The is a Japanese high-speed

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

rail line that links up with the Tōhoku Shinkansen in northern

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...

and continues on into the interior of

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

through the undersea

Seikan Tunnel The Seikan Tunnel ( ja, 青函トンネル, or , ), is a dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait, which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern is ...

. Construction started in May 2005; the initial to section opened on 26 March 2016. Extension of the line to

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

is scheduled to open by fiscal year 2030. The line is operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido).

Associated actions

In preparation for the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen, the

( Kaikyō Line) and associated approaches (approximately in total) were converted to

dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to ca ...

, with both the Shinkansen standard and

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

tracks. Upon the opening of the Shinkansen line the section of the conventional (narrow gauge)

Esashi Line The is a Japanese railway line formerly operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). It connected (near Hakodate) and . The section between and closed in May 2014, and the remainder was transferred to third-sector operator South Hokk ...

approximately paralleling the same route between and was transferred from the control of JR Hokkaido to a newly established third-sector railway operating company,

South Hokkaido Railway Company The is a third-sector railway company based in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. Ownership of the stock is shared in the following proportions: *Hokkaido Prefecture 80%; * Hokuto City 11.2%; *Hakodate City 4.4%; * Kikonai Town 4.4%. Dōnan Isarib ...

, becoming the

Isaribi Line The is a third-sector railway company based in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. Ownership of the stock is shared in the following proportions: *Hokkaido Prefecture 80%; * Hokuto City 11.2%; *Hakodate City 4.4%; * Kikonai Town 4.4%. Dōnan Isarib ...

Operations

Service types

Two train service types operate on the Hokkaido Shinkansen: limited-stop ''

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C fo ...

'' services between Tokyo or Sendai and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, and semi-fast '' Hayate'' services between Morioka or Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. Under the initial timetable, ten return ''Hayabusa'' services operate daily between Tokyo and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and one return service operates daily between Sendai and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. One return ''Hayate'' service operates daily between Morioka and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, and one return service daily operates between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto.

Operating speed

Upon commencement of services in 2016 the maximum speed on the approximately 82 km

section of the Hokkaido Shinkansen (including through the

) was , increased to in March 2019. There are approximately 50 freight trains using the dual gauge section each day, so limiting the travel of such trains to times outside of Shinkansen services is not an option. Because of this and other weather-related factors cited by JR East and JR Hokkaido, the fastest journey time between Tokyo and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto is currently 3 hours, 57 minutes. During the 2020-21 New Year Holiday period when fewer freight trains were operating, certain Shinkansen services were operated at on the dual gauge section and this is proposed again for the Golden Week Holiday period from 3–6 May 2021 To achieve the full benefit of Shinkansen trains travelling on the dual gauge section at (the maximum speed proposed through the tunnel), alternatives are being considered, such as a system to automatically slow Shinkansen trains to when passing narrow-gauge trains, and/or loading freight trains onto special " Train on Train" standard-gauge trains (akin to a covered piggyback flatcar train) built to withstand the

shock wave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

of oncoming Shinkansen trains traveling at full speed. This would enable a travel time from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto of 3 hours and 45 minutes, a saving of 12 minutes on the current timetable. In May 2019, JR Hokkaido announced that it had requested permission from the MLIT to increase the speed limit on the 212 km of new track to be constructed between Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and Sapporo to . This would involve the extension of buffers on about 170 km of tunnels, installation of sound barriers on about 30 km of the remaining 42 km of surface track and strengthening of viaducts.

Effects of winter weather on train operation

Operating in areas that see significant snowfall during the winter months, accumulation of snow has effects on various train operations. It can cause damage to equipment or can cause a moving train to miss a switch. In particular, accretion of snow in the bogies of the train has been shown to be significant, causing damage or causing schedule delays. Methods have been used estimate snow accumulation on trains running up to 130 km/h, and newer estimates based on weather data can predict accumulation of up to 3 cm in bogies upon arrival at a station. The winter season also adversely impacts the

occupancy Within the context of building construction and building codes, "occupancy" refers to the use, or intended use, of a building, or portion of a building, for the shelter or support of persons, animals or property. A closely related meaning is ...

rates of the rail line, with recorded occupancy reaching a low of 19% in the months of January and February.

Stations

Legend:

Rolling stock

All services are formed of 10-car JR East E5 or JR Hokkaido H5 series trainsets. In February 2014, JR Hokkaido placed an order for four 10-car

H5 Series Shinkansen The and the related are Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train types built by Hitachi Rail and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The E5 series is operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East); it was introduced on Tohoku Shinkansen services on 5 M ...

trainsets for use on Hokkaido Shinkansen services from March 2016. Based on the E5 series trainsets operated by

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

since 2011, the order for 40 vehicles cost approximately 18 billion yen. The first two sets of the order are scheduled to be delivered to Hakodate Depot by road from Hakodate Port in October 2014, with test running commencing before the end of the year. The remaining two sets on order were scheduled to be delivered in 2015. The vehicles feature the usual upper green and lower white livery, with a purple stripe in the middle. The color purple was chosen to represent the purple flowers of Hokkaido:

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonl ...

s, lupine and lavender. Inside, the ordinary-class cars feature wood paneling and carpet with a snowflake motif. Green class features cream-colored walls representing the local dairy industry and carpet with a drift-ice motif. Gran class features dark blue carpets, said to be modeled after the shimmering lakes and bodies of water along the route. File:Series-E5-U15 Yamabiko-50.jpg, A JR East E5 series train in May 2022 File:JRH Series-H5 H1.jpg, A JR Hokkaido H5 series train in June 2022

History

In the early 1970s, two other Shinkansen routes were proposed for Hokkaido: Sapporo –

Asahikawa is a city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a core city since April 1, 2000. The city is currently well known for the Asahiy ...

(Hokkaido Shinkansen extension) and Oshamambe –

Muroran is a city and port located in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Iburi Subprefecture. As of February 29, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 93,716, with 47,868 households and a population density of . The ...

– Sapporo (Hokkaido South Route). There were also further unofficial plans to connect to Abashiri,

Kushiro is a city in Kushiro Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island. Geography Mountains * Mount Oakan * Mount Meakan * Mount Akan ...

and Nayoro/ Wakkanai. These plans have been indefinitely shelved. On 1 November 2014, a ceremony was held at Kikonai Station to mark the completion of track-laying for the line between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. Test-running on the Hokkaido Shinkansen tracks within Hokkaido commenced from 1 December 2014, initially at low speeds, with the speed raised to the maximum of later that month. Test-running was extended through the Seikan Tunnel to Oku-Tsugaru-Imabetsu in December 2014. Test-running south of Oku-Tsugaru-Imabetsu commenced on 21 April 2015, with the first train reaching Shin-Aomori Station from the north in the early hours of 24 May.

Future plans

JR Hokkaido is extending the Hokkaido Shinkansen from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to , planned to open by 2030. Tunneling work on the Murayama Tunnel, situated about north of Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station commenced in March 2015; it is scheduled to be completed by March 2021. The extension will be approximately 76% in tunnels, including major tunnels such as Oshima (), Teine () and Shiribeshi ().http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000215188.pdf When the section to Sapporo opens, the estimated journey time from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

will be at most 5 hours and 1 minute, but the goal is for it to be below 4 hours.

References

External links

JR Hokkaido: Hokkaido Shinkansen

Federation of Hokkaido Chamber of Commerce and Industry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hokkaido Shinkansen High-speed railway lines in Japan Seikan Tunnel

Railway lines opened in 2016 Standard gauge railways in Japan 2016 establishments in Japan