EMU JR East E231-500 series arrives at Shibuya station on the Yamanote line
The JR East Yamanote line is well known as Japan's busiest railway. Eleven-car trains are frequently operated from early morning to midnight. The route length of the Yamanote line is 34 kilometers. It is looped through several downtown areas in the Tokyo Metropolis. The track is double so that each train runs in the same direction throughout the day; clockwise or counterclockwise. The train covers the entire route in about 60 minutes. There are 29 stations and most of them are interchanges to the subway, private railways and/or other JR lines.
The train operator, JR East, has been introducing state of the art commuter trains onto this Japan's representative urban line. The EMU E231-500 series was no exception. It was launched in 2004 in response to JR East's new train controlling system, namely the Digital Automatic Train Control (D-ATC). A total of 52 sets, 572 cars, were built by JR East Niitsu Factory. The E231-500 series once became the one and only fleet on the Yamanote line; however, the kingdom of the E231-500 series did not last long. A new model, the E235 series, debuted in 2015, and has been increasing in numbers. As a result, the older E231-500 series has been forced to move to the Sobu local line.
According to JR East, all the E231-500 series will be replaced by the E235 series by the end of March, 2020. It is the final chapter of the E231-500 series story on the Yamanote line.
The train operator, JR East, has been introducing state of the art commuter trains onto this Japan's representative urban line. The EMU E231-500 series was no exception. It was launched in 2004 in response to JR East's new train controlling system, namely the Digital Automatic Train Control (D-ATC). A total of 52 sets, 572 cars, were built by JR East Niitsu Factory. The E231-500 series once became the one and only fleet on the Yamanote line; however, the kingdom of the E231-500 series did not last long. A new model, the E235 series, debuted in 2015, and has been increasing in numbers. As a result, the older E231-500 series has been forced to move to the Sobu local line.
According to JR East, all the E231-500 series will be replaced by the E235 series by the end of March, 2020. It is the final chapter of the E231-500 series story on the Yamanote line.
EMU JR East E235 series (left) and E231-500 series (right) stand at Tokyo station