500 Series Retirement Announced

[ATShinkansen]

Hello,

 

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but I just found out about this yesterday, and don’t see any other posts covering it.  I found it on Wikipedia, but these are the source articles:

 

https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20240214-2883131/
 

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUF195CD0Z10C24A7000000/
 

I had been anticipating this for a few years, but it’s sad to finally see that the end is in sight for the 500 series.

Edited September 8 by ATShinkansen

[bc6]

Im glad I was able to acquire this train as a model as I think it is very sleek.

[kuro68000]

I wish I could have ridden one. Is the 1° tilt noticeable?

 

Does the model tilt at all?

[ATShinkansen]

Hopefully in the next year or two, I’ll be able to got to Japan and ride one before they’re gone.  The 500系 was my very first Japanese model train.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like the 500系 is Japan’s equivalent of the Big Boy or the LNER A4, in terms of popularity.

[ATShinkansen]

1 hour ago, kuro68000 said:

I wish I could have ridden one. Is the 1° tilt noticeable?

 

Does the model tilt at all?

The Kato model doesn’t tilt.

[maihama eki]

I personally like the exterior design and colors of the 500 series a lot, and I always have.

 

I first rode the 500 in April of 2006. By then, it was nearly 10 years old. On that same trip, I rode the 700 series, and the 800 series which was the newest Shinkansen at the time. I in fact traveled on all 3 on an all day journey from Tokyo to Kagoshima.

 

My overall impression was that I still liked the exterior design of the 500 series best, but both the 700 and 800 series were better from the standpoint of a passenger - more comfortable, quieter, more luxurious. I especially liked the interior of the 800 series. That trend of improving passenger comfort seems to continue. I quite like the ride on the E5/H5 and E7/W7 trains.

 

I rode the Hello Kitty 500 Series last year. It was the first time in many years that I rode the 500. I was reminded of the 500 Series shortcomings on the interior. Those older train sets are starting to look their age on the inside.

 

I have heard from a Japanese friend that the 500 Series received a mixed reception in Japan because it was a somewhat radical design and designed by a German designer instead of a Japanese designer.

 

Even though I've never really collected Japanese HO models, I was really close to purchasing the Tenshodo HO 500 Series when it was still readily available in Japan. I'm a little disappointed now that I didn't do it, because those trains have become quite collectible and expensive compared to when they were sold originally.

 

A photo of a 500 Series from April 2006.

 

 

 

 

[chadbag]

I've always liked the looks of the 500.  I rode one once but only on a Kodama service.  Mainly to say I've been on one.  We later rode the Hello Kitty train about 5 years ago in August of 2019.  We were mostly there for the Hello Kitty part so I don't remember much about the 500 part in terms of paying attention.

When I rode the 500 it didn't seem much different of a ride than the 700 or base N700.  Not enough difference for me to notice, but I also wasn't really looking for differences. 

 

I guess the main problems are the round tube shaped body has less interior space, which can make it more cramped for passengers, and whole at the time it was the fastest on straight track it had to slow down more on curves, which is most of the time.

 

I'm glad I have a plain 500 and two themed ones as models (the Evangelion one and the Hello Kitty one).  It is a very striking train.

 

[Kamome]

Seems a real shame but that's progress. I have memories of riding the 500 Nozomi service from Tokyo to Kyoto in 2005 and Hakata to Hiroshima in about 2007. There was definitely more of a rumble riding the 500, whereas the 700 seemed smoother and quieter, which weirdly made me feel slightly motion sick. The 500 you could tell you were moving, more like being on an airliner than inside a train. 

 

The fact it had its wings clipped and was reduced to Kodama services didn't really justify it's existance. Still see the Hello Kitty version on occasion, as it runs between Osaka and Hakata, and it has a sense of a former successful athlete now forced to make cash by hosting children's parties. 

 

Still have a few years before its fully gone but surely one to remember for it's unapologetic space-age looks.

[Beaver]

6 hours ago, Kamome said:

Still have a few years before its fully gone but surely one to remember for it's unapologetic space-age looks.

 

Yes, it actually looks like a super fast very advanced high speed train, rather than a bit of square tube with squashed ends.

