The and

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

are Japanese high-speed train types operated by

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East) and

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

(JR-West), respectively. They were jointly developed. The E7 series has operated since 15 March 2014. It also operates on the

Jōetsu Shinkansen The is a high-speed shinkansen railway line connecting Tokyo and Niigata, Japan, via the Tōhoku Shinkansen, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Despite its name, the line does not pass through the city of Joetsu or the hist ...

following the March 2019 timetable revision. The W7 series has operated on the

Hokuriku Shinkansen The is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), connecting Tokyo with in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The first section, between and in Nagano Pr ...

since it was extended from to in March 2015. A total of eleven 12-car W7 series sets (132 vehicles) have been built. The first W7 series train was delivered in April 2014.

Design

Based on the earlier

E2 series The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) on the Tohoku Shinkansen high-speed lines in Japan since 1997. They are formed in 8- and 10-car sets. The 8-car sets were used on the Hokuriku ...

trains, the E7 series trains are designed with a "Japanese" theme inside and out, combining futuristic styling with traditional design elements overseen by industrial designer

Ken Okuyama Ken Okuyama (born 1959) is a Japanese industrial designer. He is the owner of the Ken Okuyama Design company. Okuyama formerly worked for Pininfarina, designing and supervising projects such as the Enzo Ferrari and Ferrari P4/5. His given name is ...

together with

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese Public company, public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, Heavy equipment (construction), heavy equipment, aerospace and Military, defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headq ...

. Externally, the roof is finished in a "sky blue" colour, and the bodysides are "ivory white" with "copper" and "sky blue" lining. The bodyside logos consist of a number "7" in silver stylized as an arrowhead, and include the lettering "East Japan Railway Company" or "West Japan Railway Company". File:E7系-ロゴ.JPG, E7 Logo on the side of car 12 File:Shinkansen W7 logo.JPG, W7 Bodyside logo on car 12 Manufacture of the E7 series sets was shared between

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi is a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 55,119, with 24,392 households and a population density of 616 persons per km2. The total area is 89.44 km2. The city was founded on November 3, 1939, being ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

; additionally the E7 in

J-TREC is a manufacturer of heavy rail cars in Japan, formerly known as . The company is based in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, and a member of East Japan Railway Company (JR East) group. J-TREC manufactures rail vehicles not only for JR East and Tokyu Corp ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, and W7 in

Kinki Sharyo is a Japanese manufacturer of railroad vehicles based in Osaka. It is an affiliate company of Kintetsu Corporation. In business since 1920 (as Tanaka Rolling Stock Works) and renamed The Kinki Sharyo Co., Ltd in 1945. They have produced light ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. The trains have a maximum design speed of , but operate at a maximum speed of on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, limited to on the

tracks between Omiya and Takasaki, and to on the Tohoku Shinkansen tracks between Tokyo and Omiya. Increased power output enables the trains to maintain speeds of at least on the steep gradients of the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Car 12 (Gran Class) is equipped with full

active suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large sp ...

, and the other cars are equipped with semi-active suspension.

Operations

* ''

Kagayaki The is a high-speed ''shinkansen'' train service jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between and on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line in Japan. The shinkansen service was introduced o ...

'' (Tokyo - Kanazawa), since March 2015 * ''

Hakutaka The is a high-speed ''shinkansen'' train service jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between and on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line in Japan. The shinkansen service was introduced on ...

'' (Tokyo - Kanazawa), since March 2015 * '' Tsurugi'' (Toyama - Kanazawa), since March 2015 * '' Asama'' (Tokyo - Nagano), since March 2014 (E7) and March 2015 (W7) * '' Toki'' (Tokyo - Niigata), since March 2019 (E7) * '' Tanigawa'' (Tokyo - Echigo-Yuzawa), since 3 March 2019 (E7) The trains entered regular passenger service from the start of the revised JR East timetable on 15 March 2014, with three trainsets introduced on '' Asama'' services on the

(then still called the Nagano Shinkansen) between Tokyo and Nagano. Initially, E7 series trainsets operated seven return ''Asama'' services daily, with a further four return workings added from 19 April 2014. Since 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa, E7 series trainsets are also used on ''

'', ''

'', and '' Tsurugi'' services alongside the similar design JR West W7 series trains.

Interior

The 12-car trains have accommodation in three levels of service: Gran Class, Green car, and ordinary-class cars, with a total seating capacity of 934. Gran Class seating (car 12) is arranged 2+1 abreast with a seat pitch of , Green car seating (car 11) is arranged 2+2 abreast with a seat pitch of , and ordinary seating (cars 1 to 10) is arranged 3+2 abreast with a seat pitch of . AC power outlets are provided for each seat in all three classes. The Gran class seats are supplied by

Toyota Boshoku is a Japanese automotive component manufacturer. It is a member of the Toyota Group of companies. Toyota Boshoku Corporation entered the North American market via Toyota Boshoku America (located, inter alia, in Erlanger, Kentucky). History Toy ...

