Disposition of the Withdrawn E217-Series Trains in Shonan Colors?

[Philphil]

Hi guys, I've read that the JR East Shonan-colored E217 trains were withdrawn from service awhile back, but I can't seem to find what happened to the sets after they were withdrawn. Does anyone know what happened to them?

 

-Phil

[Densha]

According to the Japanese Wikipedia page, the E217 series in Shonan colours were returned to the Yokosuka-Sobu Line after their duties on the Tokaido Line ended.

[Philphil]

@Densha Thank you so much for that information! It's nice to hear they weren't immediately scrapped or something!

[Sacto1985]

Has JR East said what they were going to do with the E217's once the E235's replace them a few years from now? Will they just end up at the Nagano Comprehensive Vehicle Center for scrapping?

[bikkuri bahn]

What JR East will do with eventually to be replaced rolling stock is the realm of conjecture as that process is at least more than a year away. PR arms of railway companies tend to emphasize the new and upcoming, rather than announce the esoteric workings of asset disposal.  Some enthusiasts have said they will be cascaded to replace 211 series units based out of Nagano, while others surmise they will be scrapped as they are poor candidates for winterization and the wear and tear from 20+ years working long distance commuter runs has taken their toll on bodies designed to be disposable (these, along with the 209 series, were the first types to be designed to be easily scrapped after their service life expiration).  

[railsquid]

Quote

 

Some enthusiasts have said they will be cascaded to replace 211 series units based out of Nagano,

 

 

Rumour is that E231s will be cascaded down to replace various provincial 211s/205s, see e.g. here: https://tx-style.net/jr/4540.php

 

But we won't know until we know.

[Socimi]

11 hours ago, bikkuri bahn said:

What JR East will do with eventually to be replaced rolling stock is the realm of conjecture as that process is at least more than a year away. PR arms of railway companies tend to emphasize the new and upcoming, rather than announce the esoteric workings of asset disposal.  Some enthusiasts have said they will be cascaded to replace 211 series units based out of Nagano, while others surmise they will be scrapped as they are poor candidates for winterization and the wear and tear from 20+ years working long distance commuter runs has taken their toll on bodies designed to be disposable (these, along with the 209 series, were the first types to be designed to be easily scrapped after their service life expiration).  

 

Not quite.

 

Most Keihin-Tohoku Line sets, starting from 2009 were converted into 6 and 4-car sets for rual services in the Chiba area (replacing the 113 series), becoming the 209-2000/2100 series.

They are still in use as of today (wich means an average vehicle age of  25+ years), and yet there are no plans to replace them in the future.

In fact 508 209-series (incl. -500 and -1000 subseries) vehicles out of 1046 are still in service.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/209_series#209-2000/2100_series

 

The displaced E217 will probably be replacing the 211-0s (warm region specs) only on the Ryomo, Takasaki and Utsunomiya lines , while those in the Nagano (211-1000s - cold region specs) area will get replaced by E129 series trains.

 

Some displaced Takasaki 211s are also being sent in the Niigata area (for example, on the Joetsu and Agatsuma Lines) to replace the last few 115s in use there.

 

Some of the 209-500s and E231-0s could may rebuilt in the future to replace  the 205 series stock on the Tsurumi, Nambu Branch lines and especially the Sagami line (wich still uses 1991-built 205-500s with resistor control!).

Edited January 28, 2019 by Socimi

[Sacto1985]

I think given the long usage life of the E217's, I expect them to sadly end up at the scrap yard given their age and being poor candidates for winterization. The 115 Series trains are just about gone from the Niigata area, replaced by two-car/three-car E129 train sets; no wonder why Shinano Electric Railway will start phasing in an E129 variant starting in 2020.

 

As for the Sagami Line 205-500 Series, unless they rebuild all the stations on that line to accommodate wider loading gauge trains, you can forget about them being replaced anytime soon, especially since they could use spare parts from other retired 205 Series trainsets to keep the 205-500's going.

[Socimi]

8 hours ago, Sacto1985 said:

As for the Sagami Line 205-500 Series, unless they rebuild all the stations on that line to accommodate wider loading gauge trains, you can forget about them being replaced anytime soon, especially since they could use spare parts from other retired 205 Series trainsets to keep the 205-500's going.

 

The loading gauge is the same on all JR lines, it allows for both vertical sides (like those on 201, 205 and 209 series trains) and round ones (like those of the E217, E231 and E233 series). 

 

Besides the doors and bogeys there aren't many components (subject to wear and tear) that are shared between rebuilt 205s and Sagami Line 205-500s.

For example, the pantographs are of two different kinds. 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Socimi

[Dentobu93]

Unless JR East announces an replacement for the E231-0's from Joban line and/or the E231-1000's there are no E231 or 209-500's more left to replace any 205 or 211's.

 

52 E231-500 are replacing most of the 56 sets (e231/209-500) on the Chuo-Sobu lines, 9 sets from Chuo/Sobu (e231/209-500) are already operating on the Hachiko/Kawagoe lines and 44 are required to replace all 205's from Mushashino line, so there are none E231 or 209-500's more left to replace any 205 or 211's.

 

The E217 was produced from 1994 till 2000 of which around 30 of the 97 sets where made in 1998/1999 which are just as old as the 209-500's.

 

Since all 209-500 have been reused instead of scrapped I expect the same to happen to the E217, the early sets are probably going to be scrapped though.

[Socimi]

I agree with you.

 

Unless the E235 will be called in to replace 209s or E231s on an another line, the 205-500s and rebuilt 205s are going to stay.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Now a bit of numbers:

 

In total there are 745 vehicles (97 sets) of the E217 series in service (not a single vehicle was withdrawn since their introduciton in 1994) arranged in either 11 car (sets Y1 to Y51, two cars in each set are bilevel green cars) or 4 car sets (Y101-146), they're all assigned at Kamakura depot.

 

Meanwhile the 211s are arranged in either 4 or 3+3 car sets and are assigned at Takasaki depot (134 cars) where they're used in services on the Takasaki Line, Ryomo Line, Agatsumi Line, Utsunomiya Line (between Oyama and Utsunomiya only), Joetsu Line (between Takasaki and Minakami only) and Shinetsu Line (between Takasaki and Yokogawa only).

 

(Plus there are 192 cars of the 211 series assigned to Nagano depot, but those are very likely to stay for the forseeable future).

 

So, if JR East wants to replace Takasaki-based 211s it won't be a problem as they already have the 46 4-car sets (for a total of 184 cars) ready, far more than what is needed.

 

The E235 order for the Yokosuka and Sobu Lines is in fact composed by 51 11-car sets and 46 4-car sets (exactly like the E217 it's going to replace).

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Socimi