Shinkansen

300 (right) and 700 Series Shinkansen at Tokyo Station

The Shinkansen (新幹線, Shinkansen^?) is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the 210 km/h (130 mph) Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network (2,459 km or 1,528 miles) has expanded to link most major cities on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū at speeds up to 300 km/h. Test runs have reached 443 km/h (275 mph) for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world-record 581 km/h (361 mph) for maglev trainsets in 2003.

Shinkansen literally means "New Trunk Line", referring to the tracks, but the name is widely used inside and outside Japan to refer to the trains as well as the system as a whole. The name "Superexpress" (超特急, chō-tokkyū^?), initially used for Hikari trains, was retired in 1972 but is still used in English-language announcements and signage.

In contrast to older lines, Shinkansen are standard gauge, and use tunnels and viaducts to go through and over obstacles rather than around them. With a minimum curve radius of 4,000 meters (2,500 meters in the oldest Tōkaidō Shinkansen), the system was built entirely from the ground up on elevated tracks without road crossings and separate from conventional rail. It employs an ATC (Automatic Train Control) system, eliminating the need for signals.

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is the world's busiest high-speed rail line. Carrying 375,000 passengers a day, it has transported more passengers (4.5 billion) than all other high speed lines in the world combined. Though largely a long-distance transport system, the Shinkansen also serves commuters who travel to work in metropolitan areas from outlying cities.

History

Shinkansen track is standard gauge, extremely level, with welded rails to reduce vibration.

Japan was the first country to build dedicated railway lines for high speed travel. Because of the mountainous terrain, the existing network consisted of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge lines, which generally took indirect routes and could not be adapted to higher speeds. Consequently, Japan had a greater need for new high speed lines than countries where the existing standard gauge or broad gauge rail system had more upgrade potential.

Early proposals

The popular English name bullet train is a literal translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha (弾丸列車), a nickname given to the project while it was initially being discussed in the 1930s. The name stuck due to the Shinkansen locomotive's resemblance to a bullet and its high speed.

The "Shinkansen" name was first formally used in 1940 for a proposed standard gauge passenger and freight line between Tokyo and Shimonoseki that would have used steam and electric locomotives with a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). Over the next three years, the Ministry of Railways drew up more ambitious plans to extend the line to Beijing (through a tunnel to Korea) and even Singapore, and build connections to the Trans-Siberian Railway and other trunk lines in Asia. These plans were abandoned in 1943 as Japan's position in World War II worsened. However, some construction did commence on the line; several tunnels on the present-day Shinkansen date to the war-era project.

In 1957, Odakyu Electric Railway introduced its Romancecar 3000 SE service, setting a world speed record of 145 km/h (90 mph) for a narrow gauge train. This train gave designers the confidence that they could safely build an even faster standard gauge train. Thus the first Shinkansen, the 0 Series, was built on the success of the Romancecar.

Construction

Mount Fuji with Shinkansen and Sakura trees in the foreground

Following the end of World War II, high speed rail was forgotten for several years while passengers steadily increased on the conventional Tōkaidō Main Line. By the mid-1950s the Tōkaidō Line was operating at full capacity, and the Ministry of Railways decided to revisit the Shinkansen project. Government approval came in December 1958, and construction of the first segment of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka started in April 1959. Some of the construction was financed by an US$80 million loan from the World Bank. A test facility for rolling stock, now part of the line, opened in Odawara in 1962.

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened on October 11964, in time for the Tokyo Olympics. Conventional Limited Express service took six hours and 40 minutes from Tokyo to Osaka, but the Shinkansen made the trip in just four hours, shortened to three hours and ten minutes by 1965. The service was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on July 131967, and one billion passengers in 1976. Sixteen-car trains were introduced for Expo '70 in Osaka.

The first Shinkansen trains, the 0 series, ran at speeds of up to 210 km/h (130 mph)[1], later increased to 220 km/h (135 mph). The last of these trains, with their classic bullet-nosed appearance, were retired on 30 November 2008. A driving car from one of the 0 series trains is now in the British National Railway Museum in York, England.

Network expansion

The Tōkaidō Line's rapid success prompted an extension westward to Hiroshima and Fukuoka, the Sanyō Shinkansen), which was completed in 1975.

Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was an ardent supporter of the Shinkansen, and his government proposed an extensive network paralleling most existing trunk lines. Two new lines, the Tōhoku Shinkansen and Jōetsu Shinkansen, were built following this plan. Many other planned lines were delayed or scrapped entirely as Japan National Railways slid into debt throughout the late '70s, largely due to the high cost of building the Shinkansen network. By the early 1980s, the company was practically insolvent, leading to its privatization in 1987.

