Background and overview
JR East developed E231-500 series commuter DC electric multiple unit (EMU) featuring D-ATC signaling system and delivered to displace 205-0 series EMU used on Yamanote line services and improve services before the start of Yamanote line signaling system replacement with D-ATC. 52 ten-car sets comprising 6 powered vehicles and 5 trailer vehicles including two trailer vehicles having 6 doors on each side of the body were built over the period from January 2002 until April 2005.
Car body
They have 2950mm wide bodies with bead-less skin, incorporating light weight stainless steel construction. Bodies are unpainted and have the olive-green waistline and headline bands running the length of each car below and above the windows. Cab ends are covered with Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) painted in white Anti-fall plates between vehicles are also introduced excepting the cab end. A class sahaE230-500 located at car's No. 7 and 10 is equipped with six 1300mm wide double-leaf automatic sliding doors, three drop windows between the doors at the end and the centre, and two fixed windows at the rest on each side of the body. The other vehicles are equipped with four 1300mm wide double-leaf automatic sliding doors, two drop windows between the doors excepting centre of the vehicles, and three fixed windows at the end and the centre on each side of the vehicle. Door operating equipments, TKE150, featuring electric screw drive are fitted above the door header of the sliding doors. Loudspeakers, providing guidance broadcast for passengers waiting at a station, are also ready to be fitted on the frieze board. 3-colour LED destination displays are fitted on the side of their body. An air conditioner, AU726A, rated at 50,000kcal/h for class sahaE230-0, or AU725A, rated at 42,000kcal/h, for the others is fitted on the centre of their roof. No ventilators are fitted on the roof.
Bogies
Powered bogies are DT61G, trailer bogies for class saha230-500 are TR246N, front trailer bogies of end vehicles TR246M, trailer bogies for the others TR246P, featuring bolster-less secondary air suspension, axle arm type journal box supporting system and the single link draw gear. These bogies prepare to adopt the yaw dampers to ensure smooth ride characteristics. Twin Disc (TD) flexible joint employing deflecting plates made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is applied for power transmission device. The gear ratio is 7.07. The brake rigging is a single tread brake for powered and both directly the single disk and the single tread brake for trailer.
Traction unit and ancillary equipments
Class mohaE231-500 vehicles are equipped with a 3-step Variable-frequency drive (VFD) traction system, SC60B, which controls 8 traction motors, MT73, with a power output of 95kW on vehicle basis including class mohaE230-500 vehicles. This traction system features Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), adopts pure electric brake to zero speed, and realizes improved acceleration performance at 3.0km/h, which is 0.5km/h/s higher than that of E231-0 series at 2.5km/h. Class mohaE230-500 powered intermediate vehicles excepting mohaE230-2 and -5 are equipped with an auxiliary power unit, SC61A, with a power output of 210kVA featuring IGBT and a motor driven screw air compressor, MH3119-C1600S, under their floor. Class mohaE231-500 powered intermediate vehicles are equipped with a single arm current pickup, PS33B, on their roof. They feature Train Information Management System (TIMS) applying RS485 interface and managing the traction control, in-train announcement apparatus, voice communication for train crews and passengers, air conditioner control, and so on. They employ the electric commanding brake with regenerative braking to zero speed. They feature total brake control on overall a train set and regenerative brake priority by TIMS to realize regeneration rate improvement. The end vehicles are equipped with ATC signaling system under the floor.
Accommodation
Passenger accommodation of class saha209-500 consists of three-seater foldable longitudinal bench seating, which can be folded automatically by operation at the driver's cab. Handholds are fitted at the centre of the body between sliding doors. The others consist of longitudinal bench seating featuring cantilever construction throughout having 450 mm wide per person. Handrails are fitted at both end and middle of seats. The cushion of seating is made of polyester resin mold with taking recyclability. They adopt Visual Information System provided by a pair of 15-inch LCD showing destination or stops information on the right and video ads on the left fitted on sliding doors. A door chime is also fitted on the sliding doors. Roller blinds are discontinued because of introducing heat absorbent windowpane.
