Topic summary
Shinkansen
The Shinkansen (Japanese: 新幹線; , lit.'new main line'), colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. The system was developed to provide connections between Tokyo and other regions of the country. In addition to long-distance services, some sections in and around the largest metropolitan areas are used for commuter travel.
The first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, opened shortly before the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the 552.6-kilometre (343.4 mi) route connects Tōkyō, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Ōsaka, the four largest cities in Japan. It remains the busiest line in the network, carrying 161million passengers in fiscal 2023 and more than 6.5billion passengers in total since opening. During peak periods, up to 16trains per hour operate in each direction, using 16-car trainsets with a seating capacity of 1,323 and a minimum scheduled headway of three minutes.
Since the opening of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the network has expanded to include 2,951.3 kilometres (1,833.9 mi) of lines with maximum operating speeds ranging from 260 to 320 kilometres per hour (160 to 200 mph), the latter achieved on a 387.5-kilometre (240.8 mi) section of the Tōhoku Shinkansen. The network also includes 283.5 kilometres (176.2 mi) of mini-Shinkansen lines with maximum speeds of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph) and 10.3 kilometres (6.4 mi) of spur lines with Shinkansen services. Shinkansen services operate to most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu and extend to Hakodate on Hokkaido, with an extension to Sapporo under construction and scheduled to open at the end of fiscal year 2038. In 2024, the Shinkansen network recorded 385.9 million passenger journeys.
The highest speed recorded on the Shinkansen network for conventional rail is 443 km/h (275 mph), achieved by the Class 955 (300X) in 1996, while a speed of 603 km/h (375 mph) was achieved by the L0 Series Maglev in 2015 on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line (part of the Chūō Shinkansen).
The distinctive geographical conditions of Japan present particular challenges to increasing the operating speed of the Shinkansen. The country is prone to frequent earthquakes, features soft ground conditions and mountainous terrain, includes regions subject to heavy snowfall, and faces spatial constraints in urban areas. Compared with high speed railways in other countries, Shinkansen lines have narrower track spacing between opposing directions, smaller minimum curve radii, and smaller tunnel cross sections, all of which are disadvantageous for higher speeds. The elongated and complex streamlined nose profiles seen in more recent Shinkansen rolling stock, which differ from those of many foreign high speed trains, are designed to mitigate the intense noise resembling an explosive sound generated by compression waves when trains enter tunnels with relatively small cross sections, a phenomenon often referred to as a tunnel boom, thereby ensuring compliance with stringent noise regulations.
Commercial operation at 360 km/h (224 mph), raising the current maximum speed on the Shinkansen network from 320 km/h (199 mph), is planned to begin following the full opening of the Hokkaidō Shinkansen in the late 2030s. In addition, commercial operation by maglev at 505 km/h (314 mph) is planned with the opening of the Chūō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Nagoya.