[cteno4]

I built too many plastic models as a kid, every time I look at the 500 my mind just flashes to a F104 fuselage on the tracks! There is something to the 700’s curves that always feels good, maybe it’s just to making a graceful ending to a square tube. I do get the feeling it was the end of hand done curves at all.

 

But the 500 is so iconic being the only one of its design. Eiji Nakatsu‘s design team actually came up with the nose design from the kingfisher to combat tunnel boom and also the pantographs got a complete redesign from owl wings. Neumeister seems to always get all the credit for the design, but I’ve often wondered what his input was (I often muse it was using the F104 canopy!). Maybe 200 can enlighten us!

 

jeff

[brill27mcb]

Any train that has a "fuselage" instead of a "carbody" shouts out "high speed"! (Not to mention the canopy...) That's always been the appeal of the 500 Series to me.

 

Rich K.

[chadbag]

2 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Maybe 200 can enlighten us!

 

Be prepared for another chapter of his book...

 

(Gladly received)

 

[cteno4]

Yes I felt guilty making the reference! 200 research depths boggle my mind and such wonderful reads!

 

I did do an exhibit on biomimicry and 500 was one of the examples. Aquarium’s research credited the biomimicry work all to Nakatsu‘s group and nothing to Neumeister.

 

jeff

[katoftw]

I got to ride the hello kitty 500 series yesterday. Glad I got ro before they go out.

[200系]

Thanks for posting this, @ATShinkansen. I had originally started on an article back when JR West announced they would be retiring the final 500 series V formations in 2027, however I wasn't all that happy with the end result, and as such I ended up shelving it, hoping I'd be able to finish it at a later date, however with other projects taking priority I never got around to finishing it. As such, I'm glad someone at least posted the news on here, as I was actually surprised, and a little bit saddened, though I'd say that's partially my own fault anyway, to see that this announcement managed to stay under the radar for this long.

 

Anyway, as the announcement made by JR West on the 24th of July, 2024 covers more than just the retirement of the 500 series shinkansen, I'll be including a section of the, unfinished, write-up in the section below:

 

________________________________________________________________

Last February, JR West announced that they would be introducing a total of 4 new N700S series 16 car formations between 2024 and 2026, with the new formations being used to replace existing N700 series 5000 sub-type K formations (small a), which had originally been introduced as N700 series 3000 sub-type N formations between June 2007 and December 2010, before being converted to small a standard between October 2013 and December 2015. The surplus N700 series cars are to be used to form new 8-car formations, which will include cars 1~4, 8~11 and 16 of the former K formations, with the 775 type, 776 type and 777 type (green) cars to be reclassified as ordinary cars while retaining their green car seats and seating layout. As the N700 series, like all Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen 16 car formations introduced since the introduction of the 500 series W formations [note 1], is composed of four, 4-car units, each of which being necessary for the operation of the formation, the conversion will require a significant number of modifications to the existing cars in order for the 8-car formations to be able to function as, well, a formation.

 

The conversion process is expected to be performed at the Hakata Sōgō Sharyō-sho, or Hakata General Vehicle Depot, which unfortunately also had a significant impact on the shinkansen cars that were preserved at the depot, 0 series 1000 sub-type car 22-1047, 100 series 3000 sub-type cars 168-3009 and 179-3009 as well as 500 series 900 sub-type (Win 350) car 500-906, all of which have been dismantled at this point in time [Note 2]. The loss of these cars, though understandable from a space management and financial point of view, presents quite a significant loss when it comes to preserved shinkansen cars. This is especially true for 22-1047 in my opinion, as this was the only, full, 0 series 1000 sub-type car to be preserved in Japan, though fortunately 922 type car 922-26, formerly part of 922 type 20 sub-type formation T3, is still being preserved at the SCS Maglev museum at this point in time [Note 3].

 

During the same press announcement, JR West also announced that the newly formed 8-car N700a series formations would be replacing an equal number of 500 series V formations, with 4 out of the 6 remaining formations scheduled to be scrapped between now (2024) and 2026. Though JR West initially announced that they had yet to make a decision on the fate of the remaining 2 formations, it was suggested that their final retirement date wouldn't be that far behind their sisters.

