E2-1000 series derivatives shipped to China (8 March 2006)
In a low-key affair designed not to inflame popular anti-Japanese sentiment in China, the first batch of high-speed EMU cars based on the JR East E2-1000 series shinkansen trains was shipped from the Kawasaki Heavy Industries factory in Kobe to Qingdao in northern China on 3 March. The first 8-car train forms part of a 480-car contract for 200 km/h EMUs won in October 2004 by a Japanese consortium including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Electric under the name of Koki Railway System. The first three trains will be built in Japan, with the next six supplied in knocked-down form for assembly by the Chinese manufacturer Nache Sifang, which will then build the remaining trains following a transfer of technology.
(Compiled from The Japan Times and online news reports)