Tobu introduces Class 90000 EMU for Tojo line
posted on 15th Jul 2026 12:00
Tobu Railway (Tōbu Tetsudō in Japanese), the private railway that serves the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area (Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Gunma and Tochigi prefectures), introduced new 10-car EMUs for the Tōbu Tōjō line on 13 July 2026. Tobu has ordered seven Class 90000 EMUs.
The 1,069 mm gauge ten-car EMUs are built by Hitachi at its Kasado works. The bodyshells are made of aluminium and are not painted, except for grey accents around the driver access doors and blue front ends. The visual concept, including the front-end shape, is inspired by the Takasa-bune, an old Japanese transport boat, reflecting the fact that the line follows the general direction of the Arakawa River. The interior is also decorated with a river theme, featuring wooden patterns on the seats and wave motifs. The side planks are made of glass with a Tatewakugara pattern. The green-tinted windows reduce solar heat radiation. The door windows have been extended closer to the floor, making them much taller than those in other commuter EMUs in Japan. This enables children to see outside. Hand straps are installed at two different heights to better serve passengers of different heights.
Tobu states that the EMU reduces energy consumption by 40%. All the lights use LED technology. The EMU consists of four driving cars, four trailing cars and two trailing end cars. Each driving car has four 215 kW traction motors, which are fed by Hitachi SiC traction inverters. The traction system is a 1,500 V DC catenary system. The maximum speed is 110 km/h. Each car is 20,000 mm long, except for the end cars which are 470 mm longer. The bodyshell is 2,780 mm wide and 4,108 mm high.
The Class 90000 EMU is scheduled to be introduced on the Tobu Tōjō Line on 26 September 2026. The Tōbu Tōjō Line, whose full name is the Tōbu Tōjō Honsen, opened in 1914 and is isolated from the rest of the Tobu railway network. Running from Ikebukuro Station in central Tokyo to Yorii Station in Saitama, it is 75 km long and has 39 stops. The line is used by around 1 million passengers every day. There are seven different types of service with various stop patterns on the line. The line is also connected to other railway lines via the Tokyo Metro network.
