spy shots of E7 at KHI Hyogo

[bikkuri bahn]

Some shots of intermediate cars.  Second shot has one car sandwiched between a JR Hokkaido 733 series and a foreign-bound trainset.

 

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/superhakuto7000hot/10267038.html

 

The E7 is tentatively due to debut sometime this autumn.

[Densha]

Hmmm... I still don't really like the livery. Still interesting to see the massive loading gauge of Shinkansen.

[Ronny]

Where their are taken?

[miyakoji]

This is Kawasaki's factory in Hyogo.

 

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?hl=ja&ll=34.659458,135.162027&spn=0.007404,0.012209&t=m&z=17&brcurrent=3,0x60008f6e87df969f:0x6ed8a7092f83bccb,1

[Ronny]

The same factory that build E6.

[miyakoji]

Yes. As far as I know, all of Kawasaki's railcars are built there. The English wikipedia page for the train says that Hitachi, J-TREC (former Tokyu Car), and Kinki Sharyo will also be building these. I don't know about Hitachi and J-TREC but Kinki's staging line is visible from outside the factory, from JR West's Katamachi Line. If they build some of these, pictures will probably turn up.

[bikkuri bahn]

The same factory that build E6.

Yes, and the E5.  KHI does alot of business with metros in the U.S. too- Washington DC Metro, and NYC, though I think the latter stock is built in the States at KHI factories there (likely the DC stock too, as production ramps up).  All of Sapporo's rubber-tyred subway stock is Kawasaki built.

[Densha]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Heavy_Industries_Rolling_Stock_Company

[Sacto1985]

I don't know about Hitachi and J-TREC but Kinki's staging line is visible from outside the factory, from JR West's Katamachi Line. If they build some of these, pictures will probably turn up.

 

Is that the factory southeast of Hanaten Station on the JR West Katamachi Line?

[miyakoji]

Close, it's northeast of Tokuan Station, one more stop from Hanaten in the direction of Kizu.

 

http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?hl=ja&ll=34.693559,135.585108&spn=0.007401,0.012209&t=m&z=17&brcurrent=3,0x6000e00cef117249:0xd5a9c20a474cbd47,1

[miyakoji]

That thing southeast of Hanaten appears to be a depot. There are two bridges over the canal between it and the line, but the tracks over one are not connected to the line, they're just sidings. That's interesting, I wonder if they were once connected. Their positioning looks like they were, and it seems like a lot of trouble to build a bridge for sidings. The yard itself looks reasonably large.

[Mudkip Orange]

So where's the frequency changeover gonna be? You have 50 Hz at Nagano, but if you ever connect through to Maibara it's 60 Hz... so at some point you gotta have a dead section for changeovers a la the Northeast Corridor. Has that been decided on yet?

[Sacto1985]

The switch between 50 and 60 Hz will probably happen just east of Itoigawa Station, just like the switch between 20,000 V AC and 1,500 V DC happens east of Itoigawa on the Hokuriku Main Line.

[Jace]

Yes, and the E5.  KHI does alot of business with metros in the U.S. too- Washington DC Metro, and NYC, though I think the latter stock is built in the States at KHI factories there (likely the DC stock too, as production ramps up).  All of Sapporo's rubber-tyred subway stock is Kawasaki built.

 

Kawasaki has a complete manufacturing plant in Lincoln, NE (KMM, same site as their US motorcylce manufacturing plant) as well as an assembly plant in Yonkers, NY; KMM can build stainless shells, Yonkers pretty much only stuffs the cars. KHI builds trucks and underframe components for all their US cars. Like NYCT, the pilots for the WMATA order were built in Hyogo for testing. Unlike NYCT, the WMATA shells were stripped bare and then shipped to the US for assembly all done to satisfy recent more stringent interpretations of US Buy America law. WMATA series production and assembly is being done at KMM while all the NYCT orders were finished in Yonkers.