The two newest-built sets, Ne201 and Ne202, underwent extensive
refurbishment at JR East's Omiya Works and Tokyu Car Corporation's
Yokohama factory to become 253-1000 series sets OM-N1 and OM-N2 for use
on Nikkō and Kinugawa limited express services jointly operated with Tobu Railway from 4 June 2011, replacing the 485 series and 189 series EMUs currently used.
Refurbishment includes entirely new interiors with monoclass seating
configured with seat pitch increased from 1,020 mm to 1,100 mm, as well
as replacement of main equipment. The total seating capacity for each
six-car set is 290. Onboard announcements and passenger information
displays is in four languages, Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.