2022-03-16: M7.3 earthquake off Fukushima coast, tsunami warning, Tohoku Shinkansen derailed

[maihama eki]

Surprised that they are planning to restore full service by April 20 given the damage to the viaduct.

 

Tohoku Shinkansen service partially restored

https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0008385449

 

 

[bikkuri bahn]

Sendai is the biggest urban area in Tohoku, and the Tohoku Shinkansen is a vital link with Tokyo.  If you ever take the Shinkansen from Hokkaido or Aomori bound for Tokyo, the trains tend to fill up from Sendai south.

[bikkuri bahn]

TV report- Rerailing and manually moving each carriage:

 

[bikkuri bahn]

Joban Line fully restored, JR-E to run 4 daily Hitachi Ltd Exp. services in each direction Sendai-Tokyo to relieve Tohoku Shinkansen line.

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by bikkuri bahn
correction # of services

[Yavianice]

Abukuma Express line will be reopened after June due to earthquake damage, it’s suspended between Fukushima and Marumori station
 

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOCC283PV0Y2A320C2000000/

[200系]

JR Hokkaidō has published their financial report over 2021, which includes a couple of interesting sections on the fate of formation H2:

 

https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/CM/Info/press/pdf/20220428_KO_2021.pdf

 

On page 7 some of the damage sustained during the derailment is shown, which includes, but is not limited to, body deformation, a damaged gangway connection, damaged (underfloor) equipment covers, damage to the bogies as well damage to the traction motor(s?) themselves.

 

The most interesting part though, at least to me, can be found on page 5.

 

On this page, JR Hokkaidō notes an extraordinary loss of 1.4 billion yen related to the shinkansen cars involved in the derailment.

Taking into account the legislated service life (depreciation) for electric multiple units in Japan, which is 13 years, and by applying the declining balance depreciation method to the stated 4.5 billion yen value of a 10 car E5/H5 series formation as delivered gives us a book value of ~1.398 billion yen after 7 years of service, so more or less the stated 1.4 billion yen.

 

Now what does this mean? Though not yet officially stated as such, it basically means the asset (in this case formation H2) has been written off as the remaining book value has been booked as a loss per the closing of the financial year (new financial years start at the 1st of April in Japan). So in other words, as expected, this most likely means the formation has been, or will soon be, (administratively) scrapped.

 

Now this is of course just me speculating based on a single line in this report, but taking the facts presented in the report as well as the historical disposition of the shinkansen involved in earthquake related derailments, I do think there's a high likelihood that this will be the disposition of formation H2. I came across this report thanks to a Japanese car movement related board where it was initially presented as JR Hokkaidō scrapping the formation, though this has been changed to simply mentioning the damage rapport, so take it for what it's worth.