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
