1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Series-E4-P20: MaedaAkihiko· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The E4 series (Japanese: E4系) was a Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan from December 1997 until October 2021. It was the second double-deck Shinkansen train type, after the E1 series, and was marketed under the name Max (an acronym for Multi-Amenity eXpress). A total of 26 eight-car trainsets were built by Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries between 1997 and 2003.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 29 years ago, in 1997.
- Top speed is 1.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 10 minutes.
- 6.7 MW is about 79 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 71 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 151 m long: about 34 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 817: 16 full city buses (~50 seats each).
- Served for 25 years (1997–2022).
high-speed train: Built for 200–350 km/h on dedicated lines, like the TGV, ICE or Shinkansen.
spec sheet
- built
- 1997
- in service from
- 1997
- retired
- 2022
- status
- retired
- number built
- 208
- kind
- high-speed train
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- builders
- Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
- operators
- East Japan Railway Company
- top speed
- 240 km/h
- power
- 6.7 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Overhead line:, 3, 3 (Sets P81/P82)
- formation
- 8 cars per trainset
- length
- 151 m
- weight
- 428 t
- capacity
- 817 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q255160, Wikipedia: E4 Series Shinkansen (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.