. Car saloons and vestibule areas are equipped with security cameras. Between October and December 2015, luggage racks are scheduled to be added at one end of each of the even-numbered ordinary class cars and also in Green car 11, by removing a pair of seats (1D and 1E). The luggage racks are to cater to the increased number of overseas tourists with suitcases and also passengers with ski and snowboard equipment in the winter season.

E7 gallery

File:Series E714-5 Inside.jpg, Interior of Gran Class car E714-5 (car 12) in May 2022 File:Series E7 Gran-class-seat.jpg, Gran Class seating in May 2022 File:Series E715-5 Inside.jpg, Interior of Green car E715-5 (car 11) in May 2022 File:Series E725-409 Inside.jpg, Interior of ordinary-class car E725-409 (car 7) in February 2022 File:Series E725-409 Toilet-Outside.jpg, The toilet in ordinary car 7 in February 2022 File:Series E725-409 Multipurpose-room-Outside.jpg, The Multipurpose room in February 2022

W7 gallery

File:W7 series set W4 Green car 11 20150314.jpg, Interior of a Green car (car 11) File:W7 series set W4 Green car seating 20150314.jpg, Green car seating File:W7 series set W4 Green car toilet 20150314.jpg, The toilet in Green car 11 File:W7 series set W4 ordinary class car 10 20150314.jpg, Interior of an ordinary-class car File:W7 series set W3 seating 20150211.jpg, Ordinary-class seating (3-abreast row)

Formations

The E7 series sets are numbered "F1" onward, and the W7 series sets are numbered "W1" onward. All sets consist of 10 motored intermediate cars with non-powered (trailer) end cars. Car 11 provides Green car (first class) accommodation, and car 12 provides Gran Class luxury accommodation. Sets are formed as shown below, with car 1 at the Tokyo end. Cars 3 and 7 are each equipped with a single-arm

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

Build histories

, 31 E7 series sets and 11 W7 series sets have been built, with build details as follows. Eight E7 series sets and two W7 series sets were withdrawn in 2019 following flood damage sustained during

Typhoon Hagibis Typhoon Hagibis, known in Japan as Typhoon No.19 or , was a large and costly tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction in Japan. The thirty-eighth depression, ninth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, ...

History

In December 2011, the ''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

'' reported that JR East was considering developing new E7 series 10-car sets based on the existing

design for use on Hokuriku Shinkansen services. In January 2012, the head of JR-West's Kanazawa Division revealed that new trains for the Hokuriku Shinkansen would be developed in conjunction with JR East, and that test running would need to be conducted during the winter season a year before the line opening to thoroughly test the ability of the trains to cope with snowy conditions. Details of the new trains were formally announced jointly by JR East and JR West on 4 September 2012. The first E7 series train was delivered to Sendai Depot in November 2013, and shown off to the media on 28 November. Night-time testing commenced in December 2013 on the Nagano Shinkansen, with daytime test-running between Nagano and Tokyo starting on 8 January 2014. The design of the logo to be applied to the sides of cars 1 and 12 was officially unveiled in February 2014. The first three trains, sets F1 to F3, entered regular passenger service from the start of the revised JR East timetable on 15 March 2014. The entire fleet of 17 sets, numbered F1 to F17, was delivered by the start of the 14 March 2015 timetable revision, although sets F16 and F17 did not enter revenue service until after this date. The first W7 series train was delivered from

in Kobe to Hakusan Depot in

Hakusan, Ishikawa is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 113,375 in 43246 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . It is the second-most populous city in Ishik ...

in April 2014. Test-running on the Hokuriku Shinkansen began on 5 August 2014, initially at low speed, between and . In April 2015, JR East announced that it was ordering an additional E7 series set to be introduced from autumn 2015, replacing the remaining E2 series trainsets used on regularly scheduled Hokuriku Shinkansen ''Asama'' services. In May 2015, the W7 series and E7 series were awarded the 2015 Blue Ribbon Award, presented annually by the Japan Railfan Club. A presentation ceremony was held at JR West's Hakusan Depot on 24 October 2015. On 12 October 2019, eight E7 series and two W7 series trains were damaged due to floodwaters from

, while they were stored at JR East Nagano Shinkansen Vehicle center. The sets were scrapped shortly thereafter. In November 2021, JR East demonstrated autonomous operation with an E7 set in

Niigata prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

; 5km between

Niigata Station is a major railway station in Chūō-ku, Niigata, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The station is at the centre of Niigata city, the largest city on the Sea of Japan coast in Honshu. It forms the central station for the ...

and Niigata Shikansen Stock Yard. They started testing on 29 October.

References

External links

JR East E7 series

W7 official
{{JR East EMU Shinkansen train series East Japan Railway Company Train-related introductions in 2014 Hitachi multiple units J-TREC multiple units Passenger trains running at least at 250 km/h in commercial operations Kawasaki multiple units 25 kV AC multiple units Kinki Sharyo multiple units