 

Yesterday, on the 24th of July, 2024, JR West announced that they ordered an additional 10 N700S series 16-car formations for delivery between fiscal 2026 and 2028, which will result in the addition of another 10 N700a series K formations which will be reformed into 8-car formations during this period. During this announcement, JR West also confirmed that the final 500 series formations will be retired in 2027. As the remaining 500 series formations have all, as far as I'm aware, gone through general inspections over the past year, with formation V9 having completed its general inspection in may of this year, which might possibly be the final general inspection to be performed on a 500 series formation though an end to 500 series general inspections hasn't been officially announced yet, and taking into account the maximum general inspection interval of 3 years (or 1.2 million kilometres, whichever comes first, which for the 500 series V formations has averaged about 36 months, or 3 years, from what I could find) that could indicate the final cars being scrapped during or before the spring of 2027 at their latest, though this is rather speculative on my part.

 

As can probably be guessed by the number of N700S series formations being ordered, and as such the number of N700a series formations being reformed, with a total of 14 N700a series 8-car formations scheduled to be converted between now and 2028 in comparison to only six 500 series V formations, the 8-car N700a series formations aren't solely being formed to replace just the final 500 series formations. As such, it should come as no surprise that these formations will also start replacing the 700 series E formations, consisting of the 700 series 7000 sub-type cars, better known as the former Hikari Railstar formations, with 8 formations scheduled to be scrapped between 2027 and 2029.

 

JR West official press release:

 

https://www.westjr.co.jp/press/article/items/240724_02_press_SanyoShinkansenN700Saddition500closing_2.pdf

________________________________________________________________________

 

[Note 1]

 

While the 500 series was the first to introduce the current concept, with four, more or less, symmetrical 4-car units making up a 16 car formation (unit 1-unit 2(pantograph)-unit 3-unit 4 (pantograph), all being necessary for the operation of the formation), the concept itself was actually first introduced with the 300 series. In contrast to the 500 series, and subsequent 16-car formations which would be operating on the Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen, 300 series (16-car) formations, including both the J and F formations, used five 3-car units, with the 323 type trailer control cars functioning as single cars, as such the 300 series formations would be composed of a 323 type car-unit 1-unit 2 (pantograph)-unit 3 (pantograph, later removed)-unit 4 (pantograph)-unit 5.

 

[Note 2]

 

22-1047 Would be the first car to be dismantled, being dismantled between the 13th and 20th of February this year, while dismantling work on 500-906 started on the 14th of March and would be completed around the 22nd of March. Dismantling work on 179-3009 would start on the 8th of April, while 168-3009 would be the final car to be dismantled, with dismantling work starting on the 8th of this month with work being completed on the 23rd.

 

[Note 3]

 

Though the 922 type 20 sub-type cars were based on the 0 series batch 27 cars (part of the 1000 sub-type cars), they aren't technically 0 series, so it's a bit of a consolidation price. Also taking into account that 922-26 is on loan to JR Tōkai, while the car itself is still officially owned by JR West, I can only hope that she won't be replaced by one of the cars of 923 type formation T4 after that formation is being retired in January of next year.

 

 

On 9/10/2024 at 8:53 PM, cteno4 said:

Neumeister seems to always get all the credit for the design, but I’ve often wondered what his input was (I often muse it was using the F104 canopy!). Maybe 200 can enlighten us!

 

While I do appreciate the vote of confidence, I'm not 100% confident I can give you guys a definitive answer on this matter. My focus when it comes to the shinkansen has always been more on the National Railway era shinkansen designs, as well as the history of the system in general, and even though I do truly appreciate the more modern designs, I can't say with full confidence that my knowledge on those series is truly on the same level as it is for say, the 0 series, 200 series or 100 series (my main interest has always been old electric trains (EMU and other electric cars) after all, and my interest in the shinkansen as a whole, including the more modern designs, has 100% been cultivated through my love of the earlier mentioned series). This is especially true for the 500 series, as even though I've come to appreciate the design of this series over the years (I absolutely hated it when it first entered service), and as such I can confidently say I do like the 500 series nowadays, I still wouldn't consider myself to be a the biggest fan of the 500 series, especially when taking into account the image it has outside of, and to a much lesser degree inside of, Japan (i.e. I truly like the train but I do not like the, almost mythological standing it seems to have in the international Japanese (railway related) fandom).

 

With that disclaimer out of the way, let's see if I can't at least try to add another chapter to this book now, shall we😉.

