On February 1, JR Central hosted a vehicle cleaning experience event at the Oi Rail Yard for the Doctor Yellow (T4 series), a comprehensive test train for the Shinkansen’s electric and track facilities, which was retired on January 29.
Titled “Thank You! Doctor Yellow (T4 Series) Cleaning Experience Event,” about 200 lottery-selected participants took part. According to JR Central, there were 23,068 applications, approximately 115 times the capacity.
Participants received guidance on using tools and how to wash from Shinkansen Maintenance Tokai (SMT) employees, who manage the Shinkansen cleaning and washing operations. They hand-washed the sides of carriages 5 and 6 using special sponges and brushes featuring illustrations of Doctor Yellow, in appreciation of its service.
Director of Transport Sales Division in the Shinkansen Railway Operations Headquarters, Tokiko Takai, expressed, “I want to convey our gratitude to customers who have cherished the T4 series for a long time.” Ideas were exchanged with the rail yard and cleaning staff to allow participants to spend their last moments with the vehicle closely.
Doctor Yellow is a train that inspects the electric and track facilities of the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines. There are two sets: the T4 series owned by JR Central and the 923-3000 series (T5 series) owned by JR West. The T4 series began operation in September 2001 and continued test runs for about 24 years until its last run on January 29 due to aging. The total run distance before retirement was 158,499 kilometers, equivalent to about 40 laps around the Earth. Of the seven cars in the T4 series, the leading car (Car 7) is planned to be displayed at the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya City starting around June. Meanwhile, the T5 series owned by JR West is scheduled to conduct test runs until around 2027.
▲Special sponges and gloves distributed to participants
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
