In 1966, Japanese National Railways (JNR) developed the third generation
of Kiha45 series diesel multiple unit (DMU) used on the rural services
on unelectrified lines.
The body length of all classes are unified at 21,300mm. They are equipped
with 2 double-leaf doors on each side of the vehicles in order to make
boarding and alighting smoother, excepting vehicles for Hokkaido. High
front cab and curved surface windscreen of the driver's cab is employed.
Vehicles for excepting Hokkaido region adopted double-hang unit assembled
windows. A destination screen is fitted above the gangway of the cab end.
Vehicles for Hokkaido region features partitions at the end section and
sealed double-glazed windows. Forced ventilators are fitted on the roof.
Standard bogies DT22C/TR51B for DMU vehicles are adopted. They have one
or two DMH17H prime mover(s) rated at 180PS and a hydraulic transmission
TC2A/DF115A.
Kiha45 series vehicles are;
Kiha23: single car unit with one traction engine for excepting Hokkaido,
Kiha24: single car unit with one traction engine for Hokkaido,
Kiha45: 2-car unit with one traction engine for excepting Hokkaido,
Kiha46: 2-car unit with one traction engine for Hokkaido,
Kiha53: single car unit with two traction engines for excepting Hokkaido.
Passenger accommodation is a mixture of transverse seating and longitudinal
bench seating. Their seat pitch is 1400mm, 70mm shorter than previous Kiha20
series. All vehicles are equipped with a Japanese style toilet.
Only 179 vehicles of kiha45 series had been delivered, since DMU trains
were supplied enough when kiha45 was developed. But kiha47 series were
taken over their body construction.
Kiha53-200 remodeled from kiha58 and kiha53-500 remodeled from kiha56 have no relation with original kiha53.
At the splitting of the former Japanese National Railways (JNR) into the
new privatized JR companies in April 1987, JR companies received 188 vehicles
of kiha45 series including kiha53-200 and kiha53-500. But kiha45 series
gradually withdrew and last remaining vehicle was withdrawn in 2003. |
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