Disappearing Yamanote E231-500

[bill937ca]

As more and more E235s arrive and are operated on the Yamanote line, the number of E231-500s is declining. Per this video 16 E231-500 train sets of the original 52 remain as of April 7, 2019.

 

Video by  Good 鉄道チャンネル .

 

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by bill937ca

[trainsforever8]

Do you think there will still be some sets by June? I'd like to at least ride one as a Yamanote Line train

[bill937ca]

He seems to acknowledge each delivery. There have been six deliveries since the beginning of February. I think the target is the end of the fiscal year (March 31, 2020) rather than the beginning of the Tokyo Olympics at the end of July.

Edited April 14, 2019 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

"Spring 2020" is the target I've seen.

 

E231s are definitely in the minority now though. Seems like only yesterday they were replacing the 205s...

[trainsforever8]

Nice, at least I'll get a chance to ride them there!

 

But I wish the E235 had horizontal stripes, even with the platform doors and all the advertisement. Even with the Yokosuka line's version of the E235 series, something that's missing in my opinion is the fact that the stripes skip the doors, just like the E231, unlike the E233, I wonder why. 

[bill937ca]

Translation: Sunday, September 1st, 2019 The Yamanote Line was replaced with the E235 series, the E231 series 500 series was replaced, the transfer to the Chuo / Sobu line was advanced, and the rest were reduced to about 8 that can be counted with one hand It was. One of them, Tou 551, came, so I took a look at the arrival and departure scenes at Shibuya Station and Shinjuku Station. 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago as it's an increasingly rare sight:

 

A pair of Yamanote Line E231-0 series units by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Sacto1985]

I am still surprised JR East decided to move the ex-Yamanote Line E231-500 train sets to the Chūō-Sōbu Line. These train sets have been worked very hard to Yamanote Line service and I'm not sure how much service life they have left, especially since Chūō-Sōbu Line service is also a all-stops service from Mitaka to Chiba Stations.

[railsquid]

I'm sure JR East ha

59 minutes ago, Sacto1985 said:

 I'm not sure how much service life they have left

 

If it's any help, I'm sure JR East has a damn good idea how much service life they have left, as they maintain and operate them.

 

I'm not sure what you think is so special about service on the Yamanote Line that it will have an adverse effect on service life?

[Socimi]

13 hours ago, Sacto1985 said:

I am still surprised JR East decided to move the ex-Yamanote Line E231-500 train sets to the Chūō-Sōbu Line. These train sets have been worked very hard to Yamanote Line service and I'm not sure how much service life they have left, especially since Chūō-Sōbu Line service is also a all-stops service from Mitaka to Chiba Stations.

 

12 hours ago, railsquid said:

If it's any help, I'm sure JR East has a damn good idea how much service life they have left, as they maintain and operate them.

 

I'm not sure what you think is so special about service on the Yamanote Line that it will have an adverse effect on service life?

 

The Yamanote line in fact, infrastructurally and operationally speaking, it's not much different from any other JR urban lines (Chuo-Sobu line, Keihin-Tohoku Line) or any other urban railway line or subway line, as they all have stations placed between 600 and 1500 meters apart and run at a maximium speed of 90 Km/h (altough most of the time they do not go faster than 75Km/h), thus he straining of Yamanote Line stock is mostly equal to those of the afromentioned lines. Problems may instead arise when they are moved from an all-stopper to a rapid service (and often also vice-versa).

 

Maintainance is also not a particular issue, as Japanese railway suppliers (especially those serving Tokyo area railways) have adopted the E231 design as standar, meaning that whenever necessary, replacement parts are immediately avaible brand new, fresh-out-of-factory.

 

The Shin-Keiretsu-Densha concept also means that any new commuter train will be introduced in service on one of the main commuter lines, and after 15 of service, it will be rebuilt/refurbished/repainted and transferred to an another line.

 The prime example for this concept is the 209 series: introduced in 1993 on the Keihin-Tohoku Line, it was retired in 2009 (after 16 years) and rebuilt into the 6-car 209-2000/2100 series for the Chiba area lines, entering in service in the same year. 209-2000/2100s still run as of today (making them 25 years old) and mechanically unchanged (same bogeys, same pantographs, same GTO-VVVF inverters...) since their Keihin-Tohoku Line days.

 

In fact, half of the built vehicles of the 209-0 family is still in revenue service:

 

https://i.ibb.co/NFdbqRJ/209-0-series-history.png

 

This is also not the first time JR East moves stock from an heavily utilized line to an another heavily utilized line: in 2005, when the Yamanote line 205 series was retired, most sets were transferred to the Keiyo Line, where they ran until 2011, then they were all transferred again (along the Keiyo Line 1991-built 205-0s) and converted into 4-car 205-600 series sets for the Nikko and Utsunomiya Line, where they still run to this day.

(JR West did the same back in 2003/4 when they moved all of their refurbished 201s from the Tokaido Line to the Osaka Loop Line)

 

The whole transfer/replacement shenanigans is just JR East with a "killing two birds with one stone"-type plan: replace all JNR-era stock from the Tokyo Area and provide new stock for the city's most heavily used line both before the 2020 Olympics.

 

https://i.ibb.co/fQKBdft/current-system.png

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by Socimi

[railsquid]

5 hours ago, Socimi said:

The Yamanote line in fact, infrastructurally and operationally speaking, it's not much different from any other JR urban lines (Chuo-Sobu line, Keihin-Tohoku Line) or any other urban railway line or subway line, as they all have stations placed between 600 and 1500 meters apart and run at a maximium speed of 90 Km/h (altough most of the time they do not go faster than 75Km/h), thus he straining of Yamanote Line stock is mostly equal to those of the afromentioned lines.

 

Exactly.

 

If anyone wants to worry about "hard-working" E231s/E233s they should try the long-distance services north of Omiya, which run at continuous high speed between more distant outer suburban stations, and which rattle and roll about quite markedly. The Yamanote line is serene compared to that.

 

Quote

: in 2005, when the Yamanote line 205 series was retired, most sets were transferred to the Keiyo Line, where they ran until 2011, then they were all transferred again (along the Keiyo Line 1991-built 205-0s) and converted into 4-car 205-600 series sets for the Nikko and Utsunomiya Line, where they still run to this day.

 

There are still some 205s formed from ex-Yamanote cars on the Musashino line.

[Socimi]

13 hours ago, railsquid said:

 There are still some 205s formed from ex-Yamanote cars on the Musashino line.

 

Yes, indeed, but those were heavily upgraded as the 205-5000 series (even mechanically, with a VVVF inverter). 

 

The Keiyo Line ones instead were just repainted, so that's why i used them in my example. 

 

Many Yamanote Line motor cars also found their way onto the Senseki and Tsurumi lines, where they were converted into KuMoHas

[Shinkansenrailfan]

E235 Set 43 was delivered 2 days back. Only 10 E231-500s remain and probably 8-9 by the end of the month