JNR Class DE15

Data (as of 5 Apr 2025)

History

Class DE15 is a type of diesel locomotive developed by Japanese National Railways. It is almost identical to Class DE10, but the DE15 is designed to be used with snow blower. Two snow plough units are attached to the DE15 locomotive in winter, and those units are effectively treated as parts of the locomotive. In other seasons, they can be used as shunter or even haul trains on mainline just like the DE10.

84 locos were distributed to JR East, JR Central and JR West following the privatisation of JNR, but those in Honshu (main island of Japan) declined dramatically by the 2010s. JR East and JR Central replaced all locos with smaller vehicles for clearing snow. JR East resold some of them to JR Freight, where the locos were converted to the Class DE10. JR West has been replacing the DE15 with KiYa 143 series, a type of diesel multiple unit with snowploughs.

Ainokaze Toyama Railway also had two locos which were inherited from JR West.

Current Operations & Future Prospects

JR Hokkaido uses 12 locos to remove snow on track, namely on Hakodate Main Line, Sekihoku Main Line and Soya Main Line. In other seasons, they engage in shunting or hauling empty coaching stock on mainline. The company plans to replace all of them in 2026-27 with new ones. The other three await disposal.

Photo

When snow plough units are not attached to the locomotive, the Class DE15 looks almost identical to the Class DE10.