Japan railway news – Page 11
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NewsHitachi bids to buy Finmeccanica rail businesses
ITALY: Defence and aviation group Finmeccanica announced on November 18 that Hitachi Ltd had submitted the previous day an offer to buy its AnsaldoBreda rolling stock business and its 40% stake in signalling supplier Ansaldo STS. A statement by the Italian group added that it intended to analyse Hitachi’s offer ...
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NewsHokkaido Shinkansen tracklaying completed
JAPAN: JR Hokkaido held a ceremony at Kikonai station on November 1 to mark the completion of tracklaying for the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which will bring high speed train services onto the country’s northern island in 2016. JR Hokkaido President Osamu Shimada was joined by Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahash to ...
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NewsGauge-changing Free Gauge Train on test in Kyushu
JAPAN: JR Kyushu and the Japan Railway Construction Transport & Technology Agency officially launched test running with the gauge-changing Free Gauge Train prototype in a ceremony at Yatsushiro on October 19. Designated Series 9000 by JR Kyushu, the four-car trainset is being tested between Kagoshima-Chuo and Shin-Yatsushiro on the 1 ...
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NewsFirst Series H5 Shinkansen trainset arrives in Hokkaido
JAPAN: The first Series H5 trainset for the Hokkaido Shinkansen was delivered to the island on October 13. A welcoming ceremony was held at Haldane Harbour before the vehicles were transferred by road to JR Hokkaido’s Nanae depot. Built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Kobe, the trainset had been ...
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NewsJapanese railway test centre opens to support export drive
JAPAN: What Mitsubishi Heavy Industries describes as Japan's first comprehensive railway transport system verification facility was officially opened on October 2. The Mihara Test Centre is located at the Wadaoki plant of MHI’s Mihara Machinery Works in Hiroshima Prefecture. It is being made available for use by all private ...
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NewsTokaido Shinkansen turns 50
JAPAN: Celebrations were held in Tokyo on October 1 to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first high speed line, between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. The current operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen, JR Central, re-enacted the launch with a ribbon-cutting at 06.00 before dispatching the first ...
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NewsShinkansen simulator on show
JAPAN: Opportunities to drive trains on the Shinkansen are rare, but visitors to InnoTrans are able to do just that on a driver training simulator on the JR East stand. Supplied by Ongakukan Co Ltd, the simulator offers a 4K technology screen with an accurate representation of driving an E5 ...
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NewsEast Japan Railway targets Californian high speed contracts
USA: JR East is to lead a Japanese consortium in bidding for railway systems contracts for the Los Angeles – San Francisco high speed line now being developed by the California High Speed Rail Authority. JR East announced in Tokyo that it expects to work in partnership with six other ...
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NewsNippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp to form rail subsidiary
JAPAN: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp has announced plans to restructure three subsidiary companies with effect from April 1 2015. This would see the rail engineering activities of its NSST subsidiary merged with the railway maintenance equipment business of NSKI to form a new dedicated railway sector company, ...
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NewsFootbath luxury in Yamagata Shinkansen trainset
JAPAN: East Japan Railway will put into service a luxury trainset on its Yamagata Shinkansen with effect from July 19, as part of an ongoing programme to refresh the line’s fleet of mini-shinkansen trainsets. Known as Toreiyu from a combination of Train + Soleil, the six-car trainset has been rebuilt ...
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NewsSeries W7 Shinkansen ready to start testing
JAPAN: JR West is preparing to start testing the Series W7 trainsets it is acquiring for use on the Hokuriku Shinkansen which opens for revenue service in March 2015. Two trainsets are being commissioned at Hakusan depot, around 10 km west of Kanazawa, ready for the start of test running ...
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NewsExtra station to serve Shinagawa redevelopment
JAPAN: East Japan Railway has announced plans to build a 50th station on its busy Yamonote Line circular suburban railway in southern Tokyo. As yet un-named, the station is intended to spur urban development on a 13 ha site currently occupied by stabling sidings for the 1 067 mm gauge ...
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NewsOdakyu Electric Railway to test all-SiC power module
JAPAN: Odakyu Electric Railway has placed the first order for Mitsubishi Electric Corp’s all-silicon carbide traction inverter designed for 1 500V DC overhead supplies. The 3·3 kV, 1 500 A inverter will be installed in a Series 1000 four-car urban EMU in December. Along with four high-efficiency motors the new ...
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NewsHokkaido Shinkansen trainsets ordered
JAPAN: JR Hokkaido confirmed on April 16 that it had ordered four 320 km/h trainsets from Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to operate its share of services on the Hokkaido Shinkansen. Designated Series H5, the trains are based on the Series E5 sets which JR East operates on the Tohoku ...
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NewsHS2 signs up Japanese consultants
UK: HS2 Ltd has signed a contract for consultancy services with Japan International Consultants for Transportation, a company owned 53% by East Japan Railway. The contract with an undisclosed value began on January 31 and runs for four months to May 31. Areas covered by the deal include ways of ...
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NewsEU and Japan negotiate opening rail markets
INTERNATIONAL: Representatives from European Union and Japanese railway operators and the supply industry attended the first meeting of the EU-Japan Industrial Dialogue on Railways which was held in Brussels on March 27. The event was organised by the European Commission's Internal Market & Services department and Japan's Ministry for Land, ...
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NewsHitachi Rail Global moves to UK and announces expansion plans
HITACHI: On March 20 Hitachi Ltd announced that 'to further accelerate the globalisation of the rail systems business', the headquarters of Hitachi Rail Global would move from Japan to London, with head of Hitachi Rail Europe Alistair Dormer appointed to the new post of Global CEO, Hitachi Rail, from April ...
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NewsSeries E7 debuts on Nagano Shinkansen
JAPAN: JR East officially launched its first dual-system Series E7 Shinkansen trainsets in revenue service on March 15, in conjunction with the country’s national timetable change. Developed jointly with JR West, which has ordered its own build designated Series W7, the new trainsets are intended to operate Hokuriku Shinkansen services ...
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NewsSiC power module offers savings
INVERTER: Mitsubishi Electric Corp has launched a traction inverter system for 1·5 kV DC applications which it says incorporates the first all-silicon carbide power modules using SiC for both transistors and diodes. This reduces power loss, size and weight compared to conventional IGBT power modules or hybrid modules with silicon ...
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JR Central names Chairman
JAPAN: JR Central has announced that its current President Yoshiomi Yamada (left) is to become Chairman of the company with effect from April 1. He will succeed Yoshiyuki Kasai (centre), who becomes Chairman Emeritus, and will in turn be replaced as President by the railway’s current Executive ...