Power Supply Malfunction Likely Caused Tohoku Shinkansen Disruption; Many Other E8 Series Trains Experienced Same Issue

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:44 JST, June 19, 2025

A Tohoku Shinkansen train’s stoppage on Tuesday was presumably caused by a malfunction in the system supplying electricity to the train, East Japan Railway Co. announced on Wednesday.

The Tohoku Shinkansen train, which was out of service, was running on its own when its motor appeared to stop running due to a lack of power.

On Tuesday, several other E8 series trains experienced auxiliary power unit failure, and the company decided to suspend their independent operation until the safety could be confirmed.

According to the company, the E8 series is a new train type mainly used for the Yamagata Shinkansen “Tsubasa” and has been gradually introduced since March last year.

After being delivered from the manufacturer, the out-of-service train had undergone a safety inspection test run before starting commercial operation.

On Tuesday, it was also discovered that three other E8 series trains were temporarily suspended due to an auxiliary power supply system malfunction.

The company is investigating the cause of the malfunction in detail.

As a result of the cancellations, a total of 20 Yamagata Shinkansen trains were either fully or partially suspended on Wednesday, and one Tohoku Shinkansen train was also suspended for its entire service section. The Yamagata Shinkansen’s daily traffic volume will be reduced to about 60% of the normal level until it resumes solo operation.