Extra sets were built in 2002 to cope with the increase in traffic during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

These sets were classified 253-200 series, and included minor improvements over the original 253-0 and 253-100 series sets, such as LED destination indicators, conventional rotating seats in standard class, and 2+1 seating in Green Cars.

[5] The standard-class seating arrangement used in the original 253 series sets was unusual for Japanese limited express trains in consisting of European-style fixed four-seat bays.

The seats were later rearranged in a fixed unidirectional layout facing four-seat bays in the centre of each car between 2003 and 2004.

Onboard announcements and passenger information displays are in four languages, Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

Two three-car sets, Ne107 and Ne108, were sold to the Nagano Electric Railway for use on new Snow Monkey limited express services.

The two sets, reclassified as 2100 series, entered service from February 2011 after modifications to allow wanman driver only operation.