Shinkansen

JR West series N700 series set N3 online Sanyō, in service Nozomi with 16 cars, April 2019

Shinkansen train from the E5 series.

Shinkansen (in Japanese, 新幹線 'new trunk line') is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan, initially operated by the Japanese National Railways JNR company. Since the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line opened in 1964, the network has been expanding to connect most of the cities with the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū, with a length of 3050 km (including Mini-Shinkansen) and some [speed] ] is up to 320 km/h.

The word Shinkansen literally means New Trunk Line and refers strictly to the layout of the tracks, while the trains themselves are called officially Super Expresses (超特急, chō-tokkyū), although this distinction is rare in Japan itself. Initially they were called Super Dream Express (Yume no chō-tokkyū). Unlike the original network, the Shinkansen uses the standard track gauge (7,435 mm) and uses tunnels and viaducts to traverse obstacles, rather than around them.

History

Japan was the first country to build dedicated rail lines for high-speed travel. Due to 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 accommodate higher speeds. Consequently, Japan had a greater need for new high-speed lines than countries where the standard gauge or broad gauge rail system had more upgrading potential.

Key people credited with building the first Shinkansen include Hideo Shima, the chief engineer, and Shinji Sogō, the first Japanese National Railways (JNR) president who managed to persuade politicians to back the plan. Other important people responsible for its technical development included Tadanao Miki, Tadashi Matsudaira and Hajime Kawanabe, based at the Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI), part of JNR. They were responsible for much of the technical development of the first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen. All three had worked on aircraft design during World War II.

Future

JR-Maglev in Yamanashi.

Due to the inherent problems of noise pollution, increasing top speed is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly due to the "piston effect" which appears when trains enter tunnels at high speed. Despite this, in 2015 the speed of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen was increased to 285 km/h thanks to the N700A trains, and there is another increase scheduled for 2020, up to 360 km/h, using the E5 trains and the future H5 in part of the Tohoku Shinkansen.

The latest openings were the Nagano-Kanazawa section in 2015 and the first section of the Hokkaidō Shinkansen, from Aomori to Hakodate (in 2016) through the Seikan Tunnel. Work is also underway to extend the network: the Hokkaidō Shinkansen from Hakodate to Sapporo in 2031, the branch of the Kyūshū Shinkansen line to Nagasaki in 2023, and completing the connection between Kanazawa and Osaka whose first section, to Tsuruga, will be completed in 2023..

The Narita Shinkansen line project to connect Tokyo with Narita International Airport, begun in the 1970s but discontinued in 1983 after protests by landowners, was officially canceled and removed from the Basic Plan outlining the construction of the Shinkansen.

Shinkansen lines

Shinkansen network diagram.
Lines in Green: Concession of the East JR
Lines in orange: Concession of the JR Tōkai
Lines in blue: Concession of the JR West
Lines in Red: Concession of the JR Kyūshū
Lines in Green yellows: Concession of the JR Hokkaidō

Operative lines

The Shinkansen lines are:

• Tōkaidō Shinkansen (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka)
• Sanyō Shinkansen (Shin-Osaka – Hakata)
• Tōhoku Shinkansen (Tokio – Shin-Aomori)
• Jōetsu Shinkansen
• Hokuriku Shinkansen (Takasaki – Kanazawa)
• Kyūshū Shinkansen (Hakata – Kagoshima-Chūō)
• Hokkaidō Shinkansen (Shin-Aomori – Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto)

Two other lines, known as Mini-Shinkansen (ミニ新幹線), were later added by upgrading and changing to standard gauge (1,435 mm) existing line sections (Zairaisen) with a gauge of 1,067 mm that maintain the same gauge for rolling stock, hence the trains must be narrower than other Shinkansen and hence the nickname "mini":

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

There is a line with standard gauge (1435 mm) that is not technically classified as a Shinkansen line, although it does have Shinkansen services during the ski season. This is the Gala-Yuzawa line, technically a branch of the Jōetsu Shinkansen.

Commissioning of each section

Future lines

Many of the Shinkansen lines were proposed during the boom of the early 1970s, although they have yet to be built. They are called Seibi Shinkansen (整備新幹線) or "Planned Shinkansen". One of those lines, the Narita Shinkansen to Narita Airport, was officially cancelled, although many others are still being planned.

• The extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Osaka is in the planning phase, and only the Fukui station is under construction.
• The continuation of the Hokkaidō Shinkansen line from Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo station (211.3 km) is in the planning phase, with its opening in the fiscal year of 2030 planned.
• The continuation of the Kyūshū Shinkansen line, from Takeo-Onsen to Isahaya and Nagasaki, is under construction, with its completion expected in 2023. The link section, between Shin-Tosu and Takeo-Olsen, will be carried out by the current narrow track line thanks to the variable width trains (GCT) that are currently in testing.

Increased network speed

The first Shinkansen trains began running on October 1, 1964 at a maximum speed of 210 km/h between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, and it took 22 years, until November 1986, for them to increase their speed to 220 km/h. The next steps were to reach 240 km/h on the Tōhoku Shinkansen in March 1985, and 275 km/h on the Jōetsu Shinkansen in March 1990. 300 km/h was reached by the 500 Series on the Sanyō Shinkansen in March 1997, linking Osaka and Hakata at an average of 242 km/h in 2003, faster than now. Finally, 320 km/h was reached thanks to the E5 Series on the Tōhoku Shinkansen on March 16, 2013. On this same line, and with those same trains (and future H5), it is planned to reach 360 km/h in the year 2020.

