Tuesday 11 November 2014

Electric Locomotive Type EH500: Kintaro

Electric locomotive Type JRF EH500 (right) is exhibited in Sumidagawa Station

Following the Type HD300, I am going to show you the other locomotive, which was exhibited in the 2014 Sumidagawa Station Freight Festival last month. It was a red-colored large electric locomotive (EL), Type JR Freight (JRF) EH500.

To digress a little...

Kintaro is a famous samurai in Japanese folklore. It is said that he is a hero of imagination based on a real character. Kintaro was born in 959 in Kanagawa Prefecture near Hakone Mountain. After growing up in Kanagawa, he went to Kyoto, and served Minamotono Yorimitsu, who was one of the early samurais in Japan. An anecdote that Kintaro made famous was his strength. He practiced sumo wrestling with bears on Hakone Mountain. So, Kintaro has become a synonym for a man of strength.

The JRF's EL, Type EH500, called Kintaro is a locomotive of strength. It was launched in 1997 to replace old models such as the Type ED75 and ED79. A total of 81 units have been manufactured so far by Toshiba. Kintaro is an AC (20,000V, 50/60Hz) - DC (1,500V) triple mode locomotive operated on the 1,067mm gauge tracks. Being coupled in two units, the UIC indication of a wheel arrangement for the EH500 is (Bo-Bo)+(Bo-Bo). It has eight 565kW induction motors with a VVVF inverter (variable frequency drive) control system. Pulling cargo container wagons, its maximum speed is 110 km per hour.

The EH500 is really the Kintaro of electric locomotives.

"Kintaro" logo on the body of the EH500