 

With regards to the involvement of Alender Neumeister, and his design bureau, in the design of the 500 series as we know it today, it is somewhat difficult to establish his exact involvement in the design process, at least when using publicly available sources.

 

What is known is that Neumeister was involved with Hitachi during the development of the 500 series, and more importantly, that he was involved in the HST-350 project, which was a concept for a 350 km/h capable shinkansen design developed independently by Hitachi. However, the HST-350 project didn't form the basis for the 500 series, at least not directly, as far as I'm aware.

 

The origins of the project that would eventually result in the development of the 500 series actually date back much further than the HST-350. After the National Railway split in 1987, JR West had been researching the elements needed to speed up the fastest services on the Sanyō Shinkansen, which had seen the stagnation of passenger numbers during the late Shōwa era, as a combination of increased ticket fares in the wake of the financial difficulties faced by the National Railway and increased competition of a now deregulated domestic aviation market started to erode the modal share held by the Sanyō Shinkansen in the Ōsaka-Fukuoka corridor.

The introduction of the 100N series by JR West in 1989, which is today better known as the 100 series V formations, the 100 series 3000 sub-type cars or simply Grand Hikari after the name used for the services they would operate on, was actually one of the first concrete steps JR West would take towards realizing this goal. After all, the 100 series V formations were specifically designed to be able to operate at an operating speed of 260 km/h, though initial services would be limited to an operating speed of 230 km/h (220 km/h on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen). In 1990 JR West would be conducting additional tests in order to hopefully allow the V formations to operate at their design operating speed, which would culminate in a test-run aimed at reaching a speed of 275 km/h on the 10th of February, 1990, which would be dubbed We try 275 by JR West. During this test one of the V formations managed to reach a speed of more than 277 km/h (277.2), however, exterior noise levels exceeded the environmental standards established in 1975 after the Nagoya Shinkansen Soshō, or Nagoya Shinkansen lawsuit, was filed by residents along the Tōkaidō Shinkansen near Nagoya on March 30, 1974 (a maximum of 75 dB at a distance of 25 metres from the closest shinkansen track).

 

->1990 RSK Evening News (RSK Sanyō) report on the 'we try 275' speedup test. 

 

The failure of the 100N series would be one of the reasons JR West and the Railway Research Institute started research into noise reduction during this time period. This research would directly lead into the development of the 500 series 900 sub-type test train, which would be introduced in June of 1992, as well as the 500 series itself.

 

->1995 RSK Evening News report on high speed tests on the Sanyō Shinkansen (up to 300 km/h) using the 500 series 900 sub-type test train, also known as WIN350.

 

->1995 KRY Yamaguchi report on the 500 series 900 sub-type test train.

 

The development of the HST-350 concept seems to have been developed in parallel to the research being performed by JR West, and though it is difficult to gauge how much, if any, influence this concept would have on the design of the 500 series as we know it today, there are a large number of key differences between the two designs.

With regards to the HST-350 concept, in contrast to the 500 series itself, Alexander Neumeister's influence on the overall design can be clearly seen, with the HST-350 sharing quite a number of similarities to some of the other designs Neumeister was involved in, like the ICE3 (1st gen, BR403/406) and ICE-T (BR411/415). These influences however are much less obvious in the design of the 500 series however, with the familial lineage of both designs being less than obvious in my opinion.

 

That being said, it isn't like there's no similarity at all, and with Alexander Neumeister most certainly being involved in some capacity on the Hitachi Zōsen side of the equation, I don't feel comfortable stating that he had no involvement at all in the final design of the 500 series shinkansen.

 

In my personal opinion, and please treat it as such, I think Neumeister did at least have a hand in establishing the overall design concept for the 500 series. This might have included the use of (slightly) rounded sidewalls, the strakes alongside the hem of the carbody, the fairings around the bogies and the use of a rounded, pointed nose section which converges at a point below the floor level of the carbody. These design elements are all present in both the design of the HST-350 and the 500 series shinkansen, as well as in some of the other railway related design projects Neumeister was involved in, so it seems to be a safe guess to assume he had at least some involvement in these design choices.

