Let me continue from where I left off my last post. When I visited Kurashiki City, it was the best season for cherry blossom viewing. There were many cherry trees in full bloom along the stream of the historical quarter. They were very gorgeous against the old white walls and the blue sky. Spring was in full swing.
Taking this opportunity, I'm going to introduce a train, which comes to Kurashiki station. The EMU 213 series is the last model, which the Japanese National Railways (JNR) developed in 1987. It's a stainless-steel train for 1,500V direct current tracks. A total of 65 units were built by Nippon-sharyo, Hitachi and others. After the breakup and privatization of JNR, these trains were transferred to JR West and JR Central. The trains belonging to JR West have blue-colored stripes; meanwhile, the JR Central's ones have orange and green-colored stripes.
The 213 series on the JR West lines was originally commissioned as an inter-island train between Honshu (the mainland of Japan) and Shikoku islands. After operating for 16 years, it was replaced by the JR Shikoku 5000 and the JR West 223-5000 series in 2003. The 213 series was then moved to the local lines. The top photo is a train, set C09 of the EMU 213 series, bound for Bicchu-Takahashi on the Hakubi line. This trainset is composed of one motorcar (KuMoHa 213-9) car and one trailer (KuHa 212-103).
Enjoying the cherry blossoms and the local trains, I continued travelling. I really enjoyed myself.
