The is a suburban

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

(EMU) train type 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 ar ...

(JR East) in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Sl ...

of Japan since 1994.

Design

Introduced in 1994 to replace the 113 series EMUs running on the

Sōbu Line (Rapid) The Sōbu Line (Rapid) ( ja, 総武快速線, ) is a railway service on the Sōbu Main Line in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Tokyo Station in Chūō, Tokyo with Chiba Station ...

and

Yokosuka Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The Yokosuka Line connects Tokyo Station with in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. Officially, the name Yokosuka Line is assigned to the 23.9 km segment between an ...

, the E217 series was the first outer-suburban train type in Japan to feature four pairs of doors per side per car. The basic design was developed from the

209 series The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in the Tokyo area of Japan since 1993. The series was introduced in 1992 for experimental operations (as the 901 series) and in 1993 fo ...

commuter EMUs. It replaced all the Yokosuka Line 113 series trains by 1999. The trains were built jointly by

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 ...

Tokyu Car 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 Cor ...

, and JR East (Niitsu and Ofuna factories). For traction, they use

Mitsubishi Electric , established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...

-manufactured VVVF inverters with

IGBT An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as an electronic switch, which, as it was developed, came to combine high efficiency and fast switching. It consists of four alternating lay ...

(formerly

GTO GTO may refer to: Entertainment * ''Great Teacher Onizuka'', a manga, anime, live-action series, and film * GameTable Online, a game portal Music bands * GTO (band), an Australian band * The GTOs, an American girl group * Giraffe Tongue Orche ...

) switching devices which control Mitsubishi MT68/73 traction motors. The gear ratio is 97:16.

Operations

Kashima Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It links Katori Station with Kashima Soccer Stadium Station by crossing and then following the Tone River, at the border between Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefectur ...

( Sawara - Kashima-Jingū) *

Narita Line The Narita Line ( ja, 成田線, ) is the name for a combination of three railway lines located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The main line connects Sakura Station and Matsugishi Station ( ...

( Chiba -

Narita Airport Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport ...

, Sawara) *

Sōbu Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It connects Tokyo with the east coast of Chiba Prefecture, passing through the cities of Funabashi, Chiba, and Chōshi. Its name derives from the ol ...

(

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

- Narutō) * Sotobō Line ( Chiba - Kazusa-Ichinomiya) *

Uchibō Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to Tokyo Bay, paralleling the western (i.e., inner) shore of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Soga Station in the city of Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in ...

( Chiba - Kimitsu) *

(

- Kurihama)

Former operations

Shōnan–Shinjuku Line The Shōnan–Shinjuku Line ( ja, 湘南新宿ライン, ) is a passenger railway service in Japan which commenced in December 2001. The line has no dedicated track as services run through shared sections along the Ryōmō Line, Takasaki Line, ...

(

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

- Zushi) (December 2001 - October 2004) *

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

(

Atami is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households and a population density of 600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Atami is located in the far ea ...

) (March 2006 - March 2015) * '' Airport Narita'' (name discontinued March 2018)

Formations

Current formations

11-car Yokosuka/Sōbu Line sets

, 38 11-car sets are based at Kamakura Depot and formed with four motored ("M") cars and seven non-powered trailer ("T") cars. * Cars 3 and 9 each have one scissors pantograph. * Cars 1 and 11 have an accessible/priority "free space". * Cars 1, 5, and 11 each have a toilet (

universal design Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the ma ...

in car 1, Japanese-style in car 11). * Car 8 is designated as a mildly air-conditioned car. * Cars 4 and 5 are bilevel Green Cars with transverse seating. * Cars 9, 10, and 11 have a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating.

4-car Yokosuka/Sōbu Line sets

, 30 four-car sets are based at Kamakura Depot and formed with two motored ("M") cars and two non-powered trailer ("T") cars. * Car +3 has a scissors pantograph. * Cars +1 and +4 have an accessible/priority "free space". * Car +1 has a Japanese-style toilet.

Previous formations

10-car Tōkaidō Line sets

Three 10-car sets (F-01–F-03) were based at Kōzu Depot and formed with four motored ("M") cars and six non-powered trailer ("T") cars. * Cars 3 and 9 each had one scissors pantograph. * Cars 1 and 10 had an accessible/priority "free space". * Cars 1, 5, and 10 each had a toilet (

in car 1, Japanese-style in car 10). * Car 8 was designated as a mildly air-conditioned car. * Cars 4 and 5 were bilevel Green Cars with transverse seating. * Cars 9 and 10 had a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating.

5-car Tōkaidō Line sets

Three five-car sets (F-51–F-53) were based at Kōzu Depot and formed with two motored ("M") cars and three non-powered trailer ("T") cars. * Car 13 had a scissors pantograph. * Cars 11 and 15 had an accessible/priority "free space". * Car 11 had a Japanese-style toilet. * Car 14 had a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating. File:Jre E217F.jpg, E217 series in ''Shōnan'' livery, April 2007

Interior

File:E217-inside-longseat.jpg, E217 series longitudinal seating File:E217-inside-semicross-seat.jpg, E217 series transverse seating File:Series-E217 Green-car-2F.jpg, Green car upper saloon, October 2021 File:Series-E217 Green-car-1F.jpg, Green car lower saloon, October 2021

History

The E217 series trains entered revenue service from 3 December 1994. From December 2001, 11-car trains were used on the

between

and Zushi. This continued until October 2004 when Shōnan–Shinjuku Line services were unified using E231-1000 series trains. In March 2006, three 15-car trains were reformed as 10+5-car sets and transferred to Kōzu depot for use from 14 March 2006 on

duties out of Tokyo alongside E231-1000 series trains. The sets were repainted into the same ''Shonan'' color scheme of orange and green bodyside stripes as applied to the E231s. These sets were all transferred back to Yokosuka/Sōbu Line services by March 2015. A program of refurbishment on the fleet commenced in 2008 and was completed in 2012. Externally, sets received lighter blue and cream stripes. Following the introduction of newer E235-1000 series sets, withdrawals commenced in fiscal 2020. The first withdrawn set was transferred to Nagano between 5 and 6 January 2021.

Incidents

On 25 December 2014, an 11+4 car train consisting of sets Y12 and Y129 broke down on the Yokosuka Line due to electrical problems; another 11+4 car train consisting of sets Y23 and Y130 was sent to tow the faulty set from Tokyo Station to Kamakura Depot, creating an immensely long thirty-car train. While this was happening, the entire train did not stop at any stations to pick up any passengers.

References

External links

JR E217 series
{{JR East EMU Electric multiple units of Japan East Japan Railway Company Train-related introductions in 1994 Kawasaki multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units of Japan Tokyu Car multiple units