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500 Series Shinkansen / 新幹線500系

The 500 Series (500系) is a Shinkansen train type operated by JR West on the San'yō Shinkansen.

Introduced to improve the San'yō Shinkansen's competitiveness against air travel, the 500 series was designed to operate up to 320km/h. To achieve higher speeds, the vehicle body, bogies, and motor performance were all improved to a great extent. The front car has a aerodynamic shape reminiscent of a fighter jet, it was designed with support from the Aerospace Technology Research Institute. Uniquely among Shinkansen vehicles, 500 series cars have a broadly circular shape to reduce the effects of micro-pressure waves, but this in turn led to a narrower cabin and lower capacity. While track conditions allowed for a max speed of 320km/h, the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 would remind designers of Japan's disaster prone nature. Therefore, the operational top speeds were set to 300km/h to reduce emergency braking distance and lower the risk of derailment in the event of earthquakes. The 500 series would enter service on the flagship Nozomi service between Tokyo and Hakata in 1997, which was jointly operated with JR Central. Due to it's various improvements and high standard equipment, the production costs of the type was deemed too high for introduction onto slower service patterns. As a result, only 9 16-car sets were built, totalling 144 vehicles. As the seat arrangement was different from other Shinkansen types on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen and San'yō Shinkansen, it could not be operated interchangeably. As the N700 series was introduced to Nozomi services in 2007, the 500 series sets were prioritized for withdrawal over the older 300 series, likely caused by it's operational incompatibility. JR West subsequently shortened the formations to 8 cars, and placed them onto the all-station Kodama service on the San'yō Shinkansen. Out of the 9 formations, one was not modified and retired upon the end of Nozomi operations, and 2 modified sets were removed in 2022, which leaves 6 sets (48 cars) remaining. It has been announced that a further 4 trains will retire by 2027, and the remaining 2 are unlikely to last beyond the end of the decade. To date, the 500 series is the only Shinkansen type to be independently designed by JR West, and retains a high level of popularity with the general public.

Basic Information:

Max Speed: 320km/h
Acceleration: 0.53m/s/s
Motor Output: 275kW x 4 per car

The following formations are included:

700 Series V Formation (8 Car)

Configuration: all cars powered
Max Pax: 557
In Service: 2008-

700 Series W Formation (16 Car)

Configuration: all cars powered
Max Pax: 1324
In Service: 1997-2011