E353: JR East's E351 replacement?

[Davo Dentetsu]

Certainly looks like it if the visual clues are anything to go by.  Found this PDF lingering round the interwebs by pure chance on 2ch (a once in a blue moon bookmarking for me), I rather fancy the look of it!

http://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2013/20140203.pdf

[Densha]

Yap, this is official news.

From the text I can make up they will indeed replace the E351 fleet entirely starting in summer 2015.

The E351 series has 8+4 car consists but the E353 will be 9+3 car consists.

I'm not sure what to say about the front design. It looks like the train is directly derived from the E259 but then with a very futuristic light placement.

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, there's something I'll pre-order the moment a model is available ;)

[bikkuri bahn]

Nice find.  Muscular, bulldogish look akin to the 285 series which in turn took stylistic cues from the classic 581/583 series- perhaps JR-E is making a nod to its heritage a bit here.

 

Anyway, some things to note looking at the specs:

-air cushion tilt rather than mechanical tilt used on the E351

-active (full or semi, not specified) suspension on lead cars and green cars

-aluminum body rather than steel used in E351

-extra motor car in the standard consist- coupled with the lighter carbody, perhaps acceleration will be a bit better than its predecessor, offsetting any reductions in tilt, if any

-1 cm less seat pitch in standard class...

[Davo Dentetsu]

I forgot to mention...

Sooooooo preeeeetty.

[Guest keio6000]

The E351 is one of my favorite trains.   So, I am biased against anything that will claim to "replace" it (maybe 'come after it' is a better choice).

 

But this E353, at least going by that picture, is ugly as hell.  The 'muscular' look that bikkuri bahn apparenly likes is completely wrong for a train that goes to gentle matsumoto.  Even the 285 (a sleeper train) has is large but it has gentle, elegant styling.

 

UGLY UGLY UGLY brute:

 

 

The picture below is beautiful - evoking both the past E351 and the 'purple mountains majesty' of the hida mountains. 

 

beautiful design:

[miyakoji]

Keio, I've got to agree that the artist's rendering you have there is somewhat nicer than the renderings of what the E353 will be, but let's see what the real thing looks like. Maybe in the flesh (sheet metal), it will be a little better. BTW, where are those images from? That mockup image is amazing.

 

This could have gone either way, though; something apparently based on the E259 (at least that's what it looks like to me), or something more E657-ish.

[Guest keio6000]

i just googled E353系, E351系, etc :)

 

Maybe the E353 with a better paint job can be ok.  Virtually every enthusiast alternative that I have seen (you can get them by searching on E353系) has been better than the one apparently chosen.  i especially don't like the window treatment.  and the fron styling.  and the lack of headmark.   and the everything :)

[Guest keio6000]

after seeing that E353, here's a little eye-bleach - for me, the following is railroad heaven.  this is from nagano to matsumoto on a nice summer day (presumably) and presumably a 115 series but i guess it could be a 313 (i havent thought about it much).  videographer got a little unlucky with a lack of interesting trains about when he pulled into matsumoto, but still a great video:  note the switchbacks!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PX_wKaLVgI

Edited February 4, 2014 by keio6000

[Guest keio6000]

ha, and while youtubing around, i found this video, as if we needed more proof that some japanese are ... special people.   nice to listen to though, very atmospheric :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0_Rx8ihTjE

Edited February 4, 2014 by keio6000

[Sacto1985]

If the front car looks like that, no thank you! I really like the E657-inspired E353 proposal, though.

 

(EDIT: that video from Nagano to Matsumoto is a 313 Series EMU, a 3-car 313-1000 unit.)

Edited February 4, 2014 by Sacto1985

[ToniBabelony]

Oh wow. That E353 series looks amazing! This will be a major hit as a model, since it will probably look awesome next to the E259 series on the Chuo main line.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Does look pretty good, as Martijn says...when is the model going to be available... :P  

 

The video of the Nagano - Matsumato route is really interesting - I like the switchback station (Obasute?) at 0:26. A station I have had my idea to model for some years...

