Shinkansen E4 Series

The E4 series was the second double-deck Shinkansen train type, after the E1 series, and like it was marketed as Max. It was operated by the East Japan Railway Company from December 1997 until October 2021 to relieve overcrowding on the Tōhoku and Jōetsu Shinkansen, and it also saw occasional use on the line now known as the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries built 26 eight-car trainsets between 1997 and 2003. Unlike the steel E1, the E4 used lightweight aluminium construction, but the sets remained heavy enough to limit maximum operating speed to 240 kilometres per hour. Two sets could be coupled to make a 16-car formation with 1,634 seats, the highest-capacity high-speed train configuration in the world. The type made its last run on 1 October 2021 and the final set was formally withdrawn on 30 March 2022.