JR East to Suspend E8 Shinkansen Trains for Time Being

   Tokyo, June 18 (Jiji Press)--East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said Wednesday that it will suspend some services on the Tohoku and Yamagata Shinkansen train lines, following malfunctions found on E8 series Shinkansen trains.
   The railway operator said that it will halt individual operations of E8 trains until the cause of the trouble is identified.
   On Tuesday, an out-of-service E8 train became unable to accelerate while traveling northward between Utsunomiya and Nasushiobara stations in Tochigi Prefecture, leading to a service suspension between Tokyo Station and Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture for about five and a half hours.
   JR East said that a power supply device malfunctioned, causing the motor to stop working. The company added that three more E8 trains--two in service and one out of service--suffered issues during the service suspension.
   The E8 series entered service last March. Nine trains are in operation, while two are undergoing test runs. The four trains that malfunctioned were the latest version, delivered in November last year and after.

(2025/06/18-21:00)