Hanshin Electric Railway is working on a program to change the design of its existing express trains back to their former image, affectionately known as “red-bodied cars,” and will gradually switch the design of its 1000-series trains from summer 2025.
A red color similar to the latest 3000 series
Hanshin has already announced that it will introduce a new express train, the 3000 series, which will be compatible with the company’s first seat reservation service, from spring 2027. The exterior color of the 3000 series will be a new color called “Re Vermilion,” which inherits the red paint color “vermilion,” which was once the symbol of express trains. The name is a coined word that combines the prefix “Re,” which means “again,” with vermilion, and expresses the hope that the train will inherit the red-bodied cars that have been popular for many years and continue to meet expectations.
In commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the opening of the first intercity electric railway in Japan in 1905, existing express trains will be unified with a vermilion design. The 1000 series, which will undergo a new design change, is an express train that was introduced in 2007 to accommodate direct operation between the Hanshin Namba Line and the Kintetsu Nara Line. The exterior is a yellowish “Vivace Orange”, but the new design announced will have the same Re Vermilion color as the 3000 series from the front of the leading car to the driver’s compartment door and the side boarding and alighting doors.
The once completely abolished “red-bodied cars” revived with the 8000 series
The design change will be applied to all 1000 series (13 6-car trains and 9 2-car trains), and the first trains are scheduled to start operation around late August 2025. Meanwhile, the design change is already underway for the 8000 series, which has the most express trains in its rollingstocks, with 19 trains and a vibrant two-tone color scheme of “Presto Orange” and beige. It was introduced in 1984 with the traditional red-bodied style of a two-tone vermilion and cream color scheme, but by 2015, all trains had been redesigned to their current color scheme.
After that, the 7990 and 7890 series, which had been operating on the Mukogawa Line, were retired in June 2020, and the red-bodied cars were completely abolished, but due to many requests from users to bring them back, it was decided that all 8000 series trains would return to their original design. The first train, 8215, began operating in May 2025 as the first red-bodied cars in about five years for Hanshin, and the red-bodied design of the 8000 series will be restored one after another over the next three to four years. They also has the 9000 series and 9300 series express trains in service, and will announce new designs for these as soon as they are finalized, with the aim of establishing the image that “vermilion is synonymous with Hanshin’s express trains.”
