285 series

The 285 series, branded the Sunrise Express, is a Japanese limited express electric multiple unit operated jointly by the Central and West Japan Railway Companies since July 1998.
==History==
Branded the Sunrise Express, the 285 series has been used as a dedicated train on Sunrise Izumo and Sunrise Seto services on various lines starting from 10 July 1998. Five seven-car sets were built for a total of thirty-five cars. Each of the five sets is used on a specific Sunrise Izumo or Sunrise Seto service; set I1 is used in either service, set I2 forms the up Sunrise Seto, set I3 forms the up Sunrise Izumo, set I4 forms the down Sunrise Izumo and set I5 forms the down Sunrise Seto.
The Sunrise Izumo and Sunrise Seto services operate in a rather unique fashion. Two seven-car sets will be coupled together to form a fourteen-car set at Tokyo which leaves the station at 10pm JST; from there, the combined fourteen-car train will reach Okayama Station at approximately 6:27am JST and will split off into their respective directions (the Sunrise Izumo goes to Izumoshi Station in Shimane Prefecture and the Sunrise Seto goes to Takamatsu Station in Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku Island).
Similarly, on the return trip, the two 285 series sets on the Sunrise Izumo and Sunrise Seto services leave their respective stations at 6:55pm and 9:26pm JST respectively, meeting and coupling back together at Okayama Station and departing at 10:33pm JST; the combined fourteen-car set will arrive back in Tokyo at approximately 7:08am JST.
All 35 cars are in service, all of which ply the Sunrise Izumo or Sunrise Seto service and are based at either Ōgaki or Gotō Depot.
As the 285 series sets were voted as the most outstanding design of that year, it is the recipient of the 1999 Blue Ribbon Award.
==Design==
 Colors used
Color 	Color name 	Supposed to evoke:
 	Morning Glow Red 	Color of the sun as it rises
 	Morning Mist Beige	Interpretation of the morning mist
 	Sun Rise Gold 	Color of the horizon as the sun rises
The 285 series uses a somewhat streamlined design with a "morning mist beige" body to emulate the color of the morning mist of sorts, with a "morning glow red" part of the body to emulate the glow of the sun as it rises, in addition to "sun rise gold" accents to emulate the horizon.
==Specifications==
Construction is of steel. Cars are 21.67 meters long and include gangways on both ends. Traction motors are three-level insulated gate bipolar transistor variable frequency drives manufactured by either Mitsubishi or Toshiba; the Mitsubishi variable frequency drives making a a wooshing sound that steps up in pitch when accelerating from idle while the Toshiba variable frequency drives make a more shrill sound.
The 285 series is equipped with a musical horn that plays a simple do-mi-so-do tune. This musical horn is standard on most of JR West's limited express fleet.
==References==
*Wikipedia.org
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Kinki Sharyo locomotives
Category:Nippon Sharyo locomotives