Japan unveils "Evangelion" shinkansen train.

[Three-Nine]

http://kotaku.com/the-evangelion-bullet-train-looks-truly-magnificent-in-1737292763

The Evangelion Bullet Train Looks Truly Magnificent in Real Life

We’ve seen the teaser images. We’ve seen the concept art. But nothing, I repeat nothing, can prepare you for seeing an actual Neon Genesis Evangelion bullet train.

The bullet train won’t be in service until next month in Japan, but today, it was shown off to the Japanese press, and Tokyo Keizai, Inside Games, Tetsudo Shimbun and Traffic News were on hand to check the train out.

For those wondering what all the fuss is about, "Evangelion" was a hugely popular anime series from the late 90s. The interior decorations are taken from the show (NERV is a paramilitary organization, "A.T. Fields" are a type of force field, and the cockpit mock-up is based on the ones used by characters to pilot giant robots called Evas - though one inaccuracy is that they're supposed to be completely filled with a special oxygenated liquid, a task presumably beyond the skills of even Japanese railway engineers... ).

 

[Kite159]

Looks rather good

 

[coupwotcoup]

Hope the new Crossrail trains look similar... )

Not sure about the bloke in the smoking room...looks like he's just found a porn mag!

 

[Camden]

Wipeout 2097 was a British made video game, not a style guide.

What counts as "good looks" does vary from country to country, but I have to say I think this is pretty ugly.

The chunky 90s airline looking seats, the gloomy colours, the smoking rooms??

I think the exterior looks alien-like.

I'm sure it will be cool to travel on, and better than our trains, but I hope as and when and if high speed trains make it to Britain they'll have a bit more of a muted and understated style.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

http://kotaku.com/the-evangelion-bullet-train-looks-truly-magnificent-in-1737292763

For those wondering what all the fuss is about, "Evangelion" was a hugely popular anime series from the late 90s. The interior decorations are taken from the show (NERV is a paramilitary organization, "A.T. Fields" are a type of force field, and the cockpit mock-up is based on the ones used by characters to pilot giant robots called Evas - though one inaccuracy is that they're supposed to be completely filled with a special oxygenated liquid, a task presumably beyond the skills of even Japanese railway engineers... ).

Which Evas are they using as inspiration...? I'm a fan of Evangelion Unit-01 myself - the Test Type

 

[jon0844]

A game site talking about trains and a tech site talking about trains yesterday (the new Eurostar trains, which the Verge said were Italian, not German!).

 

[MarkyT]

That's a redecorated 500 series:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Series_Shinkansen

One of the best looking of the modern Shinkansen designs I think. Just nicely streamlined without the odd bulbous noses of later models. At nearly 20 years old the small fleet of 500s are getting on a bit now and have all been retired from their former limited stop Nozomi express duties in favour of newer N700s. After reforming from 16 to 8 cars The 500s have been cascaded to slower all stations services today.

 

[ian959]

Going to be a huge hit with the fanboys. Must admit it looks really cool and different.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

That's a redecorated 500 series:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Series_Shinkansen

One of the best looking of the modern Shinkansen designs I think. Just nicely streamlined without the odd bulbous noses of later models. At nearly 20 years old the small fleet of 500s are getting on a bit now and have all been retired from their former limited stop Nozomi express duties in favour of newer N700s. After reforming from 16 to 8 cars The 500s have been cascaded to slower all stations services today.

So are there surplus "power cars" and coaches then?

 

[Three-Nine]

Wipeout 2097 was a British made video game, not a style guide.

The show the scheme is based on is roughly from the same era...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Not sure about the bloke in the smoking room...looks like he's just found a porn mag!

For that particular character, that would in fact be a reasonably good description...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Which Evas are they using as inspiration...? I'm a fan of Evangelion Unit-01 myself - the Test Type

Given the use of purple, I've been assuming its Unit-01 as well.

It was common for shinkansen to have smoking cars when I first started travelling in Japan but I'm trying to recall if thats still the case now... (in the past few years theres been a crackdown on smoking in Japan Rail stations).

 

[hulabaloo]

I occasionally watch Shinkansen passenger view videos to relax (we all have our odd habits) and they do still announce smoking areas on the trains from Tokyo to Hiroshima line.

 

[MarkyT]

So are there surplus "power cars" and coaches then?

According to the Wikipedia article, 64 vehicles were retained in total and 79 scrapped in the rebuild, with one end car saved for the new Kyoto museum. There were nine 16-car trains originally (144 vehicles). Only eight trains survived in the new 8-car form.

 

[stut]

There were definitely smoking compartments (small, sectioned off areas of the large vestibule) on the Tokaido Shinkansen (N700) this summer. The smell does escape when someone enters or exits, but I didn't find it travelled, or that significant smoke escaped. There were only a couple such areas on the train.

Didn't notice them on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, but wasn't really looking.

 

[Kite159]

There was smoking rooms on the N700 to Tokyo from Hakata



IIRC from the announcements there are 3 rooms in total, the one in the middle for use by "green card" (Japanese equivalent to 1st class I'm assuming) passengers only.

 

[stut]

Green Car. Yes, it's effectively first class, with very configurable 2+2 seating on the Shinkansen, and a variety of other accommodations on outer-urban and inter-urban services. Actually quite a good deal on the JRP, recommended if you're travelling over a major festival.

Some newer Shinkansen have a higher class: Gran Class. This is 2+1 pod-type seating, something akin to the slightly older generation of angled business class seats on long-haul flights (or CTX business class, if you're familiar with that).

 

[Three-Nine]

Thanks for the update on the smoking sections, I couldn't recall if they were separate coaches or just smoking rooms.

They were advertising Gran Class quite heavily at JR stations last time I was there, and yes, going by the illustrations the seats appear to be roughly equivalent to what airlines consider "business class" seating.

In case you're wondering, no, the Japanese do not appear to have an expression that means "good enough"...!