Nambu Line is one of the most overcrowded railways in the Greater Tokyo Area, but its branch lines are not well known. So-called Hama-Kawasaki branch line is a commuter rail line between Shitte and Hama-Kawasaki, which is just 4.1 km (2.5 miles) long with five stations in total. The line is in an industrial area so that there are many passengers during rush hours but very few at off-peak times.
The branch line has been served by two-carriage trains, which look like a rural railway. In 2023, JR East introduced "new trains" called E127 series, which were in fact reallocated from Niigata Prefecture. However, they were mostly inactive in 2024 due to "unreliablity" that the company refuses to explain in detail, and thus 35-year-old 205 series trains were reinstated.
At the end of 2024, a trade union referred to the reason why the E127 series trains were temporarily removed from service. The document suggests that train drivers filed a complaint about insufficient air-conditioning especially in a cab. It might have been less of an issue when the E127 series trains were running in Niigata Prefecture where people have to care more about heavy snow than scorching temperature, but it seems to have become a nightmare in Kawasaki and Yokohama cities.
The 205 series trains have remained longer than planned as stopgaps, though two out of three units were sent for scrap in mid-December 2024. This means that there is no choice but to use the E127 series in summer no matter how hot the trains are.
According to the trade union, there is currently no plan of introducing E131 series or any other newer trains to the line. Thus, the only possible solution is installing more powerful air-conditioner or fans on the E127 series trains. Otherwise, the immense heatwave will make drivers ill and thus it would end up with service reduction caused by a shortage of train crew.
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