Development of the Shinkansen continued despite this setback, however. Several new train models followed the first, each generally with its own distinctive appearance. Shinkansen trains now run regularly at speeds up to 300 km/h (186 mph), placing them alongside the French TGV, Italian TAV, Spanish AVE, and German ICE among the fastest trains in the world.

Since 1970, development has also been underway for the Chūō Shinkansen, a planned maglev line from Tokyo to Osaka. On December 22003, the 3-car maglev trainset JR-Maglev MLX01 reached a world speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph).

In 2003, JR Central reported that the Shinkansen's average arrival time was within six seconds of the scheduled time. This includes all natural and human accidents and errors and is calculated over roughly 160,000 Shinkansen trips completed. The previous record, from 1997, was 18 seconds. Japan celebrated 40 years of high speed rail in 2004, with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line alone having carried 4.16 billion passengers. According to Japanrail.com, the website for companies that operate Shinkansen, the network has carried over 6 billion passengers.

Safety record

During the Shinkansen's 44-year, nearly 7 billion-passenger history, there have been no passenger fatalities due to derailments or collisions, despite frequent earthquakes and typhoons. Injuries and a single fatality have been caused by doors closing on passengers or their belongings; attendants are employed at platforms to prevent such mishaps. There have, however, been suicides by passengers jumping both from and in front of moving trains. In comparison, there have been TGV accidents and InterCityExpress accidents resulting in fatalities, despite these systems' comparatively placid operating environments.

The only derailment of a Shinkansen train in passenger service occurred during the Chūetsu Earthquake on October 23, 2004. Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the Jōetsu Shinkansen derailed near Nagaoka Station in Nagaoka, Niigata. There were no casualties among the 154 passengers. [2]PDF (43.8 KiB) In the event of an earthquake, an earthquake detection system can bring the train to a stop very quickly. Experimental Fastech 360 trains have ear-like air resistance braking flaps to assist emergency stops at high speeds. A new anti-derailment device was installed after detailed analysis of the derailment.

Future

Construction of Hokuriku Shinkansen in Fukui

Noise pollution concerns mean that increasing speed is becoming more difficult. Current research is primarily aimed at reducing operational noise, particularly the "tunnel boom" phenomenon caused when trains exit tunnels at high speed.

JR East has announced that new trains capable of up to 320 km/h (199 mph) are to be introduced coinciding with the opening of the Tōhoku Shinkansen extension from Hachinohe to Shin-Aomori in early 2011. Extensive trials using the Fastech 360 test trains has shown that operation at 360 km/h is not currently feasible due to problems of noise pollution, overhead wire wear, and braking distances. This may indicate the limits to railed Shinkansen technology, and eventually maglev or another technology will need to replace it. Operation at speeds of up to 320 km/h between Utsunomiya and Shin-Aomori is expected to allow journey times of around 3 hours for trains from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori (a distance of approximately 675 km or 419 miles).

The Kyūshū Shinkansen from Kagoshima to Yatsushiro opened in March 2004. Three more extensions are planned for opening by 2010: Hakata-Yatsushiro, Hachinohe-Aomori, and by 2014: Nagano-Kanazawa, and 2015: Aomori-Hakodate (through the Seikan Tunnel). There are also long-term plans to extend the network, Hokkaidō Shinkansen from Hakodate to Sapporo, Kyūshū Shinkansen to Nagasaki, as well as to complete a link from Kanazawa back to Osaka, although none of these are likely to be completed by 2020. Also, the CEO of JR Central announced plans to have the maglev Chūō Shinkansen operating Tokyo-Nagoya in 1 hr (366 km/227 miles) by 2025.

The Narita Shinkansen project to connect Tokyo to Narita International Airport, initiated in the 1970s but halted in 1983 after landowner protests, has been officially cancelled and removed from the Basic Plan governing Shinkansen construction. Parts of its planned right-of-way will be utilized by the Narita Rapid Railway link when it opens in 2010. Although the NRR will use standard-gauge track, it will not be built to Shinkansen specifications and it would not be feasible to convert it into a full Shinkansen line.

