JR East High-Speed Rolling Stock Development Koji Asano Director of the Advanced Railway System Development Center, Research and Development Center of JR East Group
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Special feature article JR East High-speed Rolling Stock Development Koji Asano Director of the Advanced Railway System Development Center, Research and Development Center of JR East Group 1 Introduction The history of Shinkansen rolling stock for JR East started with the series 200 Shinkansen, which debuted at the opening of the Tohoku/Joetsu Shinkansen in 1982 in the Japanese National Railway era. It was initially a 12-car all motor car train with a maximum operating speed for 210 km/h. The Shinkansen network spreading out in five directions later came to have a variety of forms of operation (Fig. 1); and even after the series 200, Shinkansen rolling stock conforming to those forms of operation and with increased speeds was developed. In addition to the standard type of Shinkansen dedicated rolling stock, others appeared such as rolling stock for through service between Shinkansen and conventional lines to Akita and Shinjo and double deck rolling stock for large-volume short-distance transport. A variety of services came to be provided as well, such as GranClass providing a higher level of service and fun-to-ride Looking at high-speed railway trends around the world, we “Toreiyu” and “Genbi Shinkansen” (Fig. 2). see that many countries have achieved commercial operation The Shinkansen, handling long-distance transport, has been in excess of 300 km/h, and Italy has announced further speed forced to compete with airlines and others with the expansion of increases with a goal of 360 km/h commercial operation. And the Shinkansen network. In order to have customers choose the for JR East to transfer high-speed railway technologies abroad, Shinkansen, we need to think up how to make it more attractive we need to accumulate technologies for high-speed running in and amenity-rich. We need to make the Shinkansen something order to maintain competitiveness. people want to ride by means such as shortening travel time to In the midst of this situation, JR East is constantly developing customers’ destinations by increasing speeds, improving amenity Shinkansen rolling stock systems utilizing new technologies in with better ride comfort and comfortable cabin environments, order to provide comfortable, safe, and highly reliable Shinkansen and providing functional services according to individual rolling stock that will please customers. customers’ demands. Shinkansen-conventional Standard type line direct service type Fun train type Hokkaido Shinkansen scheduled to open between Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and Sapporo in 2030 Sapporo Hokkaido Shinkansen opened between Shin-Hakodate- Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate in March Hokuto 2016 (148.4 km) Shin-Aomori Akita Shinkansen Series E2 Series E3 Toreiyu Tsubasa (127.3 km) Hachinohe Akita Joetsu Shinkansen Yamagata (303.6 km) Morioka Shinkansen Shinjo (148.6 km) Hokuriku Shinkansen opened Yamagata between Nagano and Kanazawa Sendai in March 2015 新潟 Series E6 GENBI SHINKANSEN （Nagano - Joetsumyoko 59.4 km) Niigata Series E5 Joetsumyoko Fukushima Double deck type Takasaki To Kanazawa Nagano Tohoku Shinkansen （713.7 km ） Omiya Hokuriku (Nagano) Ueno Shinkansen (117.4 km) Tokyo Mini Shinkansen Commercial track Series E7 Series E4 Fig. 1 JR East Shinkansen Network Fig. 2 JR East Shinkansen Rolling Stock JR EAST Technical Review-No.36 1 Special feature article This article gives an overview of high-speed rolling stock 2.2 FASTECH Project development up to now and introduces technical development Fig. 4 shows the development concepts for test vehicles in the for future Shinkansen rolling stock. FASTECH project. High-speed Rolling Stock Prototype for rolling stock 2 Development at JR East operating at 360 km/h Achieve rolling stock that can operate at 360 km/h 2.1 History of Development for Shinkansen Speed Increases Increasing the speed of the Shinkansen is a never-ending issue for Test platform to technical development at JR East. We have overcome this issue, identify phenomena Near future comfort when running mobility space increasing commercial operating speeds, and advanced railway at high speed proposal stage technologies. Identify limits and adjust Design interior space befitting Simply running fast is not enough; and in order to achieve items to bring about near-future Shinkansen and safe speed increases with comfort, we have conducted high-speed optimum specs for make proposals inside and mass-production vehicles outside the company running tests by a variety of test vehicles (Fig. 3). The series 400 Shinkansen recorded a maximum speed of 345.8 km/h in test Fig. 4 FASTECH360 Development Concept runs in 1991, and the STAR21 test train reached 425 km/h in 