International Railroad Discussion > Shinkansen, E7 Series at Nagano

The relatively new E7 Shinkansen at Nagano station, the current end of the Nagano Shinkansen. The line will be extended to Toyama and Kanazawa (scheduled to open on 14 March 2015), to be known as the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

The E7 series have 12 cars & have a service speed of 260 km/h (160 mph) & commenced regular service in March 2014.

JR West will also have the similar W7 series which will also operate on the Hokuriku Shinkansen when it opens.

Photo 1: E7 series set at Nagano after arrival from Tokyo.
Photo 2: Side view of 2 E7 series at Nagano
Photo 3: The E7 series pantograph - looks very elegant!

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Stephenloco Wrote:
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> The relatively new E7 Shinkansen at Nagano
> station, the current end of the Nagano Shinkansen.
> The line will be extended to Toyama and Kanazawa
> (scheduled to open on 14 March 2015), to be known
> as the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
>
> The E7 series have 12 cars & have a service speed
> of 260 km/h (160 mph) & commenced regular service
> in March 2014.
>
> JR West will also have the similar W7 series which
> will also operate on the Hokuriku Shinkansen when
> it opens.
>
> Photo 1: E7 series set at Nagano after arrival
> from Tokyo.
> Photo 2: Side view of 2 E7 series at Nagano
> Photo 3: The E7 series pantograph - looks very
> elegant!


Mmmm...quite a bit different from the American version of an E7.

Stephenloco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The relatively new E7 Shinkansen at Nagano
> station, the current end of the Nagano Shinkansen.
> The line will be extended to Toyama and Kanazawa
> (scheduled to open on 14 March 2015), to be known
> as the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
>
> The E7 series have 12 cars & have a service speed
> of 260 km/h (160 mph) & commenced regular service
> in March 2014.
>
> JR West will also have the similar W7 series which
> will also operate on the Hokuriku Shinkansen when
> it opens.
>
> Photo 1: E7 series set at Nagano after arrival
> from Tokyo.
> Photo 2: Side view of 2 E7 series at Nagano
> Photo 3: The E7 series pantograph - looks very
> elegant!

Yeah, E7s look very nice, and the lines are very clean, thanks to Ken Okuyama who has designed Camaros, Porsches, and Ferraris. No need to worry about extreme aerodynamics liked the E5 and E6 since E7s don't have to worry about 320 km/h running.

The names for the Hokuriku Shinkansen trains have tentatively been decided:

Kagayaki ("Glitter" or "Shine"):　Fastest service between Tokyo and Kanazawa.

Hakutaka ("White Hawk"): "Normal" service between Tokyo and Kanazawa, one shorter roundtrip between Nagano and Kanazawa.

Tsurugi ("Sword"): Short, shuttle runs between Toyama and Kanazawa.

Asama service will remain and run the current Nagano Shinkansen route, between Tokyo and Nagano.

The Hakutaka name is currently used for the limited express trains on 1067mm (Japanese standard gauge) tracks that run between Kanazawa and Echigo-Yuzawa, to connect passengers to/from Kanazawa/Toyama (Hokuriku) area to the Joetsu Shinkansen. These trains use the sleek 681/683 series EMUs, for those who are curious. These EMUs are also used for limited express trains to shuttle passengers from the Hokuriku area to the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto) with cool English names like Thunderbird and Snow Rabbit. They are capable of 160 km/h (99 mph) speeds on Hokuetsu Express Line tracks between Naoetsu and Echigo-Yuzawa. I suspect there will be major service changes to these trains when the Hokuriku Shinkansens start running (for example, the original Hakutaka will no longer run), as a warning to railfans who haven't checked them out yet.

There are many other interesting things going on related to the Hokuriku Shinkansen, where the plan is to extend the route farther toward Osaka to Tsuruga.　Interesting trains like the Redeye Express Noto (been there) and Sleeper Express Kitaguni (done that) have already been canceled few years ago in anticipation of the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

I've already hijacked the thread enough, so these and other topics will probably be discussed in another thread later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/15 09:27 by cchan006.