Should Japan have more Freight Locomotives like the M250 Series?

[The Birmingham train spotter]

In 2004 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ( KHI ),Nippon Sharyo and Toshiba launched the M250 EMU " Super Rail Cargo " Freight Locomotive and is Being Currently Operated by Japan Freight Railway ( JR Freight).This EMU was Made to Reduce Emissions and Carry General Freight for small Package forwarders.An Incredible 42 cars where built between 2002 and 2003 and Each having 16 cars per Trainset.These are found in the Tōkaidō Main line.These Locomotives are An amazing Design for the Future of Japanese Freight Trains and Electric locomotives.I believe that more Freight Trains should have this Design in Japan and World Wide.

[Kiha66]

I'm not sure what you mean by "should they"  The Japan Rail companies are some of they most successful rail companies in recent history, if they needed more sets of this design I'm sure they would order more.  They are for a specialized service doing high speed runs between two set locations.  Elsewhere Japan uses normal loco hauled container flats.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Kiha66

[The Birmingham train spotter]

I put should they because Japan's Diesel and Electric locomotives are Ageing and some are close to retirement.I was Saying my Opinion on the Locomotive as the Design fascinates me..Sorry if anything sounds or is Worded weird

[Kamome]

As with most Japanese built things, their locomotives last pretty well. Certainly JRF in Kyushu operates a number of different length trains so a set unit would not always be that useful.

 

Sagawa use the SRC between the 2 largest hubs in Japan (Tokyo to Osaka) but then Sagawa containers are offloaded onto trucks or onto other trains for the rest of their journey. Set lengths also mean constant maintenance of flats that may not be needed in a consist with smaller loads between other areas. 

 

Japan is also not that great in terms of  reducing emissions compared with most European countries. 

 

Also other large Japanese hauliers haven’t gone down this route.

[gavino200]

Yes. They should. No doubt about it.

[EdF]

There is at least one other freight doing the same into tokyo daily, using standard equipment.  M250 requires overhead wire at the loading/unloading that complicates things a bit too.

[cteno4]

Well multiple things here, electric vs diesel hauled, fixed consists of trains, and fixed carriers. M250 was something of a unique thing for express shipping for sagawa between two major hubs. For container freight to be the most efficient over all you need flexibility and the m250 is not a very flexible system, wasn't designed to be it was designed to be very special, fixed service. This means the usual mix and match over all of japan will be more efficient if that is what you are aiming for. Electrification is another story of making sure your loco path is all electrified, but it can help with carbon if green electricity is sourced.

 

somewhere I read a story on the m250 development and spreading the motors out and adding containers to those cars and putting them on both ends only made sense in this very fixed, express point to point system and not for the usual mix and match situations. It wasn’t designed for the usual very branched and varying container delivery. I’ll see if I can find that article as it was a talking point we had on the m250 at train shows.

 

I think one of the most telling things is you have not seen plans to greatly expand and develop more down the m250 direction.

 

jeff

[katoftw]

Should have. No

Could have. Yes

 

Without repeating what others have posted. Certain vehicles for certain situations.

[disturbman]

9 hours ago, The Birmingham train spotter said:

I believe that more Freight Trains should have this Design in Japan and World Wide.

I'm not sure it will ever happen. As other said, fixed EMU/DMU consists like the M250 have some disadvantages for freight and are better suited for specific usages, like for forwarding express packages and valuable freight between important cities/hubs. We might see more in the future, if airfreight become less practical due to ecological concerns. Iirc, the Chinese railway were testing a concept of highspeed freight train somewhat similar to the defunct La Poste TGV.

[The Birmingham train spotter]

I only made this Post cause I like the Design of the M250 and the Potential it has 

[Kamome]

These guys also think that other courier services should have their own   liveried stock. Check out from 11:29.

 

 

[The Birmingham train spotter]

Love that shade of Green on the EF210

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, The Birmingham train spotter said:

I only made this Post cause I like the Design of the M250 and the Potential it has 

it is a very cool design, but unfortunately cool design doesn’t always mean it can do every job well. It does the express point to point really well, but not other more networked freight.

 

it is a very cool model to have! Kato is rereleasing the model here soon and there is a 4 car starter set so you dont have a huge starting price.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10796676

 

cheers

 

jeff

[roadstar_na6]

DB tried a similar system with the CargoSprinter 25 years ago. It wasn't particularly successful

[gavino200]

8 hours ago, Kamome said:

These guys also think that other courier services should have their own   liveried stock. Check out from 11:29.

 

 

 

Awesome. Custom paint and decals? I want. I want.

[Kamome]

7 hours ago, cteno4 said:

it is a very cool model to have! Kato is rereleasing the model here soon and there is a 4 car starter set so you dont have a huge starting price.

To avoid any confusion, there’s a 4 car Mc250 SRC base or basic set. This includes the 2 cab ends (1 powered, 1 dummy) and 2 container flats.

 

Starter set usually refers to a pack with a 3 or 4 car train, loop of track and controller. 

 

It’s scheduled for release in Japan in December which usually means the end of the month. Kato have had some production delays this year so that may continue, especially as Covid cases are on the rise and there has been talk of a 2nd hard lockdown.

 

You may find that the 4 car base set and 4 car add-on set (2 dummy power cars no cabs, 2 flats) will be easier to locate at a later date if you don’t buy around release date. With the 8 car add-on set (8 flats) it will probably be a good idea to try and pick up one up at release if you intend on having a full length train. I imagine they will

produce larger quantities of both the 4 car sets as not everyone will want a full length version.

 

UK retailers like Train Trax will probably get there stock around 3-4 weeks after Japan release.

 

[bill937ca]

Not a particularly unique idea.  Volkswagen had a tram version in Dresden Germany from 2000 to 2020.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarGoTram

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by bill937ca

[miyakoji]

On 8/5/2021 at 10:25 PM, cteno4 said:

somewhere I read a story on the m250 development and spreading the motors out and adding containers to those cars and putting them on both ends only made sense in this very fixed, express point to point system and not for the usual mix and match situations. It wasn’t designed for the usual very branched and varying container delivery. I’ll see if I can find that article as it was a talking point we had on the m250 at train shows.

 

I think one of the most telling things is you have not seen plans to greatly expand and develop more down the m250 direction.

It would be interesting to know what the expectations were, how JRF evaluated them, and what the deciding factors were in apparently deciding not to build more.

[disturbman]

10 hours ago, gavino200 said:

Awesome. Custom paint and decals? I want. I want.

They seem really well done. Too green for my taste, but really well done. You might have to develop yet another skill if you want something like these. Or find someone that can make them for you.

[chadbag]

15 hours ago, bill937ca said:

Not a particularly unique idea.  Volkswagen had a tram version in Dresden Germany from 2000 to 2020.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarGoTram

 

 

 

 

 

This is a bit different.  It replaced inner city trucking from a parts center to the factory a few miles away.  

 

Brilliant idea and thanks for posting as I had not seen this.

 

Hopefully this sort of thing can be done more often where applicable...  Especially in Europe, where more and more cities are restricting fuel burning transportation from inner cities.