1993. In the Shinkansen speed increase project (FASTECH), The FASTECH360 trains were developed under the concept which started in 2002, we developed, tested, and evaluated with of being a “prototype for rolling stock operating at 360 km/h”, the FASTECH360 high-speed test vehicles. The FASTECH a “test platform to identify phenomena when running at high project went beyond aiming to achieve maximum tests speeds, speed” and a “near future comfort mobility space proposal stage”. having objectives of shorter travel time and top class reliability They are prototype vehicles for verifying technologies ahead of and comfort for rolling stock in commercial service and of implementation in next-generation rolling stock in service. environmental friendliness. Two trains were produced: FASTECH360S (hereinafter, the “360S”) exclusively for Shinkansen lines and FASTECH360Z 1988-1991 1991-1998 2002 Project starts→ (hereinafter, the “360Z”) for through service on Shinkansen and 2005-2009 (test runs) conventional lines (Fig. 5). Speed increase Top level reliability, comfort, and Maximum speed for harmony with the environment Maximum speed of high-speed test train of 345.8 km/h recorded with 425 km/h recorded. series 400 (Yamagata Shinkansen "Tsubasa" rolling stock) *FASTECH: Abbreviation for "FASt TECHnology". 360 is target speed in technical development Fig. 3 JR East Development for Increased Shinkansen Speeds (Test Runs) Fig. 5 Shinkansen High-speed Test Trains (FASTECH360) Being test trains, technical development went forward on four technical themes with a goal of maximum commercial operating speed of 360 km/h: Improvement of running speed, ensuring safety and reliability, consideration for the environment, and improvement of passenger comfort. Wayside equipment was also improved along in line with production of test trains. Running tests were conducted from 2005 to 2009 to comprehensively evaluate and verify rolling stock and wayside facilities in the environment of the target commercial speeds. 2 JR EAST Technical Review-No.36 Special feature article 2.3 Overview of Major Technical Development To ensure safety when running when earthquakes strike, we 2.3.1 Improvement of Running Speed (Fig. 6) conducted development for shortening the emergency braking Since current collection devices account for a large percentage distance and deviation prevention car guides that prevent cars of wayside noise made in high speed running, we developed from deviating greatly from the track even in derailment. And a current collection system with one pantograph per trainset in order not to cause increased risk in an earthquake with greater where there were previously two pantographs per trainset. For speeds, we have improved the trainset braking force control that the pantograph, we developed a new low-noise pantograph that makes full use of adhesion of each car of the train as well as has a “multi-segment slider” made up of many segments that braking control in wheel slip or slide. We have also developed an can flexibly follow overhead contact lines by supporting each unconventional braking method using equipment for increasing segment of the slider with springs. This development and factors air resistance. such as lighter weight and higher tension of contact wires enables Blocks of snow falling from Shinkansen cars running at high extremely stable current collection even in fast running. speed can damage wayside equipment and cars. So, to reduce the volume of snow accumulation on cars, we tested items such as High output, small and light main circuit system bogie structure that is difficult for snow to adhere to and a snow Improvement of [ First unit (Car No. 2 and 3) ] running speed Main circuit system characterized by running melting heater. Securing high-speed current wind-cooled and collection performance water-cooled main traction converters Running wind-cooled and water-cooled main traction converter Ensuring reliability of parts and components for driving system High reliability and [ Second unit (Car No. 4 and 5) ] low noise driving device Ensuring safety Main circuit system with a synchronous motor and reliability with permanent magnets Axle bearing for Slider Synchronous motor [ Third unit (Car No. 6 and 7) ] with permanent magnets high-speed running Durability test with actual load Main circuit system Improvement of braking performance Measures taken Spring characterized by running and reduction of emergency braking distance in earthquakes wind-cooled main transformer [Equipment for increasing air resistance] Cooling fin [Basic brake for Pantograph with high-speed running] multi-segment slider Running wind-cooled main transformer Deviation prevention car guide Fig. 6 Overview of Major Technical Development Prevention of snow accretion and fall (Improvement of Running Speed) [Equipment for Segmented lining increasing adhesion] Center-mounted In order to achieve stable