Caption: A NEW 275km/h eight-car Shinkansen emu for JR East--the Series E2-1000--is undergoing tests in Japan. It will operate on the Tohoku Line, which will be extended 97km from Morioka to Hachinohe in 2002. It has two driving trailers and six motored cars, and can seat 630. Bodyshells are made of double-skin aluminium extrusions.

The train has a newly-designed pantograph, which reduces noise by employing new oval-shaped epoxy resin insulators with a surrounding noise shield.