400 Series Shinkansen
The 400 series was a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by the East Japan Railway Company between 1992 and 2010 on Tsubasa services on Japan's first mini-Shinkansen line, the Yamagata Shinkansen branch from the main Tōhoku Shinkansen.
The fleet of 400 series trains was leased by JR East from the owning company, Yamagata JR Chokutsū Tokkyū Hoyū Kikō, a third-sector company jointly owned by JR East and Yamagata Prefecture.
The trains were originally formed as six-car sets, but a seventh car was added to each set in 1995 due to the popularity of the Tsubasa services.
Pre-series set
The pre-series set, S4, was delivered in October 1990 and unveiled to the press on 26 October 1990. It was a six-car set, arranged as shown below, with all cars motored.| Car No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Numbering | 401-1 | 402-1 | 403-1 | 404-1 | 405-1 | 406-1 |
| Seating capacity | 20 | 67 | 60 | 68 | 64 | 56 |
The unit featured three different types of bolsterless bogies: DT9028 on cars 1 and 3, DT9029 on cars 2 and 4, and DT9030 on cars 5 and 6. The Green car seats were fitted with seat-back television screens, a feature not adopted on subsequent production sets.
Cars 1 and 2 were built by Tokyu Car Corporation, cars 3 to 4 were built by Hitachi, and cars 5 to 6 were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Cars 12 and 14 were equipped with pantographs.
Test running began on the Ōu Main Line between and on 14 November 1990. From 23 January 1991, testing was conducted in conjunction with a newly converted eight-car 200 series K set on the Tōhoku Shinkansen between and. On 26 March 1991, set S4 established a new Japanese speed record of on the Jōetsu Shinkansen in the Yuzawa Tunnel between and. On 19 September 1991, the train set a further record of on the same section of track.
Test running continued into 1992, with set S4 reaching Tokyo for the first time on 20 May 1992. The pre-series set was subsequently modified to production-standard specifications, becoming set L1 on 29 June 1992.
History
Introduction
The fleet of twelve six-car sets entered service on Tsubasa Shinkansen services from 1 July 1992. Owing to sustained demand, all sets were later lengthened to seven cars. This took place between November and December 1995, with the insertion of a new type 429 trailer car as car 15.Withdrawal
Withdrawals began in December 2008, starting with set L1. The entire fleet was scheduled to be withdrawn by summer 2009 and replaced by E3-2000 series trains. However, one set, L3, remained in service until 18 April 2010, with the date chosen to mark 18 years of service. This final 400 series Shinkansen was coupled to an E4 series train during its last run.Preservation
The first eleven sets to be withdrawn were all cut up at Sendai General Depot, but one car of the last set to be withdrawn, L3, was stored at the former Fukushima depot before being moved to Omiya in Saitama Prefecture in December 2017 where it is preserved at the Railway Museum.Formation
The production 400 series sets were configured as shown below following the addition of a trailer car in late 1995.Fleet details
''Source:''Design
Exterior
The 400 series was originally painted medium silver-grey, with a darker roof and darkened areas around the cab windows and underframe. Between 1999 and 2001, the fleet was refurbished and repainted, adopting a revised livery featuring a higher area of dark bluish-grey on the lower body, rising to just below the side windows and separated from the silver-grey upper body by a green stripe. The dark grey treatment on the roof and around the cab windows was removed.Compared with the purpose-built high-speed Shinkansen lines, the Yamagata Shinkansen route is constrained by its legacy infrastructure. While the track gauge was widened, the original loading gauge was retained, requiring the 400 series to be designed with a narrower cross-section, leading to the "mini-Shinkansen" designation. When stopping at stations on the purpose-built high-speed Shinkansen lines, a retractable step flips up from beneath the doors to bridge the platform gap.
Interior
As a result of the narrower cross section, ordinary-class cars were fitted with 2+2 abreast seating, compared with the 3+2 configuration used on most Shinkansen trains. Green cars featured 2+1 abreast seating, compared with the 2+2 layout typical of other Shinkansen services. On subsequent mini-Shinkansen rolling stock, Green cars also adopted 2+2 seating, matching standard-class layouts. Seat pitch was in Green class, in reserved-seating cars, and in non-reserved cars.During the life-extension refurbishment programme carried out between 1999 and 2001, the interiors were also upgraded with new moquette seat coverings. Green cars received blue moquette, reserved-seating cars received red moquette, and non-reserved seating cars were fitted with turquoise moquette.