List of Shinkansen lines

Map of Shinkansen network.
Lines in green: Operated by JR East
Lines in yellow: Operated by JR Central
Lines in blue: Operated by JR West
Lines in red: Operated by JR Kyūshū
Lines in gray: Planned

The main Shinkansen lines are:

Two further lines, known as "Mini-Shinkansen", have also been constructed by upgrading existing sections of line:

• Yamagata Shinkansen (Fukushima – Shinjō)
• Akita Shinkansen (Morioka – Akita)

There are two standard gauge not technically classified as Shinkansen lines but with Shinkansen services:

• Hakata Minami Line (Hakata – Hakata-Minami)
• Gala-Yuzawa Line – technically a branch of the Jōetsu Line – (Echigo-Yuzawa – Gala-Yuzawa)

Future lines

Many Shinkansen lines were proposed during the boom of the early 1970s but have yet to be constructed. These are called Seibi Shinkansen (整備新幹線) or "planned Shinkansen." One of these lines, the Narita Shinkansen to Narita Airport, has been officially cancelled, but a few remain under development.

• Tōhoku Shinkansen extension from Hachinohe Station to Shin-Aomori is under construction and will open by 2010.
• Hokuriku Shinkansen extension to Kanazawa is under construction and will open by 2014. The complete extension of the line to Osaka is under development, and only Fukui Station is under construction.
• Kyūshū Shinkansen extension to Hakata is under construction and will open by 2010.
• The second Kyūshū Shinkansen route from Shin-Tosu to Nagasaki section is under development.
• The Hokkaidō Shinkansen from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate is under construction and will open by 2015. A further extension of the line from Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo is under development.

The other lines in the 1973 plan are:

• Hokkaidō South Loop Shinkansen (北海道南回り新幹線, Hokkaidō Minami-mawari Shinkansen^?): Oshamanbe - Muroran - Sapporo
• Uetsu Shinkansen (羽越新幹線, Uetsu Shinkansen^?): Toyama - Niigata - Akita
• Ōu Shinkansen (奥羽新幹線, Ōu Shinkansen^?): Fukushima - Yamagata - Akita
• Hokuriku-Chūkyō Shinkansen (北陸・中京新幹線, Hokuriku-Chūkyō Shinkansen^?): Nagoya - Tsuruga
• San'in Shinkansen (山陰新幹線, San'in Shinkansen^?): Osaka - Tottori - Matsue - Shimonoseki
• Cross-Chūgoku Shinkansen (中国横断新幹線, Chūgoku Ōdan Shinkansen^?): Okayama - Matsue
• Shikoku Shinkansen (四国新幹線, Shikoku Shinkansen^?): Osaka - Tokushima - Takamatsu - Matsuyama - Ōita
• Cross-Shikoku Shinkansen (四国横断新幹線, Shikoku Ōdan Shinkansen^?): Okayama - Kōchi - Matsuyama
• East Kyūshū Shinkansen (東九州新幹線, Higashi-Kyūshū Shinkansen^?): Fukuoka - Ōita - Miyazaki - Kagoshima
• Cross-Kyūshū Shinkansen (九州横断新幹線, Kyūshū Ōdan Shinkansen^?): Ōita - Kumamoto

In addition, the Basic Plan specifies that the Jōetsu Shinkansen should start from Shinjuku, not Tokyo Station, which would require building an additional 30 km of track between Shinjuku and Ōmiya. While no construction work was ever started, land along the proposed track, including an underground section leading to Shinjuku Station, remains reserved. If capacity on the current Tokyo-Ōmiya section proves insufficient once the Hokkaido and Hokuriku Shinkansen are operational, the construction of the Shinjuku-Ōmiya link may be proceed.

Shinkansen technology outside Japan

Railways using Shinkansen technology are not limited to those in Japan.

• Taiwan High Speed Rail operates 700T Series sets built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
• The China Railways CRH2 EMU, built by a consortium formed of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and Hitachi, is based on the E2-1000 Series design.
• Class 395 EMUs were built by Hitachi based on Shinkansen technology for use on high-speed commuter services in Britain on the High Speed 1 line.
• Japan is currently promoting its shinkansen technology to the Brazilian Government for use on the planned high speed rail link system set to crisscross Brazil.

List of Shinkansen train models

Trains can be up to sixteen cars long. With each car measuring 25 m (82 ft) in length, the longest trains are 400 m (1/4 mile) from front to back. Stations are similarly long to accommodate these trains. Japan's maglev trains are considered Shinkansen.

Series of Shinkansen

Mt. Ibuki with 300 Series

Shinkansen 700T train on a test run on the Taiwan High Speed Rail in June 2006.

