[JP] Last Run - 100/300 Series Shinkansen 16/3

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[JP] Last Run - 100/300 Series Shinkansen 16/3

Post by Sir Pompously »

The March timetable change will see the end of the 300 series trains from JR Central. JR West's trains will follow suit soon after, however I am unsure of the date of departure for their 300 series trains. It looks as though at least one set will be decorated with a message on the front and side of the nose, as well as a change to the blue stripe to make it looks like a 300 Series nose at the point on each end.

A translation from the JR Central Website (Courtesy of Google Translate, so it is bad) should see the last run (Retirement Event) on the 16th March as Nozomi 329 from Tokyo to Shin Osaka.
JR Central wrote:1. Retirement event
 (1) The final draft of the 300 series cars
     Sun March 16, 2012 final draft (Friday)
     Last Armored Train extraordinary - "Nozomi No. 329" ("Thank you 300 series" Nozomi)
     Tokyo operation interval (from 10:47) - Shin-Osaka (Arriving 13:23)
     From Tokyo Station, departure time and 10:47 停車駅 · 10:54 from Shinagawa Station, from Shin-Yokohama Station 11:06, 12:32 from Nagoya Station
                   13:08 wearing Kyoto Station Shin-Osaka station wearing 13:23
     - Other seats all cars driving by (date released: 16 February 1949 10:00, 2000)
  
   Customers take the ※, presented a souvenir to ride. (Internal distribution between Shin-Yokohama to Kyoto).
News release can be found at: http://jr-central.co.jp/news/release/nws000924.html

This release does have more details of the retirement of the train including celebrations and runs the train will perform, however it is all in Japanese. If I see word of a JR West retirement I will let you know, but it says on Wiki (Unreliable but still a source) that they will be retired in Spring 2012 (So not long after the JR Central units, or maybe even at the same time). The JR West units are to be replaced by 700 Series units from JR Central, who in turn will have new N700 "Advanced" series units built for them. Last time I was in Japan I only caught sight of one 300 series unit, this was when I passed it at Odawara on my way to Tokyo to fly back to Australia. Even though I did hang around Shinkansen platforms I did not see any others roaming around, which does lead me to believe with the increased N700 deliveries the trains are only used on few services per day. The 300 is one of the last with character by way of sound on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, the 500 being the other with awesome sound. The 700 series and N700 series are very quiet compared, however I did get one on my way back to Tokyo which was screaming out of stations so not all hope is lost! I have been lucky to get a video of a 300 series departure, for those who have not heard the sound of one before this is what I am talking about: http://youtu.be/CaXX7oSoTZ8
Last edited by Sir Pompously on Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [JP] Farewell 300 Series (Shinkansen)

Post by boronia »

It doesn't seem all that long ago that they were new.

Sadly I never got to ride on one, last time I was there they were still reserved for Nozomi services where you couldn't use the rail pass.
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Re: [JP] Farewell 300 Series (Shinkansen)

Post by Bedford-29 »

The 300 series Shinkansen trains were split between JR Central and JR West.The JR Central trains were known as J sets ( 60 16 car trains) withdrawals began in 2007 with the first set going was set J14 the entire JR Central 300 series will be withdrawn by March 2012.The JR West trains were known as F sets ( 9 16 car trains) the JR West withdrawals started in July 2011 with the first set going was set F5 with the remaining trains withdrawn spring 2012.Some of the 300 series Shinkansen trains are 22 years as they were built between 1990-1998 with 69 trains built.
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Re: [JP] Farewell 300 Series (Shinkansen)

Post by dude »

The Tokaido Shinkansen becomes even more boring for the uninitiated with the withdrawal of these sets. While being similar to the later 700/N700's from a side profile view, at least the windows were larger. JR Tokai's plan to make everything boringly standard takes another step.
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Re: [JP] Last Run - 100/300 Series Shinkansen 16/3

Post by Sir Pompously »

Tomorrow will see the 100 and 300 series Shinkansen run for the last time with two special services planned after regular services ended this week (Yesterday for the 100, and Tuesday was the last for the 300)

The 100 series on the Sanyo Shinkansen will run a special service, Hikari 445, from Okayama to Hakata. The 300 series will run a special service, Nozomi 609, on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hakata, passing Hikari 445 at Okayama Station. More information can be found at: http://www.jr-odekake.net/shinkansen/kn ... index.html# with a PDF of the last trip information found at http://www.jr-odekake.net/shinkansen/kn ... 05_dia.pdf)
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Re: [JP] Last Run - 100/300 Series Shinkansen 16/3

Post by TOXANA »

Aren't there still 200s on the Niigata line?
I filmed 2 sets passing each other at Takasaki.
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Re: [JP] Last Run - 100/300 Series Shinkansen 16/3

Post by dude »

Yes, they are still running but will also finish up soon-ish. New E5's from the Tohoku are cascading the Double-Deck E4's to the Joetsu Line. Note, these are operated by a different JR from those above, namely JR East in this case as opposed to JR Tokai.
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