International Railroad Discussion > Something's fishy

After reading the whole, short article I'm sure, I think, maybe, they meant "sets," not "seats." From today's Railway Gazette International online.

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When I worked at Greyhound in the mid-1970s, live lobsters were shipped in the baggage bin of buses!

Railways have been moving fresh fish for years. Not exactly news.

PHall Wrote:
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> Railways have been moving fresh fish for years.
> Not exactly news.

Actually it is news, but the above photo caption misses the story.

In the past, Shinkansens have been used to transport low volume fresh goods, utilizing crew-only storage spaces and quarters. For example, there's a very large bento store underneath Tokyo station, and that's how they stock fresh bentos made from outside Tokyo. With research, I was able to nab a limited-quantity seafood bento from Niigata last October, no doubt transported on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line. Niigata rice is famous (as well as their "craft" sake) so I was able to sample seafood unique to Niigata with delicious rice without making a trip to Niigata, thanks to the Shinkansen. Most fresh bentos expire the same day.

Back to the topic, this IS news, because JR East is experimenting with transporting fresh fish using empty seats, not just storage spaces and crew quarters, due to the lower ridership from COVID. Sendai fish is transported to the station by car, then transported onboard a Shinkansen train, then the destinations are sushi joints and izakayas (serving Japanese tapas, for people who are REALLY into Japanese night food) near Tokyo station.

So that's the rest of the story.

The locomotives look like Gar Fish themselves ,

CM80-46 Wrote:
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> The locomotives look like Gar Fish themselves

The train set on the foreground is double-decker Series E4, what I call the ugliest Shinkansen on the planet. It's not a locomotive, it's an EMU that comes in an 8 car set. Powered units are distributed, usually cars #2, #3, #6 and #7 so the leading and trailing units are not powered. (Different than the original French TGVs, which have "locomotives" on the ends)

The much better looking Series E2 is in the background.

😂😂
British Fish trains were high priority back in the day of no refrigeration.Often priority over passenger movements, with some of their fastest streamlined locos.
Regards,dK