On the other hand, the first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, had its maximum speed limited to 270 km/h since 1992 due to the small radius of its curves (only 2,500 meters). However, since March 2015 the N700A trains have reached 285 km/h thanks to their passive tilting system, which also allows those curves to be passed at 270 km/h instead of 250.

Average speeds

Equally, the average speeds increased extraordinarily over the years. The Tokyo-Osaka route began at 129 km/h in 1964 to reach 218 km/h since 2015. The line with the highest average speed is the Sanyo, with 234 km/h between Osaka and Hakata, although the fastest route It is the Hiroshima-Okayama, at 241.7. On the other hand, the lines with the lowest average speed are, apart from the Mini-Shinkansen, they are the Jōetsu Shinkansen and the Hokuriku Shinkansen with, respectively, 186 and 184 km/h from Tokyo. The new Hokkaidō Shinkansen reaches 204 km/h from Tokyo to Hakodate, and the Kyushu Shinkansen has an average speed of 198 km/h between Hakata and Kagoshima.

Shinkansen Trains

Shinkansen Series

First N700-7000, online Sanyō, April 2009

Shinkansen trains have formations of up to 16 cars. As each car can be up to 25 m long, the longest trains reach 405 m in total length, which is the maximum length for which the platforms have been designed; this measure is similar to that used in European fast trains. However, the gauge used on high-speed tracks allows trains up to 3.38m wide, which is greater than that used in Europe, allowing the use of higher capacity seating configurations (for example, 2+ 2 in first class and up to 3+3 in tourist class).

Mini-Shinkansen trains are designed to run on high-speed lines, and then continue on old tracks with a gauge of 1,067 mm whose track gauge has been modified to allow continuity of service. However, these lines have not seen their gauge changed, and for this reason these trains are narrower in their construction (2,945 m). When stopping at stations on new lines (designed for wider trains), they must use retractable platforms that facilitate access to the platform.

• Passenger trains
  • Series 0 (out of service since 2008)
  • 100 series (out of service since 2012)
  • 200 series (out of service since 2013)
  • 300 series (out of service since 2012)
  • 400 series (Mini-Shinkansen, out of service since 2010)
  • 500 series (minimum duration: until March 2017)
  • 700 Series (out of service since 2019)
  • N700 Series (Tren Operativo)
  • 800 series (Tren Operativo)
  • E1 series (out of service since 2012)
  • E2 series
  • E3 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)
  • E4 series (out of service since 2016)
  • E5/H5 Series (Operative Train)
  • E6 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)
  • E7/W7 Series (Operative Train)

• Exported trains
  • 700T series (Taiwan)
  • CRH2 (China)

• Pilot trains
  • Type 1000
  • Type 951
  • Type 961
  • Type 962
  • 500-900 series (WIN 350) for the 500 Series, with two different testers
  • Type 952/953 (STAR 21) for E2, E3 and E4 series
  • Type 955 (300X) for Series 700, with two different testers
  • Type E954 (FASTECH 360 S) for the series E5/H5, with two different testers
  • Type E955 (FASTECH 360 Z) (Mini-Shinkansen) for the E6 series
  • GCT S-9,000 for variable width

• Maintenance trains
  • Type 911 diesel locomotive
  • Type 912 diesel locomotive
  • DD18 type diesel locomotive
  • DD19 type diesel locomotive
  • Type 944 (trailer train)
  • Type 921 Number 0 (for rail verification)
  • Type 922 (Conjuncts Doctor Yellow T1, T2 and T3)
  • Type 923 (Conjuncts Doctor Yellow T4, and T5)
  • Type 923 (Conjuncts Doctor Yellow S1, e S2)
  • Type E926 (East i) (Mini-Shinkansen)

Train Park

Updated as of March 31, 2016

Daily services per series

N700A in Tokaido: 323

8-car N700 at Sanyo: 271

E5: 177 in Tohoku and 78 in Joetsu

E7/W7 in Hokuriku: 118 (includes Tsurugi)

800 in Kyushu: 125

Source: IHRA

Shinkansen technology outside of Japan

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

Taiwan High Speed Rail has been running since 2007 30 trains for 300 km/h Series 700T, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. China has been running 60 250 km/h trains based on the E2 Series design since 2007, 3 of them built in Japan by a consortium made up of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Hitachi. For the HS1 line connecting London to the Channel Tunnel, trains built by Hitachi, based on the A Train, were exported for use as high-speed regionals under the name Class 395 "Javelin". The same company will deliver between 2017 and 2019 electric and dual trains, class 800 and 801.

Number of travelers

The Shinkansen network has been (until 2012, when it was surpassed by China) the busiest high-speed network in the world. Shortly before the fiftieth anniversary of its inauguration, it reached the figure of ten billion passengers transported, while France reached two thousand in 2013, after 32 years.

Number of travelers (in millions):

Billions of traveler-km (much more precise, since it also takes into account the km traveled):

(1) There are travelers who are counted twice when traveling on different lines; thus, the total is less than the sum of the lines.

Sources: 1964/1993 1964/2008 1968/1989 1964/2011 2007/2012 and company yearbooks. JR East 2012 and Kyushu 2011 and 2012

List of Shinkansen service types

Shinkansen Series 700 in service Hikari Rail Star

Shinkansen Train from the 800 series at Shin-Yatsushiro Station, Yatsushiro.

Although it was originally intended to run passenger and freight trains day and night, the truth is that only passenger trains run on the Shinkansen lines. The system closes between 0:00 and 06:00 every day for maintenance operations. The night trains that still run in Japan run on the Japanese metric gauge (1,067 mm) network.

Shinkansen services in March 2015

Note: stops include origin and destination, so for two routes you have to remove one.

Gallery