 

The overall design of the nose-section and the selection of the carbody cross section however, do seem to have been put forward by the JR West design/research group, with evidence for the story of the design being based on the beak of a Kingfisher by Nakatsu Eiji's team being well documented, and perhaps more importantly, corroborated by the design itself. Similarly, the design of the cross section of the car body also conforms to the results of the studies being performed into reducing the frontal cross section in an effort to alleviate the effects of micro-pressure at higher speeds by JR West.

 

All of that aside, I personally think the focus on the nose-section alone somewhat misses the point, in my opinion. The design of the 500 series shinkansen, as with all engineering projects, involved so much more than just the design of the, admittedly iconic, nose-section. Things like the design of the carbody structure, the carbody itself, the bogies, main transformers, converters and inverters, main controllers, traction motors, drive system, braking system, pantographs, HVAC system, passenger facilities, interior layout etc, etc. all involved numerous designers, researchers and engineers as well as a similar, if not larger, number of auxiliary personal, office workers logistical workers, technicians etc, in the design of the 500 series. As such, in all likelihood, there were hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals involved in the design and construction of the 500 series across the various parties involved in the design, manufacturing and operation of the series, JR West, the Railway Technical Research Institute, Hitachi Zōsen, Kawasaki Sharyō, Kinki Sharyō, Nippon Sharyō, Tōshiba, Saint-Gobain, Recaro as well as all at the many, unnamed, small scale suppliers being involved in the project. Most of those people will most likely remain nameless, in contrast to the big name industrial designers involved in projects like these, however, I would argue that the design of the 500 series shinkansen is as much their achievement as it is Neumeister's, arguable even more so in my opinion.

 

 

-> A 2004 interview with Shima Takashi, the second son of Shima Hideo, and an important railway engineer in his own right, and Nakatsu Eiji during the construction of the Taiwan High-Speed Railway, a project both of them were involved in. The interview also contains a section on the design of the nose-section of the 500 series shinkansen:

https://www.jsme.or.jp/mechalife/jp/student/interview/0409-2.pdf

 

 

-> A short Hitachi Hyōron article on the introduction of the 500 series and E2 series (0 sub-type, N/J formations), published in February 1997. Though it doesn't go into detail over whom designed the 500 series shinkansen, it does provide some background into the design of the (GTO based) converter-inverter VVVF system, the carbody structure and, most importantly, the shape of the nose, which also includes wind tunnel models:

https://www.hitachihyoron.com/jp/pdf/1997/02/1997_02_02.pdf

 

-> A 2018 article on a lecture held by Alexander Neumeister in Japan. Though light on information, at least as far as this subject is concerned, it does include a section on the 500 series design. More importantly though, the article does include an image of the concept art of the HST-350 which was shown during the lecture:

https://www.td-media.net/report/alexander-neumeister-jida/

 

[chadbag]

2 hours ago, 200系 said:

-> A 2018 article on a lecture held by Alexander Neumeister in Japan. Though light on information, at least as far as this subject is concerned, it does include a section on the 500 series design. More importantly though, the article does include an image of the concept art of the HST-350 which was shown during the lecture:

https://www.td-media.net/report/alexander-neumeister-jida/

 

the one slide labeled HST-350 looks very ICE4 and to a slightly lesser extent ICE3 / Velaro looking...

 

 

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

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_4

Edited September 12 by chadbag

[cteno4]

Thanks @200系! I had know the parallel work on the 350 and 500, but your research put that into much better perspective. 
 

I agree with your ideas of where Neumeister contributions are and completely agree it’s a huge team effort on projects like this and usually only the top people like Neumeister are mentioned. In most of the general 500 pieces I have seen just mention Neumeister and almost never Nakatsu Eiji. Only in biomimicry design circles have I usually seen his team focused on.

 

Nakatsu Eiji‘s team also worked on the new pantograph biomimicry design drawing on the serrations at the leading edges of owl feathers to break up micro vortexes to reduce noise and vibrations.

 

thanks again for the great piece!

 

jeff

[maihama eki]

Here is a short interview with Neumeister about the 500 development. It's somewhat superficial, but has some snips of information on how the development went from start to finish. He does mention that the long nose came about over time due to tunnel boom issues. You can watch it, but he basically says that the nose evolved to become longer over time, and was a collaborative effort between his organization and the Japanese design team to solve that issue.