400 series
A 400 series train on aTsubasa service at Yonezawa Station in March 2005
In service	1 July 1992 – 18 April 2010 (17 years, 291 days)
Manufacturer	Hitachi,Kawasaki Heavy Industries,Tokyu Car Corporation
Family name	Mini-shinkansen
Constructed	1992–1995
Refurbished	1999–2001
Scrapped	2009–2010
Number built	84 vehicles (12 sets)
Number in service	None
Number preserved	1 vehicle
Number scrapped	83 vehicles
Successor	E3-2000 series
Formation	7 cars per trainset
Fleet numbers	L1–L12
Capacity	399 (20 Green + 379 Standard)
Operators	JR East
Depots	Yamagata
Lines served	Tohoku Shinkansen,Yamagata Shinkansen
Specifications
Car body construction	Steel
Car length	22,825 mm (74 ft 10.6 in) (end cars) 20,500 mm (67 ft 3 in) (intermediate cars)
Width	2,947 mm (9 ft 8.0 in)
Doors	one per side
Maximum speed	240 km/h (149 mph) (Tōhoku Shinkansen) 130 km/h (81 mph) (Yamagata Shinkansen)
Traction system	24 x 210 kW (282 hp) (Thyristor drive)
Power output	5.04 MW (6,759 hp)
Acceleration	1.6 km/(h⋅s) (0.99 mph/s)
Deceleration	2.6 km/(h⋅s) (1.6 mph/s)
Electric system(s)	20/25 kV AC, 50 Hz,overhead catenary
Current collection	PS204pantograph
Bogies	DT204 (motored), TR7006 (trailer)
Safety system(s)	ATC-2,DS-ATC,ATS-P
Multiple working	200 series,E4 series
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge

The400 series (400系) was a JapaneseShinkansen high-speed train type operated byEast Japan Railway Company (JR East) between 1992 and 2010 onTsubasa services on Japan's firstmini-shinkansen line, theYamagata Shinkansen branch from the mainTohoku Shinkansen.

The fleet of 400 series trains was leased by JR East from the owning company, Yamagata JR Chokutsū Tokkyū Hoyū Kikō (山形ジェイアール直通特急保有機構(株)), a third-sector company jointly owned by JR East andYamagata Prefecture.^[1]

They were originally six-car sets, but a seventh car (type 429) was added in 1995 to each set due to the popularity of the newTsubasa services.

The pre-series set, S4, was delivered in October 1990, and shown off to the press on 26 October 1990. This was a six-car set arranged as shown below with all cars motored.^[2]

The unit featured three different types of bolster less bogies: DT9028 on cars 1 and 3, DT9029 on cars 2 and 4, and DT9030 on cars 5 and 6. TheGreen car seats featured seat-back TV screens, a feature not used on the subsequent production sets.^[2]

Test running began on theŌu Main Line betweenNiwasaka andItaya on 14 November 1990. From 23 January 1991, test running began in conjunction with a newly converted200 series 8-car K set on theTōhoku Shinkansen betweenSendai andKitakami. On 26 March 1991, the 400 series set S4 established a new Japanese speed record of 336 km/h (209 mph) on theJōetsu Shinkansen in the Yuzawa Tunnel betweenEchigo-Yuzawa andUrasa. On 19 September 1991, the train set a new speed record of 345 km/h (214 mph) on the same stretch of track.^[3]

Test running continued into 1992, with set S4 reaching Tokyo for the first time on 20 May 1992. The pre-series set was then modified to bring it up to production batch standards, becoming set L1 on 29 June 1992.^[3]

The fleet of twelve six-car sets entered service on the newTsubasa shinkansen services from 1 July 1992.^[4] The six-car sets were all lengthened to seven cars due to the popularity of theTsubasa services that they ran. This change occurred between November and December 1995 with the addition of a new type 429 trailer car as car 15.^[4]

Withdrawals started in December 2008, with the first set, L1.^[4] The entire fleet was scheduled to be withdrawn by summer 2009 and replaced by newE3-2000 series trains.^[5] However, one set, L3, remained in service until 18 April 2010, with the date chosen to mark 18 years of service.^[6] This last 400 series Shinkansen was coupled to an E4 series during its last run.

The first eleven sets to be withdrawn were all cut up at Sendai General Depot, but one car (Green car 411-3) of the last set to be withdrawn, L3, was stored at the former Fukushima depot before being moved to Omiya in Saitama Prefecture in December 2017 where it is preserved at theRailway Museum.^[7]

The production 400 series sets were configured as shown below following the addition of a trailer car (car 15) in late 1995.^[8]

Cars 1 and 2 were built byTokyu Car Corporation, cars 3 to 4 were built byHitachi, and cars 5 to 6 were built byKawasaki Heavy Industries.^[8] Cars 12 and 14 were equipped with pantographs.^[9]

• 
  411-3 (car 11)
• 
  426-203 (car 12)
• 
  425-3 (car 13)
• 
  426-3 (car 14)
• 
  429-3 (car 15)
• 
  425-203 (car 16)
• 
  422-3 (car 17)

Source:^[9]

In terms of style, the 400 series were originally painted a medium silver grey with a darker roof and area around the cab windows and underframe. However they were refurbished and repainted between 1999 and 2001, with a higher area of dark bluish-grey on the underside, coming up almost to the side windows, and separated from the silver grey with a green stripe. The dark grey on the roof and around the cab windows was removed.

Clearances were significantly reduced compared to previous Shinkansen lines, and thus the 400 series units were much narrower than previous Shinkansen trains. At shinkansen stations (i.e. high-speed line stations), steps extended from beneath the doors to bridge the gap between the trains and platforms.

Green car (first class) accommodations had 2+1 abreast seating, unlike theE3 series trains which replaced them, which featured 2+2 seating in both standard class and Green cars. Seat pitch was 1,160 mm (46 in) in Green class (car 11), 980 mm (39 in) in reserved-seating cars (12 to 15), and 910 mm (36 in) in non-reserved cars (16 and 17).^[4]

When the fleet received life-extension refurbishment between 1999 and 2001, the interiors were also refurbished with new seatsmoquette. The reserved seating cars received red moquette, while the non-reserved seating cars received turquoise moquette.^[4]

• 
  Refurbished standard-class reserved-seating car
• 
  Refurbished Green car seating

• List of high speed trains

Wikimedia Commons has media related toShinkansen 400.

• "400 SeriesTsubasa/Nasuno" (in Japanese). Archived fromthe original on 7 July 2008. Retrieved10 August 2008.

• East Japan Railway Company
• Shinkansen train series
• Train-related introductions in 1992
• Passenger trains running at least at 200 km/h in commercial operations
• Hitachi multiple units
• 20 kV AC multiple units
• 25 kV AC multiple units
• Kawasaki multiple units
• Tokyu Car multiple units

• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2023
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Commons category link from Wikidata