371 series

The 371 series was a Japanese electric multiple unit operated by the Central Japan Railway Company from March 1991 to November 2014, intended for joint usage alongside the Odakyu 20000 series RSE Romancecars.
==History==
Jointly built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi and Nippon Sharyo, the lone set, designated X1, entered service on the Gotemba Line on 16 March 1991 with the revised timetable. Throughout its service life, it was used alongside the Odakyu Electric Railway's 20000 series RSE Romancecars on Asagiri services until 17 March 2012, when Odakyu's 60000 series MSE Romancecars replaced them on these services.
The set was later used on additional limited stop Rapid services from June 2012, connected with a series of hiking events, along with being used as a special charter train from then on. The set made its final run on 30 November 2014, after which it was withdrawn from service.
In December 2014, third sector railway company Fuji Kyuko (better known as Fujikyu) purchased the set; the set was moved from Shizuoka to Nagano in March 2015, where it was reformed and rebuilt into the Fujikyu 8500 series set which entered service in April 2016. The remaining four cars were scrapped.
==Design==
The set used a "soft, but refined" design language, which gave it its distinctive shape. The train was originally equipped with lozenge-style pantographs; these were changed to more modern single arm pantographs from 6 November 2006.
==Specifications==
Construction was of steel. Hitachi built cars 1 and 2, Kawasaki Heavy Industries built cars 3 and 4 and Nippon Sharyo built the remaining three cars.
The doors on the cars are rather unique in that they are sliding plug doors as opposed to recessed sliding doors on most train sets of the era. The train uses a resistor-controlled traction system of the same type as used in the 211, 213 and 311 series sets.
==References==
*Wikipedia.org
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Unique locomotives
Category:Hitachi locomotives
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Nippon Sharyo locomotives
Category:Built in 1990