The 5500 series were built by Japan Transport Engineering Company (J-TREC) as part of its "Sustina S13 Series" family of 18-metre (59 ft 1 in)-long, three-door stainless steel-bodied trains.

In addition, they use energy-efficient three-phase induction motors controlled by two-level variable frequency drives using silicon carbide-based MOSFETs.

They were introduced on Narita Sky Access Line services on 26 February 2022.

[3] As of July 2021, the fleet consists of 27 eight-car trainsets.

Toei officially announced initial details of the new trains on 6 December 2016.