JR Tokai held a public event at the Hamamatsu Factory, which maintains the Tokaido Shinkansen, called “Go to Hamamatsu Factory”. This event, substituting the pre-pandemic public event “Shinkansen Discovery Day”, showcased two retiring 923 series “Doctor Yellow” sets (T4 and T5 formations) side by side to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Tokaido Shinkansen.
The tour allowed participants to board a charter train from major stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area, Shizuoka, Chubu, and Kansai regions and enter the Hamamatsu Factory directly from Hamamatsu Station via a siding. The event was held in two sessions, morning and afternoon, on October 19th and 20th. According to JR Tokai, the registration started at 2 p.m. on September 3rd on a first-come, first-served basis and was sold out by 7 p.m. on September 6th.
About 1,000 people from Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, and Hamamatsu stations participated in the morning session on the 19th. The charter train, an N700S (J12 formation), departed from Tokyo Station at 6:54 a.m. It picked up passengers at each station and entered the Hamamatsu Factory around 8:50 a.m. via the siding from Hamamatsu Station.
▲ Passing through Nishiiba Number One, the only level crossing on the Tokaido Shinkansen, before reaching the Hamamatsu Factory
The highlight, Doctor Yellow, was displayed on Track No. 8 facing the plaza inside the facility. The JR Tokai-owned T4 formation was positioned towards the Toyohashi direction (west side), while the JR West-owned T5 formation faced the Hamamatsu direction (east side). At this prime photo spot where the lead cars of both formations faced each other, participants took turns enjoying commemorative photo sessions.
According to JR Tokai, this is the last time the two Doctor Yellow formations will be displayed side by side at the Hamamatsu Factory. Masami Saji from JR Tokai’s Shinkansen Railway Business Department, who was in charge of the event, said, “We arranged the display considering the direction of the sun to ensure the entire formation could be nicely captured in photos. It’s rare to have them lined up in a column, so we hope everyone enjoyed it.”
The event also featured vehicle movements via traverser and a spot for undercarriage inspection. In addition, maintenance vehicles such as the Ballast Regulator (KVP-S) and Crane Wagon were displayed, with participants listening intently to the staff’s explanations.
There are two formations of Doctor Yellow, the 923 series No. 0 set (T4 formation) owned by JR Tokai and the 923 series 3000 set (T5 formation) owned by JR West. The T4 formation began operations in September 2001, and the T5 formation in 2005. The T4 formation is set to cease operations in January 2025 due to aging, and the T5 formation is also planned to retire after 2027. Instead of manufacturing successor inspection-exclusive vehicles, inspections will be replaced by inspection functions introduced in the N700S after 2027.
▲ Souvenirs distributed to participants
Notice
This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
