JAPAN: Seibu Railway is to place an order for four more Kawasaki Heavy Industries Series 40000 EMUs as part of its ¥25·1bn investment programme for the current year.
The Series 40000 fleet introduced in March 2017 currently comprises six 10-car Series 0 units and seven 10-car Series 50 units. They are designed for 120 km/h operation on 1 067 mm gauge lines electrified at 1·5 kV DC.
The operator is also planning to reduce energy consumption and its carbon footprint by equipping its EMU fleets with VVVF inverter control systems
It also plans to increase network capacity by introducing communications-based train control, with the first tests planned for 2024.
