JR East Series E2

The Series E2 has always been one my favorites in the world of high speed trains. I refrained from writing about it because I worried that the few words I was to write would not do this great trainset justice. I see the E2 as a nameless hero hard at work behind the scene. Few people ever hear about this specific type of EMU but I don't think her importance in modern high speed railroading can be undermined.

For starters, the E2 is a beauty

I will not be mentioning the complex conventions the Japanese like to come up with in order to classify rolling stocks, it works, but unless you are screwed in the head like me, it will probably drive you bananas and put you to sleep. On the high level, there are 2 mechanically distinct types of trainsets in the E2 family. The original E2, or E2-0, was introduced in the 1990s that came in 8- or 10-car sets, and the evolved E2-1000 was introduced in early 2000s that only came in 10-car sets. I would logically deduce that the fact that the E2 was manufactured by Kawasaki, Hitachi, Nippon Sharyō, and Tokyū Car had something to do with the complicated classification scheme I opted not to discuss. In terms of exterior appearance, the E2 and E2-1000 look almost identical, with doors and pantographs being the spotting features between the two.

Plug doors flush with the body and diamond shaped pantographs on the E2-0

The E2-1000 on the other hand has embedded sliding doors and single arm pantos

The Series E2 has achieved many small but important milestones in high speed rail. It was the first fleet on the JR East (East Japan Railway Company) that had brought the top speed in revenue on the Tōhoku Shinkansen substantially from 150 mph to 170 mph (however, not the first trainset on the JR East to do so) and with that, came the introduction of the express service Hayate. The E2 defined one of the new aerodynamic design languages used used by JR East with a beautifully shaped and functional nose. The E2-1000 was also the fastest revenue trainset in Japan in her time and achieved a maximum speed of 225 mph in 2003.

Although the E2 has been designed for operating on the JR East but the Chinese Railways owns and operates the largest fleet of E2-1000s, classified as CRH2 (51 sets of both types vs literally hundreds in China).

The other E2, the CRH2