Additional delivery
All vehicles of #503 train set onward built in February 2002 feature a high-power air conditioner, AU726A, rated at 50,000 kcal/h. For this reason, all class mohaE230-500 vehicles are equipped with an auxiliary power unit, SC61A, with a power output of 210kVA.
Class sahaE231-600 and sahaE231-4600 trailer intermediate vehicles were built to replace two class sahaE230-500 vehicles having six doors on each side in a train set over the period from January 2010 until August 2011 to align the door arrangement with that of 10-car sets of E233-1000 series EMU used on Keihin-Tohoku line train.
Class sahaE231-600/-4600
Car body
They have a 2950mm wide body with bead-less skin incorporating light weight stainless steel construction based on E233 series EMU. Their floor level is 1165mm, same as existing E231 series despite the floor level of E233 series is 1130mm. Bodies are unpainted and have the olive-green waistline and headline bands running the length of each car below and above the windows. Anti-fall plates between vehicles are also introduced excepting the cab end. Class sahaE231-600 vehicles are equipped with four 1300mm wide double-leaf automatic sliding doors, two drop windows between the doors excepting centre of the vehicles, and three fixed windows at the end and the centre on each side of the vehicle. On the other hand, though class sahaE231-4600 vehicles are also equipped with four doors, the front doorway is placed 690mm further back to align the door arrangement with the end vehicle of E233-1000 series EMU used on Keihin-Tohoku line train. Therefore, a 470mm wide fixed window and 700mm wide drop window are fitted between the front door and the front end of the vehicle, and a 1340mm wide fixed window is fitted the front door and the door next to it. Door operating equipments, TKE150, featuring electric screw drive are fitted above the door header of the sliding doors. Loudspeakers, providing guidance broadcast for passengers waiting at a station, are also ready to be fitted on the frieze board. 3-colour LED destination displays are fitted on the side of their body. An air conditioner, AU726A, rated at 50,000kcal/h is fitted on the centre of their roof. No ventilators are fitted on the roof.
Bogies
Bogies of class sahaE231-600 are TR246PG, and bogies of class sahaE231-4600 are TR255A employed for E233 series EMU. These bogies feature bolster-less secondary air suspension, axle arm type journal box supporting system and the single link draw gear and prepare to adopt the yaw dampers to ensure smooth ride characteristics. The brake rigging is the single disk and the single tread brake.
Accommodation
Passenger accommodation consists of longitudinal bench seating featuring cantilever construction throughout having 460 mm wide per person. Handrails are fitted at both end and middle of seats. Each seat employs no sag springs supporting seat cushion for the seating comfort improvement. They adopt Visual Information System provided by a pair of 15-inch LCD showing destination or stops information on the right and video ads on the left fitted above sliding doors. A door chime is also fitted on the sliding doors. Roller blinds are discontinued because of introducing heat absorbent windowpane.
Modifications and refurbishment
The end vehicles are additionally fitted with Train automatic stopping/stop-position controller (TASC) and class mohaE230-500 vehicles not equipped with a motor-driven air compressor are additionally equipped with an air compressor over the period from 2009 until 2010. Furthermore, lighting for passenger saloon started to be changed into LED lighting in 2013.
Operations
They were delivered to Yamanote depot to replace 205 series EMU used on Yamanote line services from 2002 and had completely replaced. Class sahaE230-500 having 6 doors on each side of the body were displaced with newly built trailer intermediate vehicles having 4 doors. E235-0 series EMU began to replace E231-500 series and surplus E231-500 series excepting class sahaE231-4600 vehicles were relocated to Mitaka depot to replace 209-500 series and E231-0 series used on Chuo-Sobu commuter services. The replacement E231-500 series used on Yamanote line services with E235-0 series was completed in 2020. They are now used on Chuo-Sobu commuter services. |
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