No more doubledeck Shinkansen trains within 5 years!!

[Nozomi]

According to japanese Newspaper Mainichi Daily, Shinkansen Series E1 and E4 will be decommissoned within the next 5 years and not replaced with a new type of doubledecker!!!!

 

More: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110309p2a00m0na022000c.html

[Tecchan]

I have never seen the E1... I took the E2 a couple of times.

I wonder how they will compensate the number of seats, maybe longer trains but without coupling mini-shinkansens.

 

I bet some people there are already dreaming of a 16 cars E5 ;-)

[CaptOblivious]

Interesting. Weren't the MAX services originally intended to be all-stops "commuter" shinkansen servicing people who lived as far north as Sendai but who work nearer Tokyo? Is that right? If so, I wonder how they intend to continue serving this demographic.

[disturbman]

That's a very good question. It should also be possible for JRE to ask for new double decker units able to run speeds up to 300kph.

[CaptOblivious]

Of course, what with Fukushima and all, the Sendai <-> Tokyo corridor might not see such high levels of traffic in the future…not that this was forseen, of course, but it's probably moot.

[Nick_Burman]

Of course, what with Fukushima and all, the Sendai <-> Tokyo corridor might not see such high levels of traffic in the future…not that this was forseen, of course, but it's probably moot.

 

TOUCH WOOD!!!

 

 

Cheers NB

[miyakoji]

Of course, what with Fukushima and all, the Sendai <-> Tokyo corridor might not see such high levels of traffic in the future…not that this was forseen, of course, but it's probably moot.

Along the Tohoku Shinkansen, where does the ridership start to taper off?  Was Sendai the major northern destination?  How will opening Shin-Aomori and eventually stations on Hokkaido change ridership?

[Guest ___]

One would have thoguht with the opening of Shin-Aomori , traffic would have increased and the demand for more bi-levels would have increased.

[bikkuri bahn]

I figure any anticipated increases in traffic will be handled by increased frequency- as far as I know, the Tohoku Shinkansen has room to grow, as it isn't as busy as the Tokaido Shinkansen.  The problem will be the "neck" from near Omiya to Tokyo Sta.

[KenS]

I expect one reason to retire them is speed.  With the E5 running at 300 kph now, and 320 kph in a couple of years, trains with a maximum speed of 240 kph are probably a scheduling problem.