The end of E2系 Service on Hokuriku Shinkansen Line

[Sacto1985]

Here are a few videos on YouTube of the end of the E2系 Shinkansen service on the now-Hokuriku Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Nagano Stations:

 

Trainset N5 arriving and leaving Tokyo Station for the last time--the last one running on this route from Tokyo to Nagano:

 

 

The next two videos are courtesy of YouTube member ichi pika:

 

Riding trainset N5 from Ueda Station to Nagano Station, the last E2 to arrive at Nagano:

 

 

Trainset N5 sitting at the JR East Shinkansen depot east of central Nagano, the day after its last service:

 

 

Sadiy, the next stop for trainset N5 will probably be the scrapyard. 

 

 

[Suica]

Bye bye Hokuriku E2!

 

E2 series set N5 was actually the one that took me to Nagano during my first Japan visit back in 2012.

[Sacto1985]

Trainsets N5 and N13 were the very last of the original E2系 trainsets still operational between Tokyo and Nagano. N5 was the last train from Tokyo to Nagano, and N13 was the last train from Nagano to Tokyo.

[JR 500系]

Good bye Asama E2! Thanks for the hard work!

 

It seems that the schedule was 30 mins late?

[Claude_Dreyfus]

 

I was fortunate enough to ride on an E2 a couple of years ago between Nagano and Tokyo - my steed for the journey was N21 (on the right). N1 is on the left.

Edited April 3, 2017 by Claude_Dreyfus

[railsquid]

Now there's a sobering thought, it's been almost 3 years since I was last on a Shinkansen (at least one which moves), and that would have been an E2.

[Sacto1985]

I'm not surprised the E2系 are finally retired. They are the oldest of the E2's built (built 1996-1997) and had unusual gearing to handle the steep grade between Takasaki and Karuizawa Stations--indeed, that very gearing allowed the line to be built through the original Karuizawa Station instead of way south of Karuizawa (if I remember that old map posted here some years ago of the original line proposal).