JR East announces KiHa 130-500 series and GV-E400 series

[Densha]

Alongside the new Shinkansen test train, JR East has announced the KiHa E130-500 for use on the Hachinohe Line. The first units of these will be delivered in August this year, out of a total 18 cars having been ordered. (Source: http://railf.jp/news/2017/07/04/165500.html)
 
JR East has also announced a prototype of 3 vehicles of the GV-E400 series, a diesel-electric (?) multiple unit train. The mass-production units of this series will be introduced on the Uetsu Main Line, Shin'etsu Main Line, Yonesaka Line and Ban'etsu West Line in the Niigata region in 2019. In 2020 they will be introduced on the Tsugaru Line, Gono Line and Ou Main Line in the Akita region. (Source: http://railf.jp/news/2017/07/04/170000.html)

Edited July 4, 2017 by Densha

[Sacto1985]

Of course, the arrival of the KiHa E130-500 in the Hachinohe area (I expect them to be also assigned to the Hachinohe to Ominato route also) and eventually the GV-E400 (in my opinion) means only one thing: the phaseout of the KiHa 100/110 series DMU in JR East service. And except for those trainsets converted to Joyful Train excursion service, the KiHa 100/110 will either end up being exported to Myanmar/Indonesia or head straight to the scrapyard. I believe the GV-E400 will be built by Niigata Transys, the same company who built many of the KiHa 100/110 trainsets. I can see the KiHa E130 replacing the KiHa 100/110 on the Hachiko Line between Komagawa and Takasaki.

[katoftw]

The 100/110s might also be gobbled up by other JR companies or third sector railways. Hokkaido and Shikoku maybe.

 

Once Hokkaido drops losses and breaks even. I think JR East will gobble it up from the government. But that is another story for another time.

[Sacto1985]

The 100/110s might also be gobbled up by other JR companies or third sector railways. Hokkaido and Shikoku maybe.

 

Once Hokkaido drops losses and breaks even. I think JR East will gobble it up from the government. But that is another story for another time.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that third-sector operators in the Tōhoku region snap up the best-condition KiHa 100/110 trainsets as the GV-E400 enters service.

[Densha]

Rather than the new units signalling the end for the KiHa 100/110, aren't there still tons of KiHa 40/48 being used by JR East? Considering that some of the mentioned lines are still partly or completely KiHa 40/48 territory, you could even say that they are literally replacing the whole current KiHa 40/48 fleet on some of these lines.

 

Some of the mentioned lines currently also use KiHa 100/110/E120/E130. I think in these cases you can expect that the introduction of the GV-E400 series, particularly if a lot of these will be build (and the article clearly hints on that), will lead to some of the JR era DMUs being cascaded to other lines still using KiHa 40/48, even if they are not listed to be directly replaced by the GV-E400.

 

Then the KiHa 40/48s will obviously be the trains that will be headed for the scrapyard or for some southeast Asian country.

[JR 500系]

Then again could they convert some of the Kiha-40/ 48s to tourist trains? There have been quite a number of successful tourist trains already converted, like the Setuchi Marine View etc..

[bikkuri bahn]

There will likely be cascading as well as conversions, selling off/donations, and scrapping. Rolling stock replacement programs take a long time.  As an aside, I suppose there were no foreign builders who were interested in offering a high-platform DMU design in response to JR-E's international tender for new rolling stock.  So the EU builders have weakened their claim that Japan is closed to their products. They're kind of like the railway version of the Detroit mindset wrt to selling in Japan, rather than Stuttgart/Munich/Wolfsburg/Ingolstadt.

Edited July 5, 2017 by bikkuri bahn

[Sacto1985]

I personally think there's a chance that the introduction of the GV-E400 will mean the end of KiHa 40's service on JR East territory. Those ex-JR East KiHa 40's could end up being sold to JR West and JR Shikoku as extra rolling stock/spare parts or shipped to Myanmar or Indonesia.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Sacto1985

[Densha]

Posting this here for now because it's closely related.

 

This may be an even more interesting announcement than the previous one. JR Hokkaido just announced that they intend to replace all of their current 166 (incredibly run-down) KiHa 40s with H100 series DMUs. The H100 will be practically the same train as the GV-E400 that JR East just announced, except for some obvious cold weather measures. A prototype will be delivered in February 2018 and will be doing test runs until March 2019.

 

This announcement funds my argumentation on that the GV-E400/H100 will be replacing most, if not all KiHa 40 in northern Japan even more.

 

Let's hope that the H100 prototype will have a better future than the KiHa 285. For the sake of desperate need of modernisation of Hokkaido's railways that is. If you are a fan of JNR era diesels, I think now is the time to ride them KiHa 40s. Well, except for maybe JR West and JR Kyushu that will probably be using KiHa 40s until the end of time.

