701 series

The 701 series is a Japanese suburban electric multiple unit operated by the East Japan Railway Company since June 1993, mainly around the Morioka, Sendai and Akita regions.
==History==
The 701 series was constructed to replace the locomotive-hauled trains with 50 series passenger cars in tow in the north of Japan, in addition to replacing aging 715 series cars.
274 cars were produced, all by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and JR East's Tsuchizaki Works, with the first entering service on 21 June 1993. Some sets are also used by other railways; the Aoimori Railway has one 701-0 series set, one new-build 701-100 series set and seven more 701-1000 series sets converted from JR East sets for a total of nine sets, while the Iwate Galaxy Railway or IGR has seven 7000 sets, with four 7000-0 series sets converted from 701-1000 series sets from JR East and three new-build 7000-100 series sets.
==Design==
The 701 series is heavily based on the 209 series, so some design language such as the overall body shape carries over. The 701 series' has exposed top-mounted dual-beam headlights, à la E127-100 series cars. Each set has a different color scheme to indicate which area the sets serve.
===Livery Variations===
 
Operating area	Front end	Body side
 	 	
Aomori/Morioka	
{| border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100"	
 	 	
 	 	
==Specifications==
Construction is of stainless steel. Each car is 20 meters long. The 701 series' traction system when originally manufactured was a power transistor-controlled variable frequency drive manufactured by Mitsubishi which produce a roaring sound when accelerating from idle somewhat similar to a car shifting gears; some sets were refurbished to use insulated gate bipolar transistor variable frequency drives also manufactured by Mitsubishi which have a distinctive hissing noise. Those sets were upgraded mainly due to the obsolescence of the use of power transistors in variable frequency drives.
A notable trait about the 701 series sets is that they come in two gauge variations; most variants of the 701 series, namely the 701-0, 701-100, 701-1000 and 701-1500 series, are meant for use on cape gauge (3 ft 6 in, 1,067 mm) lines, while the 701-5000 and 701-5500 series variants are meant for use on standard gauge (4 ft 8½ in, 1,435 mm) lines.
==References==
*Wikipedia.org
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Tsuchizaki Works locomotives