Shinkansen & Snowplows?

[Krackel Hopper]

hey hey,

 

Thinking about a snow/winter scene had me wondering.. is there some special equipment designed for snow removal on the shinkansen lines?  I know some bullet trains are equipped with the little plows on the front, but what about for heavy snowfall?

 

Jon

[Nick_Burman]

AFAIK the Shinkansen has no heavy snow removal equipment. On the outdoor sections of line the snow is removed/contained by the use of hot water sprinklers.

 

Cheers NB

[to2leo]

Interesting, learn something new everyday!  That must be a costly and pipes bursting method in cold climate.

[Tecchan]

In fact, the 200 series Shinkansen have been built specially to go to the North with their dinstinctive snowplow.

And if you look well, you will see that the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen trains don't have the same plow that series 400 or E2 running on Nagano or Tohoku lines.

 

So yes, there is a kind of a special equipement. That plus the sprinklers.

[cteno4]

i think the sprinklers are mainly on the joetsu line. im guessing they must use plows at times of very heavy snowfall on the shinkansen lines as i have seen some of the newspaper reports of shinkansen delays and one of the reasons they give is snow removal.

 

jeff

 

ps i did a post over on jtrains, bet chris hood or profit of the way will have some more info!

[Martijn Meerts]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that they do have snowplows for shinkansen lines. They tend to be adjusted diesel locomotives like the DD51 with on each end a snowplow car. Similar to the DE15 (

)

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes, DD18 or DD19 types.  But these were retired at the end of the 2007-2008 winter season and replaced with the ENR-1000 motor cars.

 

On the Yamagata Shinkansen line: