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A shinkansen train painted in purple in the image of a giant human-type weapon in the TV animation series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" made its final run on Sunday.
Hundreds of train enthusiasts were on hand to farewell the 500-series Type Eva (Kodama No. 730) as it left Shin-Osaka Station at 11:29 a.m. bound for Hakata Station.
West Japan Railway Co (JR West) put the train into service on the Sanyo Shinkansen line in November 2015 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the TV broadcast of the popular anime series. It made two round trips between Hakata and Shin-Osaka each day.
The service was supposed to end in March 2017 but due to its immense popularity and the demand for reservations, it was extended until Sunday.
JR West said the train was created under the supervision of Hideaki Anno, director of "Evangelion," and designed by Ikuto Yamashita, "Evangelion's" mechanical designer.
Passengers were able to enjoy a game at an Evangelion cockpit and exhibition within the train.
© Japan Today/Kyodo
14 Comments
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Belrick
Sad to see this go out of service so soon. Very comfortable to ride and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
JohnDigsJapan
And now they will paint it in Hello Kitty colors....well, that's what the guide on the train told me when I rode it a few weeks ago.
wanderlust
Nozomi 500 - my favourite! A great ride, amazing looking train, but 4 x the maintenance and running costs of the Nozomi 700s.
Red suns
Never got a chance to ride the 500 series. How does it compare the 700/700A ?
Yubaru
3 years in service and now "retired", guess who is going to pay for it!
JustyH
Get in the EVA, Shinji!
Bill Wright
Evolution, today’s modernization trumps yesterday’s achievements, and soon and so on.....
Peter Geran
I rode in the 500 series a number of times when they came out . That would be way be in 1995. An impressive looking train, but, compared to the 700 series, the 500 series cars were much more cramped and noisier. An impressive looking train thoufg
darknuts
I don't understand the decision to end this so soon. Why not leave it in service indefinitely? It's a good tourist attraction.
shogun36
Great marketing campaign. Now how about lowering fare prices across the board so that people can travel on them more often?
CaptDingleheimer
Maybe they can sell them to the US; we can't seem to get our act together on this stuff.
dj621962
@CaptDingleheimer
Maybe they can sell them to the US; we can't seem to get our act together on this stuff.
That's because the US government now leaves everything to private enterprise. Grand state-sponsored infrastructure projects like Japan's shinkansen system seem to be a thing of the past there.
Halwick
@dj621962: Not quite correct.
What do you call California's High Speed Rail project? There's a state government-sponsored infrastructure boondoggle project that can't get its act together. It's 40% over budget and 4 years overdue.
Amtrak: another example of a federal government operated passenger rail system that's inefficient and fraught with problems.
It will be interesting how Elon Musk's privately-funded hyperloop works out.
Let's look at space rockets: Musk's private enterprise SpaceX is doing nicely whereas government-operated NASA can't get anything off the ground since they ended the Space Shuttle, which was another inefficient and compromised government-funded project.