New JR West luxury train from Kanazawa to Wakura Onsen

[Sacto1985]

The English RocketNews24 web site had an article on a new luxury train that will travel along the (soon to be) IR Ishikawa Railway Line from Kanazawa to Tsubata, then up the JR West Nanao Line to Wakura Onsen Station. Scheduled to start in October 2015, it will use two rebuilt KiHa 48 DMU's with luxurious interiors.

 

Here is the picture of the train:

 

 

And here is the picture of the layout of the interior of the train:

 

 

You can read more about the train in this article: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/07/11/beautiful-new-luxury-train-for-ishikawa-dazzles-with-gold-leaf-and-lacquer-interior/

[Guest ___]

The JR Groups seem to really have a thing for lux trains and recycling the old KiHa 40/48s as of late. I know there has been special joyful trains made from converted 40/48s in the past, but it just seems lately there's been a splurge run lately.

[cteno4]

Nice looking cars. Would be a great tomytec set with interior details!

 

Jeff

Edited July 11, 2014 by cteno4

[katoftw]

Nice. I love these old DMU Joyful trains.

[miyakoji]

The JR Groups seem to really have a thing for lux trains and recycling the old KiHa 40/48s as of late. I know there has been special joyful trains made from converted 40/48s in the past, but it just seems lately there's been a splurge run lately.

I wonder how much life they plan to get from these.  That is, maybe these would be scrap soon anyway, so they do these interiors, some cosmetic work, and some light refurbishment, and they've got a sort of theme train for 5 years.  The absolute youngest KIHA40s would be 32 years old, I doubt they plan on getting 10 or 15 years out of these.

[Sacto1985]

I actually find it kind of unusual that JR West chose to use the KiHa 48 for this Joyful Train. Remember, the entire run from Kanazawa to Wakura Onsen is fully electrified with 20 kV AC overhead power, and JR West could have rebuilt a couple of 475 Series EMU's for this special train.

[kvp]

Rebuilding and operating a dmu is much easier. You can add any motor and torque converter from almost any manufacturer and with minimal wiring, you have a working dmu. Also, these dmu-s can operate alone, so if one of the engines breaks down, then you can still move the train. Not to mention, it can be used on a route that doesn't have overhead wires or where it is de-energized. Sadly most japanese joyful trains are scrapped only after a few years of operation, while it is proven that a dmu can be operated almost indefinetly. The oldest joyful train on the hungarian network was converted after 50 years of passenger service and still runs 30 years later. Once in a while, it may need a new motor/transmission/wheels and lots of paint, but it's the same as a vintage truck, so if it doesn't rust to dust, then it can still be used. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCcw7yP2708

[Sacto1985]

kvp, I think the reason why JR West chose the KiHa 48 for this application is not only can it run without relying on overhead wiring, but it can possibly run on the Noto Railway beyond Wakura Onsen Station on an as-needed basis. The fact JR West also owns a lot of KiHa 40/47/48 trainsets means there are plentiful spare parts available, too.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Sacto1985

[Densha]

Or do as JR East did a few years back with the Nodoka joyful train, pulling an EMU with a DE10 : http://tokuzo.blog.shinobi.jp/%E9%89%84%E9%81%93/%E3%81%AE%E3%83%BB%E3%81%A9%E3%83%BB%E3%81%8B%20%E3%81%AA%E5%8C%97%E4%BF%A1%E6%BF%83%EF%BC%81%EF%BC%9F

[katoftw]

DE10s. Is there anything they cannot do?

[Davo Dentetsu]

I found mine are terrible at climbing fairly reasonable gradients.