JR East just announced the end of the "Genbi Shinkansen" service with the Last Run slated on December 19th this year, the train set itself was modified from a surplus E3-0 Shinkansen set from the Akita Shinkansen after the introduction of the E6 and entered service in 2016. This begs the question on how long will the Toreiyu set last before suffering from the same fate.
https://www.jrniigata.co.jp/press/20200727gennbisinnkannsenn.pdf>>1523314Choshi Electric Railway had been losing money for a long while and had been relying on other avenues to lessen the blow (Japan Railway Journal's Episode 72 talked about the company), but Corona has definitely made the problem worse for them and other small local railways.
Fun Fact: Choshi's CEO Takemoto Katsunori actually acquired a Class A Train Driver Certificate back in 2016 and works two shifts a week driving the train.
