JR East Series E6

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Oops... sorry I missed another week. I haven't been very good this year have I. However, I do bring you another very fast train, and this time, it's actually something we the general public can ride on (well, given a trans-Pacific flight ticket is taken care of and all that).

E6 will mostly operate together with the E5 on high-speed lines
Let me present you the Series E6 Mini-shinkansen (meaning the trainset needs to come off the high speed lines at some point and operate along existing lines at no more than 80 mph and need to fit into a smaller loading gage similar to trains on the existing narrow gage trackage) operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). This tilting electric multiple unit may look a bit familiar. Yes, she sports similar exterior design to her bigger cousin, the E5, and she's also the production product of the test train Fastech 360 Z (Z for Zairaisen or existing line). The E6 wears a pink livery, resembling the E3 operating on the Komachi service between Tokyo and Akita. As you may have guessed at this point, the E6 will be operating on the same route, and will be dubbed the Super Komachi.

What a pretty face
Pre-production E6 went into testing in 2010, and production officially began in November of 2012. The trainset is built by both Hitachi and Kawasaki. The top speed of the E6 is 186 mph in service for the time being and will eventually (2014) be raised to 199 mph.

Comments

Matteo Mortari said…
Ciao
Thank you for your articles, always very interesting. I would like to know if you can focus one of the next articles on the main differences of Japanese rolling stock, Vs European, please? For instance, I think I understood the nose is shaped very long for Japanese trains to facilitate airflow while entering a tunnel, but I haven't understood why pantographs have those kind of "wings" on the side? Is it to decrease noise or they have a functional purpose in the current collection as well?

Thanks and keep up with your blog is very interesting!
Cheers from Italy
Apr 26, 2013, 3:14:00 PM
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