JAPAN: East Japan Railway is to launch regular operation of double-deck cars on its busy Chuo Rapid line services between Tokyo, Shinjuku, Nakano and the capital’s western suburbs.
Trial running with pairs of double-deckers inserted in the existing Series E233 10-car trainsets began in 2022, and all 57 sets in the fleet are due to be equipped with a pair of double-deck vehicles by March 2025.
Until the timetable change in March, the Chuo Rapid line double-deck cars will be accessible to passengers paying ordinary fares, but from that date they will be reserved for Green Car (first class) ticket holders. A pair of double-deck cars offers 180 Green Car seats.
In contrast to similar double-deck cars used on some of JR East’s other Tokyo suburban routes, the E233 double-deckers will have double-leaf 1 300 mm wide entrance doors; those on other double-deck cars have single-leaf doors opening to a width of 810 mm. The wider doorway required a design change, with the distance between bogies extended by 670 mm to 14 820 mm.
JR East had originally planned to introduce the Chuo Rapid line double-deck fleet in 2023, but their series debut was delayed by a shortage of materials for semiconductors.
