Wednesday 20 July 2016

EMU 701 Series in the Akita Area

EMU JR East 701 series stands at Akita station yard

On what occasion do you feel "I came far away from home" while traveling? You may feel like that, when you hear strange local dialect, or when you eat strange local food. In my case, I felt like that when I saw a strange local train while traveling.

Last month, I visited Akita City, as something came up. Akita is far from Tokyo. It takes about four hours by the Shinkansen train. After my long travel, I saw a strange local train at Akita Station, when I got off the Shinkansen train. What was it? It was a commuter train, EMU JR East 701 series. Its pink and purple-colored stripes made me feel "I came far way from home".

The EMU 701 series is an alternate current (AC) commuter train, which we can't see in the Tokyo metropolitan area. As you may know, most of the trains in Tokyo are operated by direct current (DC) electric systems; so, AC commuter trains are strangers to me.

The 701 series was launched in 1993 to replace old coaches in Tohoku District. It has 20,000 V AC and 50 Hz electric systems. There are two kinds of gauge sizes... one for the 1,067 mm gauge track and another one for the 1,435 mm. The 701 series in the Akita area has pink and purple-colored stripes, while the Sendai and Morioka areas' ones have other colored stripes.

Strange local trains always make me excited while traveling.

EMU JR East 701 series stands at Akita Station on the Oou Line