International Railroad Discussion > Yamanote Line's New E235 EMU (Japan)

JR East has announced recently that the production versions of the new E235 EMU are finally entering revenue service, which started on May 22, 2017. It has taken them more than 2 years to sort out the problems. I may have spotted one or two of them during my recent trip to Japan, but I didn't document them (in midst of chasing another train).

However, I have documented the prototype during testing, back in October of 2015:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3898039,3898115#3898115

A month later, the sole E235 entered revenue service, and encountered software problems on the first day:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3901138

In hindsight, the root cause of the software problem might have been "Artificial Intelligence." It took almost 4 months for JR East to re-release the E235 into service, which hints at a complex software problem, hence my educated guess that it was AI. I'm also speculating that JR East simplified the software to make it functional. I hope folks who are buying into the AI hype are more skeptical now.

I've made two previous trips to Japan, once in early summer of 2016, another in March of this year, and I've been blessed with E235 luck on those visits, where I've stumbled onto the prototype EMU by accident on several occasions.

In the first clip, I'm waiting for a freight train near Komagome, where the Yamanote Freight Line begins on the north end. Second EMU going away is the E235, which I didn't realize until after I stopped recording. First train is Shonan-Shinjuku Line's E233, and the train that blocks the E235 is the regular Yamanote Line E231.

I'm joyriding the Limited Express Akagi along the Yamanote Freight Line on a different day, and spot the E235 departing Otsuka, second clip.

In the third clip, I'm onboard a Tokaido Shinkansen, approaching Shinagawa. I spot the E235 travelling the same direction, so I hit record from the window of my seat. The train blocking my video is a Yokosuka Line train (E217 EMU).

I immediately improvised a plan to ride the E235, and estimated that I had enough time to make the transfer at Tokyo Station. Just as I popped up on the Yamanote Line platform, the E235 shows up, fourth clip. I hope that was "highball the foamer" not a horn warning a cell phone distracted walker standing past the yellow line.

I decide to stand on the rear car to record some "backwards cab view" of the E235, fifth clip. The kid whispering in the background is talking to his dad, and both knew they were riding the E235. The E235 is departing Akihabara, and I had to fight the temptation to detrain.

Next stop, Okachimachi, and I pan to get a brief interior view of the E235, sixth clip. In the seventh clip, I aim my camcorder at the dual digital LCD displays that's unique to the E235 for the time being, recording the typical sounds you might hear onboard the train.

The E235 (and the Yamanote Line train) I boarded was one of the few with a destination (Ikebukuro), instead of the regular inside/outside loop train without one. So I had no choice but to detrain and record a quick video of the E235 deadheading into the yard, eighth clip.

In the ninth and final clip, I spotted the E235 while riding the Narita Express between Shinagawa and Shinjuku, on my first day in Japan in March of this year. So I detrained at the busiest station in the world (Shinjuku) and recorded a brief parade led by the Yamanote Line E235, Sobu Line E231, and the Chuo Line E233.

That's it for the E235. The EMU will no longer be rare, as more sets will enter service in the coming months.

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