400 Series Shinkansen

400 Series Shinkansen
400 Series Tsubasa Shinkansen at Yonezawa Station, March 2005
In service	1992-Present
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Family name	Mini-shinkansen
Refurbished	1999-2001
Scrapped	2008-2009
Number built	84 vehicles (12 sets)
Formation	7 cars per trainset
Capacity	399 (20 Green + 379 Standard) Before addition of 7th car: 335 (20 Green + 315 Standard)
Operators	JR East
Depots	Yamagata
Lines served	Tōhoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen
Specifications
Car body construction	Steel
Car length	20,500 mm (intermediate cars), 22,825 mm (end cars)
Width	2,947 mm
Doors	one per side
Maximum speed	240 km/h (Tōhoku Shinkansen), 130 km/h (Yamagata Shinkansen)
Traction system	24 x 210 kW
Acceleration	1.6 km/h/s
Deceleration	2.6 km/h/s
Track gauge	1,435 mm

The 400 Series Shinkansen trainsets were introduced in 1992 for the start of Tsubasa services on Japan's first Mini-shinkansen line, the Yamagata Shinkansen branch from the main Tōhoku Shinkansen.

Clearances are much reduced compared to previous Shinkansen lines, and thus the 400 series units are much narrower than previous Shinkansen trains. At shinkansen stations (i.e. high-speed line stations), steps extend from beneath the doors to bridge the otherwise wide gap between the trains and platforms. Seat pitch is also reduced in the non-reserved cars.

400 series in original colour scheme, 1999

Styling wise, the 400 series is another to have an aircraft-style nose with a pointed nosecone. Originally they were painted a medium silver grey with a darker roof and area around the cab windows and underframe, but they were refurbished and repainted between 1999 and 2001, with a higher area of dark bluish-grey on the underside, coming up almost to the side windows, and separated from the silver grey with a green stripe. The dark grey on the roof and around the cab windows is gone.

They were originally six-car sets, but a seventh car was added in 1995 to each to reflect increased popularity of these services.

The fleet of twelve 400 series trains will be withdrawn between December 2008 and summer 2009 to be replaced by a new build of E3 series derivatives.

External links

• 400 Series Tsubasa/Nasuno Template:Ja icon