Unit 22-141 of the EMU JR West Shinkansen 0 series is exhibited in NRM-York, the U.K.
(Photo: Stuart Marlow)
One of my blog readers kindly sent me his photographs of a Shinkansen train... Unit 22-141 of the EMU JR West 0 series in National Railway Museum-York (NRM-York), the U.K. I am going to show you his beautiful pictures today. Thanks, Stuart-san, for providing me with these precious photos.
Shinkansen is the bullet train that represents Japanese railways. Its total network length is about 3,000km and there are 1 million passengers per day. The first Shinkansen, namely Tokaido Shinkansen, was opened between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka in 1964, just before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.
The first model, the EMU 0 series, achieved a maximum speed of 210 kilometers/hour (133MPH). It was the world speed record of commercial trains at that time. Since then, Japanese National Railways and its successors, JR companies, have launched 17 models one after another. The fastest ones are the EMU E5/H5 and the E6 series, which have a maximum speed of 320km/hour (199MPH); but more importantly, there have been no fatal passenger accidents on the Shinkansen so far.
Unit 22-141 was built as a control motor car by Hitachi in 1976. It was the 21st batch of the 0 series. Its vehicle length is 25 m. The gauge size is 1,435 mm. Electric system is 25,000 V and 60 Hz AC overhead. The silver colored shining roof is definitely my favorite. The cob-nosed face is winsome and lovely. I am very happy that the Japanese Shinkansen train is preserved carefully in the birth country of railways.
(Photo: Stuart Marlow)
Official information about Unit 22-141, the EMU JR West Shinkansen 0 series: