EH800 on the move

[miyakoji]

What does the IS60 indicate on the British loco?  I've seen such markings on the front of a lot of British rolling stock but I don't know what it is.

[Mr Frosty]

Its the "Headcode", provides information relating to the train.

 

A train reporting number in Great Britain identifies a particular train service. It consists of:

• A single-digit number, indicating the class (type) of train
• A letter, indicating the destination area
• A two-digit number, identifying the individual train or indicating the route (the latter generally for suburban services).

The train reporting number is often called the headcode, a throwback to when the number was physically displayed at the head of a train.

[miyakoji]

Thanks.  So that's actually a 1S60 not IS60?

[angusmclean]

Eisenbahn wrote

 

It will be interesting to watch what unfolds in 2015 when the Hokkaido Shinkansen starts to operate through the Seikan Tunnel.

this year, assuming the prototype trials go well.

..................

 

As a separate matter, does any Forum member know if anyone has a model of train operations out of the Seikan Tunnel?  The Tunnel entrance is a single twin track portal from which would emerge Shinkansen (E5) a variety of interesting Passenger trains and mixed  freight hauled by those EH500 EH800.

 

I thought that the Hokkaido shinkansen extension would be livened at 25kv to allow access for the current passenger stock, and that EH500 locos are designed for 1500v/20kv, therefore they will be unable to be used through the tunnel section, that's the reason for the EH800 being built.  If that is the case then EH500's would only run north as far as Aomori.

 

Angus

[Eisenbahn]

Hi Angus,

The gist of it appears to be that the EH800s will take over from the EH500s and ED79s to ferry the freights (up to 27 per day in one direction) and sleeper trains (up to 3 a day in one direction) through the Seikan Tunnel sector once the Eh800s come out of the Toshiba factory starting the last quarter 2013 or early 2014. They will operate at the present tunnel sector voltage of 20KvAC as 3ft6 gauge locos. Sometime during 2014 the tunnel will be cut over to 25KvAC and the EH800 will continue to haul the freight and sleepers. The EH800 loco change for the freights occurs at the present freight depots where the present EH500s are exchanged.
The Shinkansen services start sometime before the end of fiscal 2015 ( ie 31 March 2016).

However the question then remains of how the 10 daily Super Hakucho & Hakucho passenger service will operate after the Tunnel sector is cut over to 25KvAC about a year prior to the start of the Shinkansen. If they were to be retrofitted with switchable 25KvAC to 20KvAC stepdown transformers ,one would have thought there would have been media announcements about that by now. On the other hand I wondered if the EH800s would take on the ferry task for these as well.

20 EH800s have been ordered and by a rough back of the envelope calculation, a pool of 20 locos should be enough to ferry 80 trains (ie 54 freight, 6Sleepers, 20 Hakucho/SuperHakuchos) through the Seikan Tunnel sector each day prior to the arrival of the Shinkansen.

Any forum member know how the SuperHakucho , Hakucho services will run after the 25KvAC cutover? Twenty of these puts a lot of seats in the tunnel each day!

Another interesting aspect is that english language sources have the EH800 operating at 110kph. For example the EH800 wikipedia article has it at 110kph but when you click on the Japanese language version on that page it shows the speed to be 140kph. The Japanese article is a lot longer than the English article and since I dont have a word of Japanese, what is in it remains a mystery to me.

cheers...Eisenbahn

Edited February 23, 2013 by Eisenbahn

[Eisenbahn]

Edit correction now applied to last post

Edited February 23, 2013 by Eisenbahn

[Densha]

Eisenbahn,
 
Exactly what I was wondering about myself. It isn't that bad a thought that the EH800's would pull the EMU's through the Seikan Tunnel.

 

That last sentence should read....."since I dont have a word of Japanese"..

You can edit your post by clicking on the "Edit" text in the right-bottom of your post.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Densha

[Eisenbahn]

Densha,

Thanks for the Edit tip. My  previous post is now corrected.......Eisenbahn

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Its the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_reporting_number]"Headcode"[/url], provides information relating to the train.

 

A train reporting number in Great Britain identifies a particular train service. It consists of:

• A single-digit number, indicating the class (type) of train

• A letter, indicating the destination area

• A two-digit number, identifying the individual train or indicating the route (the latter generally for suburban services).

The train reporting number is often called the headcode, a throwback to when the number was physically displayed at the head of a train.

Indeed...the four-character headcodes denoting the train identification were abolished in 1976 for most regions. The southern region kept its two-character (numeric) displays until about 10 years ago. The numbers are still used today (but not displayed), and were mainly displayed on the loco for the benefit of the many mechanical signal boxes in use at the time to identify the train.

 

The loco in question is a class 55 'Deltic', used from 1961 until 1982. They are still massively popular locos...6 of the original 22 have been preserved.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Eisenbahn]

There was something else I forgot to mention about the use of the Hakucho/SuperHakuchos after the tunnel is cut over to 25KvAC.

 

At some pointt the tunnel will also cut over to Digital-ATC and Digital Communications for which the Hakucho.SuperHakuchos are not currently equipped but which the Eh800s are. If the Hakucho/SuperHakuchos are to run in their own right they would also need to be retrofitted.

 

On the other hand if the Eh800 are used as ferries, the problem is solved.