Background and overview
"Airport" rapid services operated by 721 series EMU, the accommodation of which have the switchable transverse seating and the partition walls and the door between the passenger room and the vestibule, cause serious crowding during peak hours. Thus, JR Hokkaido developed 6-car sets of 733-3000 series in 2014. Five 6-car sets consisting of 2 powered vehicles and 4 trailer vehicles were delivered in 2014.
Car body
They have 2892mm wide light weight stainless steel body featuring laser beam welding for the improvement of body strength and reduction of skin distortion of side construction. In addition, their cross member of the underframe, side column, and carline are positioned longitudinally to form ring shape construction for more intense strength against lateral collision. Their floor level is 100mm lower than 731 series to get rid of the step at the doorway for better accessibility. Bodies are unpainted and have the olive-green waistline band running the length of each car below the windows, excepting class saha733-3200 vehicles have a blue waistline band and red narrow band running the length of each car below the windows and vertical blue bands running outward of both ends of doors. The cab end has a gangway with the gangway connection base and features the higher mounted driver's cab, reinforced gangway connection base column, reinforced framework around the driver's seat, and the shock absorbing construction for the protection against obstacles at the level crossing. A colour-selectable LED destination indicator is fitted above the gangway door@and clusters of a headlight employing shieled-beam light bulb and a taillight employing LED are fitted at the left and right sides of the destination indicator. Additional clusters consisting of headlights employing a shielded-beam light bulb and a high intensity discharge (HID) lamp are also fitted on each side of the gangway door. They are equipped with three 1200mm wide single-leaf automatic sliding doors which can be operated manually by pushing the buttons fitted beside the door and two fixed windows having 935mm height and 1990mm width are fitted between the sliding doors, excepting between doors of class saha733-3200 vehicles two fixed windows having 935mm height and 1990mm width and a door case window having 800mm width and 815mm height are fitted. The door operating equipment is TK103A having flashing alarm lamps while door opening/closing, fitted above the door header of the sliding doors. A colour-selectable LED destination indicator is fitted on each side of the body. The louver of the snow separator employed for class moha733-3100, and moha733-3200 vehicles is gotten rid of by introducing totally enclosed traction motors to enlarge the passenger room. An air conditioner, N-AU733A, rated at 30,000kcal/h is fitted on the centre of the roof and 1mm thick stainless cover plates are fitted between equipments under the floor to reduce the waving for preventing snow and ice from sticking thereon.
Bogies
Motored bogies are N-DT733A with some improvements to fit with totally enclosed traction motors, trailer bogies of end vehicles and trailer bogies are N-TR733 featuring bolster-less secondary air suspension, axle arm type journal box supporting system, and the single link traction gear. The wheel diameter is reduced to 810mm, and bow-shaped bogie frame is employed to lower their floor level. These bogies feature yaw dampers to ensure smooth ride characteristics even at 130km/h. 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 4.89 to get high acceleration performance and the maximum service speed at 130km/h. Both motored and trailered bogies employ the double tread unit assembled brake device with high adhesive alloy cast iron shoes.
Traction unit and ancillary equipments
Class moha733-3100 and moha733-3200 vehicles are equipped with a traction system, N-CI733-2, which controls 4 totally enclosed AC asynchronous motors, N-MT733, with a power output of 225kW on truck basis, a travelling wind self-cooling shell type traction transformer, N-TM733-2-AN, beneath the floor, and a single arm current pickup, N-PS785 on the roof. This traction system consists of a 3-level PWM converter employing Insulated Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and a 2-level Variable-frequency drive (VFD) employing IGBT. Class kuha733-3200 and saha733-3100 vehicles are equipped with a motor-driven air compressor, N-MH1785-C2000ML and two auxiliary power supplies, N-APS-733, for AC and DC power supply which consist of the converter employing both the diode bridge and the chopper circuit featuring IGBT powered by the third winding of the traction transformer, and inverter. The brake system is an electric commanding brake with regenerative brake to zero speed, featuring brake control of trailer priority.
Accommodation
Class saha723-3200 vehicles having U seat accommodation have partition walls and automatic doors to separate the passenger rooms and the doorways and their accommodation consists of 2-2 abreast reclining seating with 1030mm seating pitch. Conductor's rooms are located at the front end of the body. An LED display for providing passenger information is fitted above the door between the doorway and the passenger room. Passenger accommodation of the other vehicles consists of longitudinal bench seating throughout, with an individual seat width of 455 mm per person and three stanchions to divide seating into four sections. They are equipped with air curtains mounted above the doorway to reduce the penetration of outside cold air into the heated passengers' cabin. LED displays for providing passenger information are fitted in zigzags and door chimes are fitted above the door header of the sliding doors. Roller blinds are gotten rid of. Class suha733-3200 vehicles are equipped with a universal access toilet featuring vacuum toilet system and a wheelchair space. On the other hand, class kuha733-3100 vehicles are equipped with a Western style toilet featuring vacuum toilet system. As for the device for driving cab, one handle master controller operated by the left hand is employed. The gangway door window and the co-driver's side windshield adopt the polycarbonate with effect of heating up by energization on the surface for snow-melting and anti-condensation effect.
Additional delivery
Two 6-car sets were additionally delivered over the period from June 2015 until July of the same year. Furthermore, four additional sets were also delivered over the period from May 2018 until June of the same year.
Operations
733-3000 series entered "Airport" rapid services in 2014. They also used on regional services on the Sapporo, Chitose, and Sassho lines. |
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