The design used many components common with the Class EF210, and was intended to replace ageing Class EF81 locomotives on freight services operating along the Sea of Japan coastal routes.
Variants
EF510-0: Locomotives EF510-1 – built from 2001 for JR Freight
EF510-500: Locomotives EF510-501 – 515, built 2009–2010 originally for JR East
The class is subdivided into the original EF510-0 sub-class operated by JR Freight and fifteen EF510-500 sub-class locomotives ordered and originally operated on passenger services by JR East. As of 1 October 2013, there were 23 EF510-0 locomotives and 15 EF510-500 locomotives in service.
Class EF510-0
The first locomotive, EF510-1, was delivered in February 2002 and initially based at Shin-Tsurumi Depot before being transferred to Toyama Depot in 2002. The first full-production locomotive, EF510-2, was delivered in November 2003, and this and subsequent locomotives delivered featured "Red Thunder" bodyside branding.
Class EF510-500
The EF510-500 subclass consists of 15 locomotives originally operated by East Japan Railway Company, which replaced its fleet of EF81 locomotives formerly used to haul Cassiopeia and Hokutosei overnight sleeping car trains from June 2010. These were the first locomotives to be ordered by any of the JR passenger operating companies since privatization. The new locomotives cost around 400 million yen each. The first locomotive, EF510-501, was delivered from the Kawasaki Heavy Industries factory in Hyogo Prefecture on 18 December 2009, arriving at Tabata Depot in Tokyo on 19 December. Livery was blue with gold lining and shooting star logo. Two of the fifteen locomotives were painted in a dedicated colour scheme of silver with blue, purple, red, orange, and yellow stripes, to match the Cassiopeia rolling stock. The first locomotive, EF510-501, entered service on 25 June 2010. From the start of the revised timetable in March 2013, Joban Line freight duties operated by JR East EF510-500 locomotives were operated instead by JR Freight Class EH500 locomotives, and locomotive numbers EF510-501 to 508 and 511 became surplus to requirements. These nine locomotives were subsequently sold to JR Freight in July 2013. Locomotives EF510-512, 513, and 515 were also transferred to JR Freight in December 2015.
Build details
The delivery dates and liveries for the Class EF510-500 fleet are as follows.
