Kawasaki to supply aluminium-bodied EMUs to Tobu Railway

Japan’s Tobu Railway has appointed Kawasaki Heavy Industries on April 22 to supply eight three-car 500 series EMUs with aluminium bodies to be used in the limited express services in the Tokyo region.

The 1.5kV dc 1067mm-gauge trains will enter service in spring 2017, initially on the 41km Tobu Sky Tree Line from to Tokyo Asakusa to Miyashiro in Saitama prefecture.

Styling of the 500 series has been supervised by industrial designer Mr Ken Okuyama and the exterior is intended to reflect the design of the world's tallest tower, the 634m Tokyo Sky Tree. Each three-car set will be formed of two powered driving vehicles and one unpowered intermediate trailer, seating a total of 161 passengers. The aluminium-bodied vehicles will be 20m long and 2.87m wide.

The driving cars are equipped with end gangways, which will enable splitting and joining of trains to serve multiple destinations.

The 500 series will be equipped with permanent magnet synchronous traction motors and active suspension, a first for the Tobu Railway.

In order to minimise power consumption, the 500 series will be equipped with LED interior lights. Free passenger Wi-Fi and at-seat power points will also be available throughout the train.

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.