End of the line for Kiha40s on the Aziu/Tadami lines

[Kiha66]

Sad news, seems it came so sudden!  From what I understand the last run on the Aziu line is over, and they'll be gone from the Tadami very soon if they're not already retired.  

 

A farewell ceremony at Aziu-kawaguchi station.

[Kiha66]

A trio of kiha40s out of service but running to the scrapper under their own power.

 

 

[miyakoji]

Yeah I noticed this via YouTube, ayokoi has two videos about the Tadami KIHA40s:

 

 

 

This type is being retired from service on the Uetsu Main Line as well:

 

 

[Kiha66]

And one more pic, I couldn't resist.  So often rail photography forgets the human element.  

 

 

[Kiha66]

Great videos!  I didnt know about the utesu as well.  I guess with 30+ years of service the jnr stock has just about reached the end of its life.

[miyakoji]

Just now, Kiha66 said:

Great videos!  I didnt know about the utesu as well.  I guess with 30+ years of service the jnr stock has just about reached the end of its life.

 

Yeah.  Well, in JR East territory anyway.  JR West will wring a few more years out of them 🙂

[HankyuDentetsu]

Tragic to see the JR East/East Japan private railway company KiHa40s being phased out. As @Socimi said in the Japan Railway Journal thread:

 

Quote

We've in our hands one of the most influential pieces of Japanese rolling stock ever made [...] how a simple diesel railcar managed to save dozens of rural railway lines.

 

Legendary machine, here's hoping JR West wring them out for as long as possible - agreed @miyakoji!

Edited March 14, 2020 by HankyuDentetsu

[Kiha66]

Don't forget JR Kyushu!  While the kiha66 series might be gone soon, they still have quite a few 40 series.  Seems their replacement will depend on how well the battery trains do.

[miyakoji]

Just thought to check Wikipedia.  According to the Japanese KIHA40 page, JR West received 257 KIHA40s from JNR, and still had 254 of them in 2018.  I don't see any detail about them being active or mothballed, but at least they're not formally retired.  The 3 units they did retire were KIHA48s.

[Socimi]

15 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

Don't forget JR Kyushu!  While the kiha66 series might be gone soon, they still have quite a few 40 series.  Seems their replacement will depend on how well the battery trains do.

 

JR Shikoku too! They still have 11 KiHa 40s and 15 KiHa 47s!

 

1 hour ago, miyakoji said:

Just thought to check Wikipedia.  According to the Japanese KIHA40 page, JR West received 257 KIHA40s from JNR, and still had 254 of them in 2018.  I don't see any detail about them being active or mothballed, but at least they're not formally retired.  The 3 units they did retire were KIHA48s.

 

Most of JR West's units did underwent the N40 refurbishment program between 1999 and 2009 (wich, among other things, completely fixes the bodyshell from corrosion damage), so they'll be running for quite sometime.

[Sacto1985]

I wonder will the former JR East KiHa 40/47/48 units end up on JR West and JR Shikoku, if only as parts spares for the large KiHa 40/47/48 fleet running in western Japan. They're still common sights on the JR West San'in Main Line between Yonago and Hatubu, the JR West Geibi Line and some JR Kyushu lines.

 

I think JR East will reassign more KiHa 100/110 Series to non-electrified lines and will probably buy more than 60 GV-E400's, too.

[Socimi]

10 hours ago, Sacto1985 said:

I wonder will the former JR East KiHa 40/47/48 units end up on JR West and JR Shikoku, if only as parts spares for the large KiHa 40/47/48 fleet running in western Japan. They're still common sights on the JR West San'in Main Line between Yonago and Hatubu, the JR West Geibi Line and some JR Kyushu lines.

 

I think JR East will reassign more KiHa 100/110 Series to non-electrified lines and will probably buy more than 60 GV-E400's, too.

 

Yes, it's very well possible that some ex-East units will be given to JR-West for spare parts...

 

... some might even be donated to Myanmar (wich already has some ex-Tohoku area KiHa 40s and 48s).