 

Sources:

https://trafficnews.jp/post/75910/

http://tetsudo-shimbun.com/headline/entry-1086.html

http://railf.jp/news/2017/07/12/170000.html

[kvp]

The lack of side windows was a bit funny to me, so i checked the internal layout:

http://news.mynavi.jp/photo/news/2017/07/12/270/images/003l.jpg

and it's a bit strange for me to see a 36 passenger seat dmu. Also it looks like the width of the car has been reduced compared to the 40 series. The longer distance box seating area is only 18 passengers with 18 additional on the longitudinal commuter areas around the doors.

[Densha]

Yup. Noticed that too. I completely fail to see the need for longitude seats in trains for long-distance services like this. Yes, long-distance because even local trains in areas like Hokkaido traverse distances with very few stops. It's really no fun sitting on longitudinal seats for hours on a line without express services, whereas the space used for 'standing places' could have easily been used to make everyone able to properly sit. The worst example in this sense I have come across personally was the (JR Shikoku) KiHa 54, used for long-distance local trains with only longitudinal seats.

[Sacto1985]

I think it's possible that the GV-E400 and H100 seating layout may change before the first production units are delivered in 2019.

 

By the way, JR Hokkaido needs to replace their KiHa 40 fleet--they are among the oldest of the 888 of this model built. And the JR Hokkaido KiHa 40's are in such run-down condition that JR West, JR Shikoku and JR Kyushu don't want them, either.

[Densha]

Well, the first H100 units will be prototypes anyway, so there's certainly a possibility that this won't be the final configuration.

 

Completely forgot about the fact that Hokkaido's KiHa 40s are actually the first built. Hence that the Hokkaido configuration subseries is the KiHa 40-100 of course. But even regardless of that they are indeed completely run-down due to crappy maintenance.

[Densha]

Aaanddd the first KiHa 130-500 units have already been delivered in Niitsu: https://twitter.com/T18_kuha481/status/898447302393712642

[Densha]

The first GV-400 prototype has been spotted at Kawasaki Heavy Industries:

 

 

[Sacto1985]

And YouTube member 4011tama1--who has filmed a lot of videos of the assembly work going on at KHI's Hyogo plant--has the video of the first GV-E400 prototype running by itself:

 

 

[Sascha]

11 hours ago, Sacto1985 said:

And YouTube member 4011tama1--who has filmed a lot of videos of the assembly work going on at KHI's Hyogo plant--has the video of the first GV-E400 prototype running by itself:

 

 

Why is there a Train for the MTA Long Island in the video? Are NY Trains made by Japan?

[Suica]

20 minutes ago, Sascha said:

Why is there a Train for the MTA Long Island in the video? Are NY Trains made by Japan?

New M9 EMUs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M9_(railcar)

[Sascha]

New M9 EMUs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M9_(railcar)

Thanks for that Suica.

[Sacto1985]

Here are more recent YouTube videos of the first two GV-E400 trainsets (one one-car, one two-car):

 

Leaving the KHI Hyogo assembly plant, pulled by DE10 1561:

 

 

Being pulled by DE 10 1561 and EF510 9 leaving the Osaka area:

 

 

Arriving at JR East Niitsu Station in a heavy snowstorm, pulled by DE10 3513:

 

 

[katoftw]

The are hideous like Shikoku 8600s.

 

In unrelated findings. Koki 107 loo to be up to -1949 now.  Almost 2000.

[Takahama Trainwatcher]

22 hours ago, katoftw said:

The are hideous like Shikoku 8600s.

Ha, ha, somewhere there's a happy medium between "angular" and "rounded". 8600s = too round. GV-E400 = too angular. I think 211s, E130s, E231s and E233s nail that sweet spot.

[Sacto1985]

By the way, if you're looking for an "angular" trainset, the KiHa 100/110 models used by JR East fit the bill. I expect JR East to eventually replace most of them with the GV-E400, and this could lead to a lot of older kiHa 40/47/48 models heading to the scrapyard as other JR Group companies snap up the best condition KiHa 100/110 models for cheap.

[Densha]

To repeat myself, JR East has plenty of KiHa 40 series units to replace first. They just ordered 60 units of GV-E400, which is not even near enough to replace both KiHa 40 series (at least dozens of units left) and KiHa 100 series (247 units in total).

 

At least this initial GV-E400 order is just to replace any lingering KiHa 40. Replacing the KiHa 100 series now doesn't make sense anyway, since they are only 20-30 years old. When the KiHa 100 series will be worn out, these will head straight to the scrapyard (or the Philippines, Myanmar, etc.) and be replaced by whatever new train is available at the time. I bet JR West, Kyushu and Shikoku don't want some run-down KiHa's from their northern cousin either.

[Densha]

I think I'm actually starting to like the design of these GV-E400s. Here's a video of the first stretches by itself.