E217 series

Introduced in 1994 to replace the 113 series EMUs running on the Sōbu Line (Rapid) and Yokosuka Line, the E217 series was the first outer-suburban train type in Japan to feature four pairs of doors per side per car. The basic design was developed from the 209 series commuter EMUs. It replaced all the Yokosuka Line 113 series trains by 1999. The trains were built jointly by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Tokyu Car, and JR East (Niitsu and Ofuna factories). For traction, they used Mitsubishi Electric-manufactured VVVF inverters with IGBT (formerly GTO) switching devices which control Mitsubishi MT68/73 traction motors. The gear ratio was 97:16. ==Former operations==

• Kashima Line (Sawara – Kashima-Jingū) • Narita Line (Chiba – Narita Airport, Sawara) • Sōbu Main Line (Tokyo – Narutō) • Sotobō Line (Chiba – Kazusa-Ichinomiya) • Uchibō Line (Chiba – Kimitsu) • Yokosuka Line (Tokyo – Kurihama) • Shōnan–Shinjuku Line (Shinjuku – Zushi) (December 2001 – October 2004) • Tōkaidō Main Line (Tokyo – Atami) (March 2006 – March 2015) • Airport Narita (name discontinued March 2018) ==Formations==

Yokosuka/Sōbu Line formations 11-car Yokosuka/Sōbu Line sets The 11-car sets were based at Kamakura Depot and formed with four motored ("M") cars and seven non-powered trailer ("T") cars. • Cars 3 and 9 each had one scissors pantograph. • Cars 1 and 11 had an accessible/priority "free space". • Cars 1, 5, and 11 each had a toilet (universal design in car 1, Japanese-style in car 11). • Car 8 was designated as a mildly air-conditioned car. • Cars 4 and 5 were bilevel Green Cars with transverse seating. • Cars 9, 10, and 11 had a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating. 4-car Yokosuka/Sōbu Line sets The four-car sets were based at Kamakura Depot and formed with two motored ("M") cars and two non-powered trailer ("T") cars. • Cars 3 and 9 each had one scissors pantograph. • Cars 1 and 10 had an accessible/priority "free space". • Cars 1, 5, and 10 each had a toilet (universal design in car 1, Japanese-style in car 10). • Car 8 was designated as a mildly air-conditioned car. • Cars 4 and 5 were bilevel Green Cars with transverse seating. • Cars 9 and 10 had a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating. 5-car Tōkaidō Line sets Three five-car sets (F-51–F-53) were based at Kōzu Depot and formed with two motored ("M") cars and three non-powered trailer ("T") cars. • Car 13 had a scissors pantograph. • Cars 11 and 15 had an accessible/priority "free space". • Car 11 had a Japanese-style toilet. • Car 14 had a mix of longitudinal and transverse box seating. File:Jre E217F.jpg|E217 series in Shōnan livery, April 2007 ==Interior==

File:E217-inside-longseat.jpg|E217 series longitudinal seating File:E217-inside-semicross-seat.jpg|E217 series transverse seating File:Series-E217 Green-car-2F.jpg|Green car upper saloon, October 2021 File:Series-E217 Green-car-1F.jpg|Green car lower saloon, October 2021 ==History==

The E217 series trains entered revenue service from 3 December 1994. The first withdrawn set was transferred to Nagano in January 2021. The last remaining sets were withdrawn from service after their final runs on 8 March 2025 before the start of the revised timetable on 15 March of that year. Rejected export to Indonesia In September 2022, Indonesian state railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) filed for permission to import 348 used E217 series cars between 2023 and 2024 to replace older trainsets in its subsidiary commuter network KAI Commuter. This request was rejected by the Indonesian Ministry of Industry in January 2023, resulting in domestic controversy. Following meetings with government ministries, KAI later announced in June 2023 that they would buy new trainsets from Japan and Indonesia instead of used E217 series sets. ==References==