Possible Scoop- JR East to request tenders for new rolling stock for Hachinohe Line

[keitaro]

but the 500系 is just so damn awesome. Still love my limited tomix model.

 

and the front of the 500 is bad ass.

[cteno4]

Damn close the old F104 starfighter!

 

Jeff

[Guest ___]

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

[cteno4]

The origional engineering designs for the radical shape changes came out of Eiji Nakatsu's work at jr west. I believe neumeister did the fiancé design, but the basic shapes had already been set.

 

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/10/19/how-one-engineers-birdwatching-made-japans-bullet-train-better?page=0%2C0

http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98f641fc2b67992a5e

 

Jeff

[Sacto1985]

While the shape of the 500 Series Shinkansen allowed it to reach 300 km/h, it unfortunately resulted in a somewhat round cabin cross section that felt too much like sitting in an airliner. That's why 700 Series Shinkansen--which was designed at the behest of JR Central--won out in the longer term because the duckbill nose design did the same noise and aerodynamic improvements as the 500 Series but allowed for a larger and roomier "square" cabin cross section.

 

But getting back on topic,  :) I still think Niigata Transys will get the contract for a new DMU for the northern Tōhoku JR East lines. It will probably be based on the KiHa 120, if Niigata Transys could restart that production line.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Sacto1985

[Mudkip Orange]

Doesn't the square X-sect also reduce tunnel boom compared to the cylinder?

[kvp]

Doesn't the square X-sect also reduce tunnel boom compared to the cylinder?

No, actually it increases it. The tunnel boom is caused by the piston effect and the less space remains between the train and the tunnel wall, the worse it gets. The 500 series had a nice small cross section, so lot's of space for the air to go around the train. This made the interior of the train too tight as a side effect. In europe the solution was to modifiy the tunnel entries to compensate the pressure differences through vents and sometimes even with powered fans and they also made the tunnels much wider than the trains. In japan the special front of the really high speed trains redirect this sound of the shockwave upwards and also make the transition more gradual. Also, in Europe many new lines and tunnels are located far from residential areas, so they are less of a problem. Newer shinkansen lines are also moved as far away from important residential areas as possible, just compare the location of the Tokyo station shinkansen terminal to Shin Aomori or Shin Hakodate. The japanese solution with these special fronts are great, but upgrading all lines and tunnels would have been a better but much more expensive solution.

[cteno4]

Th 500 was the first big attempt at doing the tunnel noise reduction. 700 duckbill was designed with a lot of computer modeling to keep the spacious square x section but keep down the tunnel boom. With increased speeds you end up with more and more dramatic duckbills to break the pressure interfaces w/o making them go bang to badly.

 

Jeff