The , branded "Super Rail Cargo", is a freight electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by

Japan Freight Railway , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was f ...

(JR Freight) in Japan. It entered service in 2004 with the objective of reducing emissions and carrying general freight for small package forwarders (such as special delivery services). The M250 series is JR Freight's first container train with distributed traction. It is manufactured by Nippon Sharyo,

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headquartered in Chūō, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is ...

, and

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

Background

In 2004, freight trains between

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

and

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 ...

on the Tokaido Main Line carried about 2.8 million tons of freight, which is 13% of the total annual transportation volume of

JR Freight , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was foun ...

. However, because trucks are required for transporting goods between the customer and the station, trains are often not competitive for transporting small amounts of goods over medium distances. However, JR Freight has been making efforts to shift freight transport from road to rail, and in 1999 it began to consider specializing in small-lot freight transportation. At that time, the fastest locomotive-hauled freight trains connected Tokyo and Osaka in 6 hours and 40 minutes, which did not meet the demands of

courier A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

freight carriers. Therefore, JR Freight aimed to reduce the time on that route to about 6 hours. As a result of these considerations, a plan to increase speeds of freight trains was announced. This plan proposed using

distributed power In rail transport, distributed power (DP) is a generic term referring to the physical distribution—at intermediate points throughout the length of a train—of separate motive power groups. Such "groups" may be single units or multiple consist ...

to increase acceleration and deceleration as well as reduce

axle load An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearin ...

s. It also aimed to accelerate transfers of

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...

s. To ensure safety and reliability, principles already in use for passenger transport were to be used wherever possible. The M250 series was developed and designed according to this policy.

Vehicle description

This section describes the specifications at the time of the train's appearance.

Formation

The M250 series is a 16-car train consisting of four different types of vehicles. In the M250 designation, "M" stands for "multiple unit", the leading "2" designates a vehicle using induction motors for

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...

lines, and the "50" means that this vehicle has a maximum speed of over 110km/h.

Mc250

This Driving power car is used at both ends of the train and can carry one 31-foot container. The vehicle mass is 38.5t when empty and 50t when fully loaded.

M251

This

power car In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle: *a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle; *a vehicle equipped ...

can also carry one 31-foot container. The vehicle mass is 38.5t when empty and 50t when fully loaded.

T260

This trailer is equipped with a train monitoring system. It can carry two 31-foot containers. The vehicle mass is 21t when empty and 40t when fully loaded.

T261

This trailer is not equipped with a train monitoring system. Its mass and capacity are identical to that of the T260. A complete train is formed from two sets of a Mc250 and a M251 each at the ends of the train, with six sets of one T260 and one T261 trailer each in between.

Body

In parcel delivery, loads have relatively low mass in relation to its volume. In order to increase the available space for the containers as much as possible, the height of the

vehicle frame A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had a ...

had to be kept to 1,000mm above the top of the rails. On the other hand, there needed to be sufficient room for the traction motors and gears, which were adapted from other vehicles. Therefore, the powered vehicles have their frame at 1,103mm above the top of the rails at the ends, and at 1,000mm in the central section of the vehicle. The trailers have their frame at 1,000mm above the top of rail over their entire length. The electric vehicles have crew and equipment rooms above the

bogies A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

at both ends. The front windows are as large as possible to ensure optimal visibility. These rooms have doors on the left and right sides, and a gangway connects the power cars. On the T260 trailers, ladders and handrails are provided at the end of the vehicle.

Cab

For the first time in a JR Freight vehicle, brake and power are controlled by a single lever on the left-hand side. The M250 series is equipped with a monitoring device which allows monitoring the state of the vehicle and various equipment. The central device for this system is mounted on the Mc250 cars at the end of the train, and slave units are installed on the M251 motor cars and the T260 trailers. The T260 trailer's unit is also responsible for monitoring the T261 trailer adjacent to it. Information gathered by this system is shown on a display in the cab. When a failure occurs, the details and appropriate actions are shown on the same display, and the vehicle state is recorded so it can be analyzed later.

Drive system

The main motors are FMT130-type squirrel cage rotor asynchronous motors rated for 220kW each, one of which is installed on each axle of the motor cars. Each motor is controlled by one VVVF inverter built by

. The

gear ratio A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the Pitch circle diameter (gears), pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, pr ...

is 97:16, or 6.06.

Other equipment

A FPS130 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 ...

is installed on each electric vehicle. They are installed at the front of the Mc250 vehicle, and at the rear of the M251 vehicle, to ensure to biggest possible distance between them. An automatic coupler is installed on the Mc251 driving motor cars so the train can be towed by a regular locomotive.

Operation

Sagawa Express began operating one train as a reserved "Special high speed freight train" between Tokyo Freight Terminal and

Ajikawaguchi Station is a train station on the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Sakurajima Line (JR Yumesaki Line) in Konohana-ku, Osaka, Konohana-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Layout The station has an island platform serving two tracks. 1940 fire O ...

(Osaka) on 13 March 2004. The containers are owned by Sagawa Galaxy Highways. Running with increasing frequency, it later became a regularly scheduled train (but with service suspended on Sundays and holidays).

Awards

The M250 series won the 2004 Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Eco-Products award for Eco-Service and the 2005 Japan Railfan Club Blue Ribbon Award, making it the first non-passenger vehicle to win since the

JNR Class EF66 The is a six-axle, three-bogied (Bo′Bo′Bo′) DC electric locomotive designed for fast freight used by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later operated by its descendants JR West and JR Freight. , 39 locomotives remained in service, all ...

in 1969.

References

External links

* , Profile on Kawasaki Heavy Industries website {{DEFAULTSORT:M250 Series Electric multiple units of Japan Non-passenger multiple units Train-related introductions in 2004 Kawasaki multiple units Nippon Sharyo multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units of Japan