[cteno4]

ha, and while youtubing around, i found this video, as if we needed more proof that some japanese are ... special people.   nice to listen to though, very atmospheric :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0_Rx8ihTjE

Nice piece to maybe use in a station on the layout.

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

I like the fact basically two very similar trains with very different feels. The body builder and the dancer. Why I love Japanese train designs!

 

Jeff

[miyakoji]

http://railf.jp/news/2014/02/05/140000.html

 

So, the exterior's design is based on the concepts of "inheriting tradition" and "actively moving toward the future," while the interior's concepts are "purity/nobility of the Minami Alps and the Azusa River," business functionality, and the rejuvenation of leisure.  I think.  .  Apparently this thing will be able to keep the schedule operated by the E351, which we discussed in a previous thread about this http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/6481-successor-to-jr-east-e351-super-azusa/ . 

 

I love that platform atmosphere YT video.  Dude recorded 31:37 of that.  :confused5:

[Guest keio6000]

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but more concepts of the new E353 are available on ken's website.

 

 

 

i've let it be known before that i'm no fan of ken okuyama's near monopoly on new train designs;not that his designs are terrible, but that too many of them look too similar and they arent good enough for all trains to look like his designs.

 

i am not particularly happy with this design.  I would have liked to have seen an led headmark of some sort.  the black front is both unfriendly and boring.

 

bleh.

[katoftw]

that is the same design as orginally shown in the first post of this thread.  i like the design.  i suppose it is a modern look and those in JR East Kantoians make the final call on these things.

 

There was a thread recently with a discussion about another train that used a lot of black and went for a modern feel.

 

This E353 reminds me a lot of the E259 N'EX.

[Guest keio6000]

they all look the same.  all ken okuyama designs look the same.

 

yes, the pic i posted is the same but there are other new/concept ones at

http://www.kenokuyamadesign.com/main/?page_id=4897

 

clearly some are 'preliminary'

 

I guess I will be dragged kicking and screaming into the okuyama age, and then of course 20 years from now i will look back on it with nostalgia.

[ToniBabelony]

It's like a lovechild of a whale and a Cylon (original BSG series). I still dig it with spades!

[kvp]

This design is essentially a 351 series with a redesigned headlight and paint. The higher roofline is very similar to a 581 series with the cab sidewindows being a bit smaller and dropping to the height of the front windshield, which is a one piece instead of the split one on the older trains. Essentially we get a mix of 351 and 581/583 series.

 

For a paint, i think the JNR express colors used on the 485 series would look nicer on it, but i understand that it has to be light purple for the Azusa service. Imho the front of a train should always have some kind of high visibility warning color, something new designs simply ignore. In this case, painting it white under the cab line (with the two stripes kept) or just solid purple would work.

[JR 500系]

I mean, seriously?

 

I think the older design was so much better:

 

 

beautiful design:

 

Though it does scream of it looking like the E657 Super Hitachi...

 

This newer design looks mighty alike to the NEX E259, just having different LED head lights. It does bring up connectivity as the front has a door for the gangway as compared to the older design but it looks seriously odd to me... The trademark purple is also kept to a bare minimum in the format of a stripe. Bleh..

[Davo Dentetsu]

I think it's more of a versatility issue.  The E351s of course literally had two different end designs in a set, one with doors and one without.  Probably looking at something that doesn't require extending other than putting two full sets together like the E259?  Which is how I would do it personally.

[Sacto1985]

Speaking of which, any news on when will the first E353 trainset will be completed? And who will build the trainset? Will be Hitachi or Nippon Sharyo like they did with the E351's, or will it be built by JR East themselves at J-TREC or JR East's Niitsu factory?

[Robert46]

So, this one is also another train that will be designed by Ken Okuyama?

 

Personally, I like his designs for some trains like E6系 & E7系, the repainted E3系 700 is also a good job..

 

But maybe not all designs would be everyone's favorites.. IMHO, I think it's normal for a designer to face such thing, not all designed trains received positive feedback. Btw, I admired some of his design jobs, i.e. Ferrari Enzo & Ferrari p4/5...  :)