N700: The Newest Model

• Passenger Trains
  • 0 Series
  • 100 Series
  • 200 Series
  • 300 Series
  • 400 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)
  • 500 Series
  • 700 Series
  • 700T Series (Taiwan High Speed Rail, a.k.a. Taiwan Shinkansen)
  • N700 Series
  • 800 Series
  • E1 Series (Max)
  • E2 Series
  • E3 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)
  • E4 Series (Max)
  • E5 Series (Currently on order)

• Experimental Railed Trains
  • 1000 Type
  • 951 Type
  • 961 Type
  • 962 Type
  • 500-900 Series (WIN 350)
  • 952/953 Type (STAR 21)
  • 955 Type (300X)
  • E954 Type (FASTECH 360 S)
  • E955 Type (FASTECH 360 Z)(Mini-Shinkansen)

• Maglev Trains:
  • LSM200 - 1972
  • ML100 - 1972
  • ML100A - 1975
  • ML-500 - 1977
  • ML-500R - 1979
  • MLU001 - 1981
  • MLU002 - 1987
  • MLU002N - 1993
  • MLX01 - 1996
  • MLX01-901 - 2002

• Maintenance Trains
  • 911 Type Diesel Locomotive
  • 912 Type Diesel Locomotive
  • DD18 Type Diesel Locomotive
  • DD19 Type Diesel Locomotive
  • 944 Type (Rescue Train)
  • 921 Type 0 Numbers (Track Checking Car)
  • 922 Type (Doctor Yellow Set T1, T2, T3)
  • 923 Type (Doctor Yellow Set T4, T5)
  • 925 Type (Doctor Yellow Set S1, S2)
  • E926 Type (East i)(Mini-Shinkansen)

List of types of Shinkansen services

The Shinkansen fare system is integrated with Japan's low-speed intercity railway lines, but a surcharge is required to ride the Shinkansen. Here, an ordinary ticket from Tokyo to Takamatsu is coupled with a Shinkansen surcharge ticket from Tokyo to Okayama, allowing use of the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Okayama and use of local lines from Okayama to Takamatsu. For trips exclusively on one Shinkansen, the ordinary fare and Shinkansen surcharge may be combined on one ticket.

Originally intended to carry passenger and freight trains by day and night, the Shinkansen lines carry only passenger trains. The system shuts down between midnight and 06:00 every day for maintenance. The few overnight trains that still run in Japan run on the old narrow gauge network that the Shinkansen parallels.

• Tōkaidō Shinkansen and Sanyō Shinkansen

  Nozomi (のぞみ)

  Hikari (ひかり)　　　　　　　

  Hikari Rail Star (in Sanyo area only) (ひかりレールスター)

  Kodama (こだま)

• Tohoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen

  Hayate (はやて)

  Yamabiko, Max Yamabiko (やまびこ)

  Nasuno, Max Nasuno (なすの)

  Aoba (discontinued) (あおば)

  Komachi (Akita Shinkansen) (こまち)

  Tsubasa (Yamagata Shinkansen) (つばさ)

• Jōetsu Shinkansen

  Toki, Max Toki (とき)

  Tanigawa, Max Tanigawa (たにがわ)

  Asahi (discontinued), Max Asahi (あさひ)(discontinued)

• Hokuriku Shinkansen (Nagano Shinkansen)

  Asama, Max Asama (あさま)

• Kyūshū Shinkansen

  Tsubame (つばめ)

Speed records

Gallery

Further reading

• Hood, Christopher P. (2006). Shinkansen – From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32052-6 (hb) or ISBN 0415444098.  (pb)

See also

• Taiwan High Speed Rail

External links

• Biting the Bullet: What we can learn from the Shinkansen, discussion paper by Christopher Hood in the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 23 May 2001
• Byun Byun Shinkansen, a comprehensive guide by D.A.J. Fossett
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Shinkansen
• East meets West, a story of how the Shinkansen brought Tokyo and Osaka closer together.
• Bullet on wheels, a travel report by Vinod Jacob 19 Aug 2005

Shinkansen Lines: Tōkaidō • Sanyō • Tōhoku • Jōetsu • Hokuriku • Kyūshū Mini-Shinkansen: Yamagata • Akita • Future lines: Chūō • Hokkaidō • Cancelled lines: Narita Trainsets: 0 Series • 100 Series • 200 Series • 300 Series • 400 Series • 500 Series • 700 Series • N700 Series • 800 Series • E1 Series • E2 Series • E3 Series • E4 Series • E5 Series Export trainsets: 700T Series • CRH2 • Experimental trainsets: Fastech 360 Maglev trainsets: MLX-01